Blockchain preempts counterfeiting

Earlier in the year reports emerged that
the Zimbabwean central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had apparently
printed and circulated an unknown number five
dollar bills bearing the same serial number.

Since their launch in late 2016, the RBZ has insisted that bond notes—the new Zimdollar—are backed by reserves of foreign currency secured from a regional financial institution. Initially the plan was to inject notes and coins of a value not exceeding USD $200 million but the figure was later revised upwards after the central bank claimed it had secured more funds.

However, by printing bond notes that share a common serial number, the RBZ or those controlling it may have found a clever way of increasing money in circulation without upsetting the status quo.

This revelation lends credence to sensational claims made by a member of the Zimbabwe’s governing party, Cornelius Mupereri back in 2018. Mupereri claimed then that the RBZ had printed notes that exceeded the USD$200 million threshold by far and this was sometime before the bond notes began collapsing.

Injecting bond notes that share the same serial numbers into the market means the actual notes in circulation will increase yet records will show this number to be steady. There is no shred of ingenuity in that plan because the final result is catastrophic for the economy.

When counterfeiting is legal

Indeed, Zimbabweans were shocked by the reports (of notes with the same serial number) yet there has been no acknowledgement or a rebuttal