Zimbabwe Exchange Granted "Interim Relief," Ban Appeal Still Ongoing

Despite reports of the Zimbabwe High Court’s reversal of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) recently issued cryptocurrency ban, the country’s leading bitcoin exchange, Golix, is yet to restore trading on its platform. In an email recently sent to customers of the exchange, Golix sought to clarify that it has been granted “an interim relief,” that its accounts have not yet been restored, and that legal proceedings are currently still ongoing.

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Golix Discusses Appealing Zimbabwe’s Cryptocurrency Ban

Golix states that on the 11th of May, “the RBZ issue[d] a circular to all the banks instructing them to close all of our bank accounts,” however, a “60-day window” was given to the exchange. On the 15th of May, Golix “issued a statement to [their] customers” informing customers that the company was “aware of the directive” and had “started the process of engaging the RBZ” to discuss and address the central bank’s concerned.

In response, the RBZ “issue[d] a second circular that was addressed to Golix where they instructed Golix to cease all operations immediately” on the 17th of May, with Golix adding that all of their bank accounts had been closed by the following day. On the 21st of May, Golix “file[d] an urgent chamber application at the High Court requesting the ban on Golix to be lifted.”

Golix Granted “Interim Relief” by High Court

The exchange states that on the 24th of May, 2018, “the High Court grant[ed] Golix an interim relief that lifts the ban on cryptocurrencies by the Central Bank.” Despite comprising positive news, the exchange states that “The interim relief does not guarantee that we will get our bank accounts reopened.”

Golix emphasized that “the court case is still ongoing,” meaning that the “interim relief is only valid until the outcome of the case is determined in court.” The exchange added that “Because the case is still in court, we cannot comment on questions that are related to the case and this is the response you will get if you contact anyone on the Golix Team to make an inquiry that is related to this case.”

“We are working hard to get our bank accounts reopened and we will send another update to let you know how this goes,” the exchange said.

Ramifications of Interim Relief for Customers

Golix has sought to deter customers from depositing funds with the exchange, stating “Please do not make any deposits into Golix until we have announced that we have resumed trading. If you try to deposit funds to our bank accounts right now, it may take weeks before we are able to recover those funds because, unless we tell the bank in advance, those funds will go straight to a suspense account.”

The exchange added: “Although we are working hard to have our bank accounts reopened, we have started a separate conversation with banks to allow us to send customer funds we are holding back to the customers and because the bank would like to limit the activity on the accounts, we cannot be able to process withdrawals as often as we used to […] Because of the logistics involved in processing withdrawals, we encourage every customer to initiate the withdrawal of the funds in their Golix accounts between Monday and Wednesday so that we have all the withdrawals processed on Friday.”

Golix also recommended that customers not store their funds on the exchanges, stating “We recommend that you initiate a withdrawal your crypto and/or fiat funds right now until we recommend that we have resumed trading.”

Do you think that Golix will be successful in appealing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s cryptocurrency ban? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Golix

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