Zimbabwe plans to launch digital currency backed by gold

ZIMBABWE will launch a digital currency next month by introducing “tokens” that are backed by gold reserves and can be transferred between people and businesses as a form of payment, the country’s central bank said Friday.

The move is aimed at shoring up Zimbabwe’s faltering national currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, which is fast depreciating amid yearslong economic woes in the southern African nation.

The Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria have already launched digital currencies backed by their central banks, with several other countries, including China, running trial projects. The United Kingdom is moving closer to it by asking for public input on the idea. The U.S. and European Union are considering similar moves.

In Zimbabwe, the new tokens “will be fully backed by physical gold held by the bank” and will go into circulation on May 8, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gov. John Mangudya said. People can buy the tokens and use them as a way