PANews reported on June 12 that, according to Reuters, Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube issued new regulations requiring all cryptocurrency businesses engaged in the buying, selling, transferring, or custody of virtual assets to register annually with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the central bank's anti-money laundering agency, and pay an annual fee of US$500. Operating without registration will be illegal. These new regulations provide the first dedicated regulatory framework for the local cryptocurrency market, which has long lacked a legal framework and primarily operates over-the-counter and on social media. Zimbabwe previously banned financial institutions from participating in cryptocurrency trading in 2018, but rampant inflation and multiple currency reforms led to a surge in cryptocurrency use as people turned to digital assets like Bitcoin and cross-border remittances.