You could be rich if you could go to this country

I'm sure you know Zimbabwe in Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world. You must ask, are you kidding me that one could be rich if he or she could go to Zimbabwe? Yes, I'm serious but not in a way you would think about. Of course I know how poor it is and there is virtually no hope in the sight for it. Its inflation is probably the highest one in the world, so much so that it even issued a 100-trillion-dollar note, which was worth only 40 cents when it went out of circulation. I bet this is likely the only money in such a big number. It has become a collectible now and I found it on sale in eBay for $53.


So why on earth that I'd think I could be rich if I could go to Zimbabwe? You may recall what I said why bitcoin will not die as predicted by many pundits. One of the reasons: the widespread acceptance by third world countries where they are facing increasingly severe inflation problems with their official currencies. I just read a report that bitcoin is trading around $12,000 in Zimbabwe as they are begging their money with US$ now but there is huge shortage of US$ for them. For those very few people in Zimbabwe who are much richer than general people (probably due to corruption or few successful businessmen), they for sure will not keep their bank notes. When difficult to exchange to US$, they turn to bitcoin, causing a huge demand for it, much more than in the other countries. As a result, we are talking about a difference over $5000 as bitcoin has just reached it new high over $7000 now. If I could go there to open a bank account, I could easily make thousands of dollars per coin by buying a bitcoin here and selling it there. Of course I couldn't but I thought it is  interesting evidence how bitcoin can preserve value for poor countries. I think we will hear more such stories moving forward.


One caution note to finish my writing: bitcoin is a bit crazy at the moment and I think it is short-term bubbly that may easily go down sharply any time. Buying now will be rather risky as a 30-50% haircut is not out of touch.