To our ZIMBOCASH community — now ZiTenga

We’re back, with a significant update and an important ask: we need your vote on a decision that will decide the future of ZASH.

First, our update

ZIMBOCASH is now ZiTenga, and the token is ZASH, held in a new wallet called ZiTenga Pay. The mission hasn’t changed – we still believe ZASH can become a usable token in day-to-day trade that will transform Zimbabwe’s future. The name, the wallet, and the technology behind it have all been rebuilt.

New marketplace: ZiTenga Markets. The biggest news is that we’ve built a new marketplace where people can buy and sell goods and services in exchange for ZASH. ZiTenga Markets is an ecommerce and auction system where people can buy and sell goods and services in ZASH. We’re building incentives for people to place products on the platform.

The ZASH you originally held was a Tron-based token, and we identified structural weaknesses with it so we built a parallel token on an EVM-based, Proof-of-Authority chain using Hyperledger. But everyone keeps their original balances.

We’re holding a community vote

We’re asking you to approve a change to the rules that govern every wallet on ZiTenga Pay.

The decision is Yes or No:

We won’t make this change without your mandate. The vote is embedded in your ZiTenga Pay wallet – sign in to cast it. Voting closes ${voteDeadline}.

The key change that requires your vote

The rule applies to every holder – existing holders, ambassadors, new signups, everyone. New users receive 150 ZASH on signup on the same terms. There are no exemptions and no special tiers.

Why we’re asking

We need to be direct with you about something, because it’s the reason this vote exists. Without appropriate incentives for vendors and appropriate limits on the supply of ZASH in circulation, we don’t believe the ZASH network effect can be established.

When ZIMBOCASH gave out free ZASH on signup, a number of early users – including many of our own ambassadors – recognised the opportunity and accumulated very large balances before the network had any real economic activity. Some did this by paying very little to others who didn’t yet value the token. A handful now hold balances in the millions.

We don’t say this to criticise anyone. Those holders believed in the project when almost nobody else did, and we’re grateful. But the practical reality is that if we launch incentives to attract merchants and buyers today, those same large balances stand ready to be sold into any demand we create. The network effect we need cannot get off the ground while that overhang exists.

The 50-ZASH-per-month cap, tied to real participation on the marketplace, is our answer. It doesn’t take anyone’s ZASH away. It sets the rate at which ZASH enters circulation, and it ties that rate to the behaviour the network actually needs: people listing products and people bidding for them.

We believe this is the only way ZASH becomes usable currency rather than a speculative balance sitting in a wallet.

What “YES” looks like

If the vote passes, ZiTenga Markets becomes the engine of the network. You’ll be able to list goods and services, bid on what others list, and unlock your balance by participating in the economy you helped build.

We’re kick-starting the marketplace with the following:

Every design decision – the monthly cap, the bid requirement, the auction incentives, the loyalty program – has been built around one question: what gives ZASH a real chance of becoming a token that people use in day-to-day trade?

Questions people have been asking

Why the silence until now.

In 2023 we paused tech development and focused purely on raising capital – travelling to Singapore, Dubai, and the US and running full processes with multiple investors. The feedback has been consistent: investor interest in Zimbabwe is very low, and a currency solution is an even harder sell until a real network exists. So we bootstrapped everything ourselves, working multiple jobs to fund it. At the time of our last communication, the overwhelming feedback from you was that we should come back when people could viably use their ZASH in stores, online or in person. We’re close to that point now – but not without a decision only you can make.

Are you funded by investors now?

No. Still self-funded, still working multiple jobs, still running lean. Every decision in the system has been shaped by that constraint.

Is this a rug pull?

No. No one has taken money out of this project – we’ve put our own money in. If you vote no, you get three months to withdraw your ZASH to your own wallet before we shut ZiTenga Pay down. That’s a real exit, not a trap. You will then need to find your own users to accept your ZASH in trade.

My balance is so large I couldn’t redeem 50 ZASH per month in a lifetime. What then?

We understand. How that’s handled over time – alongside community growth, regulators, and market liquidity – is something we’ll work through with you. The reason this is a vote and not an announcement is precisely because people in that position should decide whether to proceed.

What happened to the Bitglobal exchange?

Bitglobal was a third party exchange that was originally Bithumb Global based in Hong Kong and Korea. It listed the old Tron-based ZASH. The website and the exchange has gone down. We’ve had no response from them despite repeated outreach, and industry contacts indicate they became insolvent. If you bought ZASH there and still control the Tron-based tokens, we’ll honour a conversion to the new EVM-based ZASH under the same rules – transfer the Tron tokens to an account we designate and we’ll credit the updated balance in your ZiTenga wallet.

If I vote yes, do you guarantee this will work?

No. We believe it can work. We’ve designed it carefully. But there are no guarantees, and we won’t pretend otherwise.

Even with a yes vote, it is a good chance that we run out of funding or team capacity and the project still closes. That’s a real possibility as we are self funded. But we’d rather give it one last serious push than walk away wondering.

Is the 75% threshold on all existing users?

No. It is based on 75% of the ZASH held by those people who vote. In other words, if you have higher balances, you have a higher say. If you don’t vote then it doesn’t count. We will be sending an email out to all our existing users, as well as SMS’s to encourage you to vote.

Please do tell your friends who have been involved so they also vote.

We will also need at least 50% of users who vote to be in favour.

Why are you asking us to vote instead of just making the change?

Because this is a fundamental change to balances you already hold, and it shouldn’t be imposed. A YES gives us a mandate; a NO tells us to stop. Either answer is one we’ll respect.

Why are you still doing this at all?

Right now, the US dollar is fundamentally impoverishing Zimbabwe — dollar inflation driven by US money printing is becoming a real issue. We believe ZASH can be the solution to transform this nation.

We want to give it one more go to see whether our approach can succeed.

How to vote

The vote is embedded in your ZiTenga Pay wallet. Sign in, cast your vote, and we’ll share the outcome with the full community once voting closes on ${voteDeadline}.

Thank you for your time, your patience, and your say in this.

Warm regards,

The ZiTenga Team