Lebanon Locals Explain How Cryptocurrency Can Save Their Country By

“Crypto is a way for people in Lebanon and similar countries to make money they wouldn’t dream of working a regular job. Crypto is also a means to substitute the local currency, which is plummeting every week,”
an anonymous Redditor told DailyCoin.

On November 24, 2021, financial journalist Omar Tamo wrote that “the Lebanese lira crashed to its all-time lowest market value against the US dollar, with little-to-no sign of recovery.”

The economic crisis in the country has been going on since 2019. Because of the financial difficulties, people began transitioning to cryptocurrency. As it’s decentralized and free from governmental power, crypto provides an escape from Lebanon’s tragic situation.

Elie M., a 30-year-old Lebanese in an exclusive interview with DailyCoin talked about how people in his country struggle and how cryptocurrency is offering an escape for citizens, however, with many obstacles.

Hyperinflation in Lebanon

Banks in 2019 told the population that they were going to give great interest rates, 10% on the dollar and 15% on the Lebanese pound. All that people needed to do was put their money in the bank for 3-5 years. That sounded nice, and almost all Lebanese trusted the banks and put their money in, Elie explained.

The revolution then took place in late 2019, because banks didn’t allow citizens to withdraw money anymore. There was currency inflation, and the currency was devaluing because of the politicians who stole the money and transferred it to their own foreign bank accounts.

Then, the central bank took all the money, which was the people’s money, from the banks as loans. Thus, the banks didn’t have the money anymore, and to this day, the Lebanese cannot withdraw their own hard-earned money.

“My dad has been working in the family business for 14 years saving money, as well as most Lebanese who had their life savings in the bank. And they can’t touch it anymore. You can’t withdraw the dollars, so you just sit and watch; the bank doesn’t give you any money,”
Elie said.

In addition, the rate at the same time was going up. $1 used to be exactly 1,500 Lebanese pounds. At the moment, $1 is 23,500 Lebanese pounds, which is a 20x fall in value.

“Let me give you an example,”
Elie said.

“I used to get paid $1,000 a month, which back then was 1,500,000 Lebanese pounds. Right now, the salaries are still 1,500,000 Lebanese pounds, but because of the new value, which is around 24,000 Lebanese pounds for $1, that’s me getting like $50 instead of $1,000.

There’s nothing you can do about it. Everyone protested, tried to close the streets, attack MP houses, attack banks. Nothing happened.”

Young Lebanese Adapting to Crypto

Currently, many youth trade cryptocurrency. On Reddit, there are a lot of posts about crypto, a lot of people asking how to open up accounts, how to deposit money, and what to trade. However, cryptocurrency is complicated…