Crypto Playing Crucial Role in Making Life Better at Lebanon

Cryptocurrencies are acting as life-savior instruments with the evolving time. Not long ago, the yet-developing technology emerged and was touted as a potential factor to transform traditional finance. In many instances, the limitation of traditional finance turned out to be its shortcoming, such as in war-facing zones or for non-banked people. Crypto assets proved their capability on par with and at some point beyond the banking system.

Recently, the CNBC report brought another example where crypto is bringing significant changes in people’s lives. The report consisted of a beleaguered country in the middle-east, Lebanon. The country is facing one of the worst financial hits and falls among the most affected given the same. In such circumstances, with the financial system and traditional money crippling, people found crypto and digital assets as life-saving financial instruments.

The crypto-dependent group of people is from different spaces and their requirements being fulfilled in crypto made them adopt it. People see payments from their international clients in crypto, some are mining crypto assets, and some are looking at it as a store of value saving their wealth from depreciating drastically. When the country’s official currency and economy are making common people’s lives worse, crypto comes for them as a hope.

People in Lebanon use bitcoin (BTC) as a store of value to keep their wealth safe from consistently depreciating value. They also chose to earn in crypto assets. For basic items like coffee and groceries, etc. they use USDT and also given its high demand.

Lebanon was never like it is today; it was historically quite prosperous. After the end of world war 2, the country moved ahead toward the path of development and economic growth. The growth made it called the “Paris of the Middle East.” It lasted only till 1975 when civil war broke out and changed everything. Even the fifteen-year-long war did not break the journey, though.

In 1990, the war ended, yet Lebanon had the lead against Switzerland and the Cayman Islands in terms of giving interest rates on US dollar deposits. However, the growth graph started shredding its value and continued to take a plunge.

The government came up with a bold move in 2019 and put taxes on gas and tobacco, even WhatsApp calls. Revolts broke out in Lebanon, and the very next year’s Covid-19 pandemic made things worse. Several other significant incidents, like the Beirut port blast, were a nightmare.

Lebanon started witnessing an economic downturn, and the native currency, Lebanese pounds or lira, valued at about 1,500 against 1 USD for about 25 years, took a steep drop abruptly to 40,000 Lebanese pounds.

About 78% of the Lebanese population slid below the poverty line, the United Nations estimates. The World Bank states the financial crisis in Lebanon as the worst since 1850. Financial rating services firm Fitch expected the inflation to reach up to 178% in 2022.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing