Lebanon’s bloated government sector and currency hyperinflation are prime examples of why bitcoin has a use case in the destabilized country.
Thomas Semaan is a finance and economics enthusiast. He launched an Arabic speaking podcast about Bitcoin, economics and Lebanon. Thomas is also an active member of the Lebanese and Arab Bitcoin community.
Prior to 2020, two types of jobs were considered lucrative for the average Lebanese citizen: working in banking or working in the government. Working in banking meant that you are essentially part of a too-big-to-fail industry, while working in the government meant that you get to earn an above average salary, more than regular benefits and end of services indemnity with barely any effort or skills and guaranteed by law that you will never be fired from your position. All this was possible thanks to a third contributor to the formula, the financier of the Lebanese banking sector.
Here’s the catch, the average depositor in Lebanese banks did not have the intention to fund the government. Almost everyone knew the government was inefficient and there is a general culture of distrust in the government. However, depositors were simply lured into a high interest rate deal, which seemed to be working for over a decade. Now that this scheme has completely collapsed, and the need for the Lebanese citizen to have an alternative saving mechanism is still there, the short and clear answer for this problem is and will always be bitcoin.
When money was deposited in the banking sector, it was being used to fund the government in the background. Comparatively, money that goes into bitcoin is funding an open-source, truthful, decentralized and trustless network of independent users who are incentivized to be honest — from miners to full nodes to regular users. Above all else, the Lebanese citizen can ultimately escape being coerced to fund a corrupt government and in turn, directly benefit from funding a system that promotes peace and the sovereignty of the individual.
This is a guest post by Thomas Semaan. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
