Yeah, especially in Gaza, the paper currency began physically disintegrating during the genocide, so people started using Bank of Palestine, Paypal or Cryptocurrency (mostly USDT) to send funds electronically. Big issue is they tend to use Binance or other centralized exchanges, which then block and seize the funds or demand identification, which may be difficult if you’re displaced. Just had this happen to me when I sent a transfer to a family in Gaza.
I think a lot of westerners underestimate how useful crypto has been for countries like Palestine, Venezuela, or in Western Africa, where the local currency is export controlled or is tied to an oppressive surveillance/neo-colonial state. Its actually in widespread use, but the crypto community and devs seriously need to go back to being cypherpunks and emphasize privacy and autonomous decentralized finance, instead of just glazing the NASDAQ and SEC to pump their shitcoin.
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Yeah, especially in Gaza, the paper currency began physically disintegrating during the genocide, so people started using Bank of Palestine, Paypal or Cryptocurrency (mostly USDT) to send funds electronically. Big issue is they tend to use Binance or other centralized exchanges, which then block and seize the funds or demand identification, which may be difficult if you’re displaced. Just had this happen to me when I sent a transfer to a family in Gaza.
Here are a couple of articles:
I think a lot of westerners underestimate how useful crypto has been for countries like Palestine, Venezuela, or in Western Africa, where the local currency is export controlled or is tied to an oppressive surveillance/neo-colonial state. Its actually in widespread use, but the crypto community and devs seriously need to go back to being cypherpunks and emphasize privacy and autonomous decentralized finance, instead of just glazing the NASDAQ and SEC to pump their shitcoin.