Topic: Can Bitcoin be Palestine's currency of freedom?? (Read 541 times)

There is no financial freedom with a fiat financial system because governments and bank can restrict you with a number of rules. But bitcoin allows you to have financial freedom where you can send and receive millions of dollars without the need for approval from any authority. This is what financial freedom really means, but you can't expect the government to allow it.

Financial freedom is not meant because you can make a profit in the market for your investment and trading activities, that is something that should be outside the context of financial freedom.

Without permission from the government the Palestinian people can use Bitcoin but how they can get financial freedom is a personal matter and how they know how to use Bitcoin to benefit them

I think Bitcoin will be able to do what banks can't. Bitcoin can not only garner more financial support but also give people a sense of legitimacy, as well as a way to regain their lost honor in the world.

In fact, knowingly or unknowingly many people have witnessed firsthand the power of Bitcoin to innovate in life and wished the whole world had a chance to benefit from it. "BTC For Everyone".

As far as I know, we cannot have much information about Palestine because of wars and fights between Muslims and Jewish governments but regarding bitcoin since the government of Palestine is not strong enough to have their own fiat money I guess they won't have any problem with accepting bitcoin as their currency, regardless of that, many people in Palestine surely have problem with their governments and war and they will start the migration to other nations and bitcoin can help them as currency to be used in other countries for their people in this case.

This is dependent on how the Palestinian government feels about bitcoin and the level of financial freedom it will bring to the nation after acceptance. The top nations in the globe that will ultimately have a big impact on the adoption of bitcoin are neither El Salvador or the Central African Republic. But because they are aware of the positive effects it could have on their country's economy and are prepared to deal with the consequences, their governments utilise the use.

They took a risk because what would life be without it? I'm confident that other nations, including those with higher economic growth rates than their own, will imitate them once they start to see the benefits of the bold move they’ve taken. I think everyone is waiting to see how those two nations fare before acting themselves. If Palestine can grasp the financial freedom offered by bitcoin without being self-centered, they can take the bold step that few others have.

No, bitcoin does not act as a ticking time bomb for centralized financial system because in my opinion bitcoin is an alternative currency which is not 100% adopted by every individual even if your country legalizes it as a means of payment. Obviously that doesn't necessarily bring down the fiat system because there are a lot of people in this world who don't like highly volatile currency like bitcoin.

In the sentence you cut, I think everything is clear. But let me repeat it one more time.

Like fiat, bitcoin is a currency which can be abused.

Yup, it can be a form of protest in case you want to undermine the central government's powers. That you don't want to recognize their legitimacy as a government representing you or your people, by not using whatever local currency the government issued. This opens up the chance for Bitcoin to be an alternative currency among that group of people, Palestine, Afghanistan,... you name it. Gold can be used too but because of how physical and weight they're, it'll be a hassle to use in daily life and easy to be banned by the government with metal detector or xray screening.

Again, Bitcoin is like a tool. It wasn't its fault for the criminals to take advantage of it. To some freedom fighters out there that fight against the dictator or oppressive government, no doubt if Bitcoin were introduced, they would label it as illegal transactions for funding terrorists right away. It ain't our position to say whatever the cause of those freedom fighters was right or not. History is written by the victors. Heck, a few decades more, things might be completely different from how we saw them right now.

Whether for businesses or individuals, the concept adopted by bitcoin is of course very efficient to adopt. Not only do I think bitcoin is suitable for Palestine, but it seems suitable for all other countries everywhere when people want to have bank in their own hands without a central authority. You don't need a strict escort from any security forces to trade something in large quantities ^{[more millions dollars],} you can handle it even you can do it anywhere and anytime as long as you are connected to the internet.

The innovative concept of bitcoin as a means of payment can certainly help any country to get various benefits, El Salvador saves remittances from their financial transactions and the Palestinians can think the same if many residents work outside. But of course some people think bitcoin can help terrorists to get paid and carry out illegal transactions, but that is not the main idea for every adoption. Like fiat, bitcoin is a currency which can be abused.

By saying this, that means it seems you have forgotten about the true journey of Bitcoin, because we all know Bitcoin is a free digital currency that can be access by anyone anywhere around the world with just an internet connection, and Bitcoin is not a Demi-god who grants financial freedoom to any country by what O.P just said above, because this Bitcoin see today took it 13years to attain from $0 to that value it is today, of which you can't make it a legal tender today, and expect to be financially free tomorrow, which i think thats what El Salvador and the Central African Republic had in mind when making bitcoin a legal tender to liberate its citizens from poverty. Forgetting that bitcoin is a digital currency whose value grows with time, and Palestine is no difference if it's people are ready and willing to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender

Well, Bitcoin as a technology cannot solve all Palestine's problem, but it can bring Palestine into the global trend that are changing to a more autonomous currency. Bitcoin was supposed to be an alternative currency, but most people see it as a commodity and the governments of the world are happy to define it as a commodity and not as a competing currency. 

Bitcoin has also served as a method to bypass restrictions and sanctions that were placed on countries, because it is border-less and unstoppable by centralized authorities. 

I checked that Internet penetration is quite high in Palestine, which IMO is very important to ensure the climate in which Bitcoin can be adopted, since people are highly unlikely to use it if they don't use the Internet. I also googled whether Palestine has its own fiat currency, and it seems that it doesn't: instead, currencies of neighboring countries are used. Having something that would unite them financially thus makes sense, and Bitcoin could potentially be that thing. Moreover, I agree with the responses to criticism of the possibility of Bitcoin being Palestine's currency of freedom from the article (aside from the claim about volatility going both ways because, while true, it's important to admit that volatility on the level Bitcoin has it is a big obstacle for adopting Bitcoin specifically as money). But all this doesn't matter that Palestine will adopt Bitcoin, and perhaps with the level of instability they have policitically and economically, the last thing they'd want is an unstable currency.

I think financial freedom means we are now free to use our money and it doesn't mean that we will now be rich once we embrace bitcoin with us although it is possible due to its characteristics. For now maybe the adoption is low but I believe time will come that people will know the importance of bitcoin. Many people are soon going to embrace it.

If we want to attain a total freedom then we must use a wallet which we own our keys or seed phrases. I think btc to become a legal tender is only optional because many countries or people are now using a btc despite btc on their place is not yet a legal tender and still they can be able to use it on almost anything. Shops which accepts a btc are still popping out.

Here I see that Bitcoin is perceived as a magic pixie dust that treated and solve the world's problem. Kind of the same as many people incorporating blockchain to solve many issues while in fact, it doesn't need blockchain, after all.

It is a matter of urgency whether in some countries the people would willingly use it or not. People will prioritize firstly the urgent things in front of their lives, wherein security might be one of them. To be able to use bitcoin as currencies of freedom, there is an unrelated precondition that must be fulfilled before people utilized bitcoin in its utmost aspect.

I don't think it's that easy and it's not like you said,

because in my view, Palestine today needs more FIAT and food,
because they don't have time to take care of wallets or crypto,
even to start investing in crypto or using crypto/bitcoin as a means of payment,
they need an account card to top up their wallet balance,

while now they only focus on surviving, working and finding ways to overcome all problems,

but if they adopt bitcoin at this time,
I don't think the time is right
from an economic point of view, the situation and society are not yet stable,

because in my opinion if you want to adopt bitcoin you need a stable economy.

Actually bitcoin can be anywhere but when you look at the tensions that are happening in Palestine right now, of course bitcoin still doesn't have much effect.
Right now in Palestine it doesn't matter how much money you have in your wallet and even if you have bitcoins it doesn't matter how many bitcoins you have in your portfolio it won't matter because there are only weapons that are still needed.
their current conflict is not a conflict that can be resolved with words but with weapons and we all know that.

In some cases Bitcoin can help with that. I was listening a podcast of a Ukrainian volunteer foundation that officially and semi-officially buys weapons and equipment for the war, and they do use crypto for some of their contracts, and they say sometimes it allows them to fulfill contracts faster than with using fiat, because they bypass certain bureaucratic procedures.

In the future we might see resistance group relying on crypto for crowdfunding their effort and purchasing equipment as their main financial tool. Or at least it would play a big role.

Why people is embracing bitcoin is that it has freedom, during it's investment you monitor it's value without any one monitoring the value for you, i think that in the next twenty years coming bitcoin will be massively being adopted, i don't really understand you by saying bitcoin will make economic status of someone or country wesk. I think that aspect of theory is not really accepted, because the necessity of investing in Bitcoin is to make the economy to be valuable.

Bitcoin for all countries, not limited to any country even though it is prohibited. I don't know if Palestine will file for the legality of bitcoin as a legal tender, but it will be good for the financial freedom of its citizens.

Regarding the case of its use as currency, it has become a consequence to be misused by certain interested parties. Bitcoin does not support crime, but criminals can use bitcoin to carry out their illicit business. It can happen to other currencies, even fiat.

It should be applicable to the Palestinian state, but the country is in a period of endless war conflict. I am sorry for what is happening in Palestine, I hope that everything will pass quickly and we can rebuild what should be there. If that is all done, then the adoption of bitcoin as one of the Palestinian state currencies can be achieved.

I agree, El Salvador is a nation that is having some financial difficulties but they do not have 50%+ of the population being kids because all the bigger ones are dead. I am not going to go into details of Israel and Palestine war, that’s something politicians do and not something we can discuss here and solve, that’s impossible.

But, it is easy to at least say that people in Palestine do not live an easy life, and while they are missing water or food to survive, it would be childish to assume that they could use a mobile phone in order to deal with bitcoin, it wouldn't be possible at all. So, it’s easier to assume they can't really use it for freedom.

what el salvador expects from legalizing bitcoin as legal tender in their country; is to attract investors to enter their country, but investors are reluctant to invest in that country because they see something else, investors need interesting things to increase their interest in investing in el salvador.


Regarding Palestine, we all know that currently they are still at war with Israel, besides that the infrastructure in Palestine is also very bad, accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender there will only make the trust of the countries that donate to them decrease.
the Palestinian government must have had a discourse on the future of bitcoin in their country but matters related to politics and infrastructure are their biggest obstacles, it's like a double-edged knife if they accept bitcoin as a legal tender at this time.

I don't think I can, because bitcoin is not a means of payment like fiat,
what is my highlight here you say elsavador is financially free is this real? there are many articles that state this country has not succeeded in using btc as a legal currency, and the society is still as it used to be.

Before the Palestinian state proposed a crypto currency, El Salvador had already legalized bitcoin and had made bitcoin a legal currency in their country, El Salvador had legalized bitcoin for over a year in their country but their country's economy was still weak and even fell worse from before they legalized crypto currency, now Palestine is also proposing to make bitcoin the currency of freedom in their country, indeed this is being a fierce debate, some say if they use bitcoin as the currency of freedom in their country, then they can be free from the Israeli population, there are also those who argue that using bitcoin as freedom money in Palestine will not be affected by anything about the war with the state of Israel.

And how that's financial freedom work in real life?
https://reliefweb.int/report/el-salvador/el-salvador-central-america-mexico-migration-crisis-emergency-appeal-no-mdr43008-country-operational-strategy

Is that simple, people who don't have money can't have bitcoin cause bitcoin is something of value, whatever you consider it, an asset, a currency, an investment, and when nearly everyone in that country is almost near poverty or below poverty level then there is not going to be any major influx to bitcoin or another cryptocurrency because they simply can't do it! Remember how Bitcoin was supposed to save Venezuela, how it was supposed to fix every country from Argentina to SriLanka, how millions of Turks were rushing to buy Bitcoin years ago, how each damn country in distress was seen as a new way to prove bitcoin is a cue for all?
No, it's not, because it's not something magical!

Bitcoin is a tool, it's a thing that has value, that needs to be bought and used, that can't build you a house out of nowhere, put food on the table by running a command or suddenly make millions of well-paid jobs appear. And the biggest tragedy in all of this is that people who managed to fuck a country beyond repair with this system, will definitely manage to screw one relying on Bitcoin also, it's just a matter of time till the stupidity of people will break anything!
I've always said and I will stay by this till the end, bitcoin will flourish more in an economically stable environment, you have to build on at least something solid, it won't work just by throwing coins around in a country ravaged by war, crime,  corruption, and poverty.

In fact, countries that legalize bitcoin as a legal means of payment/exchange such as paper money can help the country from economic and financial inflation.

because bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency asset that has a very limited supply and the ever-increasing market demand can make it more and more scarce so its price will rise rapidly.
so it is impossible if the economy in that country to weaken.

Why so? It's not like the government forced people to pay with bitcoin; I'm pretty sure it's just optional. In the end it's up to the person if he/she wants to hold or sell his/her BTC.

You are actually misunderstanding the concept of adopting bitcoin in El Salvador as they have made it also the legal tender along with US dollar so it's not the alone legal currency there and I think Nayib Bukele was aware about that same volatility that could affect the investment.

But as you can see from this tweet Tax revenue is also growing and the British Pound has plummeted to record high so no talking about it? They are under the way of Bitcoin city and have made progress of schools also and doing fine so can't say they will regret their decision of adopting btc.

Right on the point that bitcoin can't solve the world problems but can provide you with financial freedom and decentralisation only but how can it solve the wars? The ongoing war between Russia-Ukriane can't be handled with bitcoin although people are using it.

Like in the case of El Salvador they have adopted bitcoin but still the crime rate is high and you can check on it safe countries list ranking very low so you can't confuse bitcoin with these political agendas as it's not capable of solving it.

If a country like El-Savador can be fine and alright doings with bitcoin adoption and Central African Republic not regretting it decision for adoption then the Palestinians should have it assurance that they will definitely have their own good encounters with bitcoin as well, there's no way we can fully control people from having biased mindset towards it but the result will make the difference afterwards, the government also have to take some crucial steps and stop listening to the market noise and face business on its dealings with bitcoin, if they can plan, put resources together and work towards the desires of the people for privacy and decentralization in currency then they can make a very good awesomeness away from bitcoin adoption.

Bitcoin is a currency of the free. So it doesn't matter where you are in the world for you to make the most of Bitcoin. Whether you are in the US or Sweden or Palestine, Bitcoin provides you the opportunity to deal with other people without having to go through a third party.

In the case of Palestine, though, where the people are being subjected to rules and laws that may not really be of their preference, Bitcoin is a much more attractive option. In the face of an antagonistic authority, a currency that can't be censored is the better choice.

But missiles, guns, tanks (obsolete now lol),... need money you know. They ain't grow from the tree. All it comes to money to armed your militia, to defend yourself or whatever you stand for and are willing to die for. Like you can preach about 2nd armament all you want but when you don't have enough money to buy a gun (or two or maybe a lot of it just for safe) to defend your home, all was just talk.

I say Bitcoin has a chance to debut in Palestine as a currency for black market dealing. Less fiat money trail for Mossad to track and intercept or prevent it. Rich Arab dude might feel empathic to Palestine's cause and send Bitcoin for them to buy guns and missiles. Less chance for the intelligence agency to find and flag it as terrorist funding.
off-topic, with Israel and UAE's normalization relationship, even trying to buy each other weapons (Israel's SPYDER ADS for UAE), the chance for Palestine to count on the Arab brotherhood's support is slim.

I don't think we need to compare it to El Salvador and other countries that have embrace bitcoin and crypto as a whole. It really depends on how the country is going to used it, and if they it can be their currency of freedom then so be it. And it will really take years before some nation will adopt it as legal tender or alternative to their local currencies, and so it will be a big challenge and there are going to be obstacles along the way for Palestine, not be easy and so only in the future that we will know if they adapt this idea of bitcoin being 'currency of freedom' or not.

Bitcoin could be a part of the solution to the economic problems of Palestine but not the Messiah because the economic challenges of the nation are multi-dimensional. The country is facing serious economic blockage from another powerful nation that is strangulating the financial sector of Palestine. Yes Bitcoin can give them access to cheap and reliable international and also national transactions, but investment in Bitcoin would be very slim because the nationals are only focusing on meeting their basic needs. Also, because of political instability and constant military attack, investors in the Bitcoin space would not risk their funds in such a nation.


It might be too early to measure the impact of Bitcoin on the economies of both El Salvador and the Central African Republic because they are longtime investors in Bitcoin. The President of El Salvador is enduring a lot of criticism because of the bearish market. Although we have heard reports of more revenue being generated from tourism in El Salvador due to the adoption of Bitcoin and the SANGO project of CAR is barely a few months old. Let's just be patient and believe that something positive would come out of this nation's bold steps. 

Bitcoin is a boundary free currency system so anyone who has access to internet, can freely use bitcoin. That's the beauty of bitcoin! So if any country adopts it as a legal tender, they can indeed use it towards their best belief. However, there is a risk element to everything and bitcoin is no exception here. It can be used for criminal activities as well it's very very difficult to track for the enforcement agencies. That's one point which is acting as a bottleneck for a lot of governments.

Also the price volatility is another challenge. El-Salvador is definitely experiencing it in a hard way. So every government that are planning to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. needs to have risk mitigation plan ready. Scraping their own currency is not good. Bitcoin can be simultaneously used alongside their own currency which is better and there is a fallback point. Completely depending upon bitcoin can bring disasters!

Underdeveloped countries aren't ready for Bitcoin/crypto.
BTC adoption failed in El Salvador, why do you think that it will be more successful in Palestine?
AFAIK, every Palestinian is free to use BTC/crypto if he or she wants. I don't know about crypto being illegal in Palestine.
Giving Bitcoin some miraculous powers of "bringing financial freedom" is simply dumb. The poor cannot be financially free because they are poor. The currency they are currently using doesn't matter. If you are poor and you are using crypto, you would still be quite the opposite of financially free, because you are poor. Bitcoin/crypto cannot help the poor to become rich. The financial/crypto market doesn't work that way.

How about actually diving into Palestinian politics a little?

We have the PLO which is supposed to be controlling the majority of Gaza-held Palestine, which is just a large coalition of political parties, the largest being Fatah, and then you have Hamas (which battles the PLO for control over Gaza) which instead of peacefully ruling over its part of the land, seeks to cause trouble with Israelis, which has resulted in it being classified as a terrorist organization by pretty much every western country.

Fatah's political leadership in particular is rife with corruption and it's questionable whether they actually care about the Palestinian cause.

Against this mixed façade, how do you expect Bitcoin to be of any political use here? At most, it only provides an economic relief.

You can not liberate your home with money, you'd need weapons.
When the planes come and drop bombs on your head, it doesn't matter if you are using bitcoin or another currency, you'll blow up just the same. Which is why freedom is only gained through armed defense just like in Ukraine.
You can't send Ukrainians bitcoin and ask them to fight the invades with money or blow up their tanks with bitcoin!!! They'll need missiles, guns, etc to fight the invaders.

Bitcoin doesn't mind (it doesn't care either). We don't mind. But.. it's not us who have to answer this.
It's all about people's willingness to use Bitcoin for their every day needs and about the political decision makers who can make this happen.
Just don't forget about the price volatility, since it's still a real problem.

Nope, there's an another article who discuss Palestine isn't directly accept Bitcoin payment, but they're need to convert Bitcoin to fiat which is that's not what to enjoy a complete freedom. When you need to convert Bitcoin to fiat, you're using exchanges and you will be asked to complete your KYC first.

There's no countries right now want to pay anything in Bitcoin equivalent since they're scared of the volatility, but at the same time if they purpose is to get complete freedom, you must not link your coins to any exchanges.

I have seen other posts of yours in the past and consider you a decent poster but this you have written is garbage to be honest. You say El Salvador and the Central African Republic are experiencing financial freedom? LOL. El Salvador remains about as poor as it was and Bitcoin adoption has been rather low despite government promotion:

Everyday Bitcoin usage in El Salvador remains low despite government push, US academic study finds

Most of them, when they receive a payment in Bitcoin, immediately convert it to USD, especially with the downward trend of the Bitcoin price for many months. Users in El Salvador, the vast majority, if they use Bitcoin do so through Chivo Wallet, which is centralized and with KYC. The financial freedom thing in those countries can only be understood as a joke, and you are going to reaffirm this, I hope that you will provide arguments to back it up.

I don't know much about the Central African Republic but I imagine it will be similar.

So the parallelism with respect to Palestine I don't know where you get it from, unless it is because of the logic that from a false premise you can deduce anything (incorrectly).

In this forum we are biased about Bitcoin and we tend to see it as a solution to the world's problems, but you have to get out of the fishbowl and realize that there is a whole world out of water.

Bitcoin is for everyone and everywhere. Just need to have Internet connection, a non custodial wallet (should have it, rather than custodial wallet), you can use Bitcoin.

Can use means you can receive and send it to others. Next, get accepted as a payment method locally is different; get legal tender is more different. If you use Bitcoin for illegal things, you will not have or have less issue with government even Bitcoin is not legal tender in your country.

It is totally free, portable and no central control or censorship.

 Bitcoin is a decentralized coin that allows one buy, sell and make exchange without needing the supervision of a third party and as such helps one become financially autonomous.
In Gladstein's words; Bitcoin is a peaceful protest, a digital tool which could leaw to a greater change.

But with such a high opinion of Bitcoin, there are still naysayers who believe the currency has no business in procuring freedom for Palestine financially.

 Hadas Thier, a writer and activist sums cryptocurrencies as volatile and capable of being used to bolster criminal activities, hence her adamant belief against it's power..
 Other countries which have adopted the currency as a legal tender seem to prove otherwise.
Can Bitcoin be allowed to grant the financial freedom for Palestine that which El Salvador and Central African Republic are experiencing?
 https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/examining-bitcoins-role-in-palestine