Palestinians Are Using Bitcoin to Transact Across Borders Amid Conflict

For a small but growing community of users in the occupied Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, bitcoin has become a lifeline.

Ismail himself helps 30 clients use bitcoin to purchase investments abroad, such as stocks, since there aren't any local alternatives for putting money to work.

One such currency dealer in Gaza, Mohammed, told CoinDesk over the past four years he helped up to 50 families a month purchase an average of $500 worth of bitcoin each to send money abroad or shop online.

"Nothing works with Palestinian banks. Bitcoin wallets are alternative banks."

One Palestinian tech worker told CoinDesk that when she tried to cash out a bitcoin payment from a remote employer, she couldn't get a fair fiat price from dealers in Gaza because crypto prices were soaring at the time.

Saifdean Ammous, a Palestinian-born bitcoin supporter, is skeptical about any claims that the cryptocurrency currently offers a solution to his homeland's economic straits.

"If the people who want to do the transaction don't both have balances in bitcoin then you're just adding extra layers of conversion from their home currency to bitcoin and back to the home currency," said Ammous, who is a professor of economics at the Lebanese American University.

The Techno Park's blockchain seminars at four universities across the West Bank have discussed government-sponsored pilots, enterprise crypto services provided by companies like Ripple, and initial coin offerings, in addition to bitcoin.

Even if it's too soon for bitcoin to make much difference now, Ammous said he believes that in the long term it has great potential to spark societal change.

The author of "The Bitcoin Standard" argues that governments, including those in the Middle East, have been able to fund destructive ideas, such as wars, precisely because of their ability to issue unbacked fiat via central banks.