The current situation in Lebanon reminds us of the dramatic reality

For millions of people, however, the situation is much worse. I am talking about people living in emerging countries, or under authoritarian regimes.

You all know the tragic situation in Venezuela. Millions of people there have been living in hell for years. The disastrous policies of President Nicolás Maduro are endangering the lives of millions of Venezuelans who have to struggle day after day simply to survive.

For these people, Bitcoin has already become a Plan A.

You should know that, as I write these lines, an equally dramatic situation is emerging in Lebanon.

Long before the Coronavirus pandemic that we are experiencing, Lebanon had already been the scene of anti-government protests for many months. With the arrival of the Coronavirus, citizens were ordered to remain confined to their homes, as has been demanded elsewhere in the world.

Last week, the Lebanese government began to loosen the confinement by allowing some businesses to resume operations. Far from rejoicing at this beginning of the reopening of the economy, the population decided to return to the streets and resume their battle against the government.

It must be said that with the global economic crisis starting, the local currency, the Lebanese pound, had just fallen to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar.

Concretely, this means that the Lebanese population is seeing all its wealth disappear. Moreover, their hard-earned money is gradually becoming worthless.

In anticipation of a massive withdrawal in U.S. dollar of all the money the Lebanese have, local banks have been instructed to limit their clients’ withdrawals. Thus, the Lebanese will have monthly withdrawal limits.

Worse yet, Lebanese will not be able to withdraw their money in any currency other than the Lebanese pound.

The Lebanese therefore find themselves trapped by the currency devaluation that their government is putting them through. As is often the case in such situations, it is the poorest who are most affected.

To protest against this attack on individual freedoms, the population has taken to the streets. The images coming from Lebanon are terrible and extremely violent. The roads are blocked, the banks are attacked, and the Lebanese people marching in the streets have rather simple demands:

The Lebanese are simply asking for the right to live with dignity.

People just want to be able to enjoy their hard-earned money so they do not lose it all.

Unfortunately, the country’s authorities are preventing them from doing so. They want at all costs to prevent the Lebanese from exchanging everything they own in Lebanese pound for U.S. dollar.

For the Lebanese, however, this is something crucial, because they no longer have any confidence in their currency, and so they want to protect themselves by exchanging it for the U.S. dollar, which is the world’s reserve currency.

Aware of the situation, the Central Bank of Lebanon added more constraints on Sunday evening by issuing a directive to all exchange offices to order them not to sell U.S. dollar above 3,200 pounds.

At such a low exchange rate, customers had no choice but to keep what they had in Lebanese pound.

No one knows how far this situation, which is dramatic and inextricable for millions of Lebanese, will go.