Lebanese Bitcoiners Show How to Talk About Crypto At Thanksgiving

Bitcoiners in the U.S. might dread talking to their relatives about the crypto market on Thanksgiving.

In the face of strict banking limitations and a dollar shortage that have sparked widespread layoffs and protests in the Middle Eastern country, bitcoin is helping some Lebanese get by.

A bitcoin trader in Beirut said his bank set an even lower a $150 monthly limit for "International spending." Chatter in Lebanese WhatsApp groups indicates many civilians are struggling to access their bank accounts storing any currency.

Unlike other traders, this bitcoiner doesn't accept fiat or local payments for his services - in part, he said, because his Lebanese credit card has been limited to $200 of spending a day.

A third Lebanese bitcoin trader in Byblos said his customer base went from roughly 30 people a month, converting bitcoin remittances from abroad to dollars, to 200 people this past month.

Family Ties.No one is claiming that bitcoin alone can "Fix" Lebanon's problems, popular Twitter memes notwithstanding.

"A local supermarket will have a small book that will say, for example, 'my family lives in this apartment and has been shopping there at the market for the past 10 years,'" said a fourth Lebanese trader, who is currently living abroad.Meanwhile, his peer in Beirut said he feels the personal risks to bitcoiners are higher these days due to misinformation and political rivalries.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah paints economic protesters as political groups "Exploited by foreign powers," which the Beirut-based bitcoiner said stokes animosity and increases violence within the community.

Since bitcoin is often associated with anti-government protests, by nature of its cypherpunk origins, this requires word-of-mouth education to show bitcoin is an apolitical asset, not a foreign get-rich-quick scheme, he said.

"Bitcoiners should help with [education], not saying that bitcoin will make your rich...but why it works and how it can work for us."