The number of Egyptians turning to Bitcoin is increasing amid high unemployment rates and the increasing pressure of the economic crisis, as the Egyptian Bitcoin community is witnessing a huge increase in the number of members interested in mining and trading cryptocurrencies.
Egyptians are increasingly turning to Bitcoin:
The Al-Monitor news site reported last week that many Egyptians are attracted to bitcoin amid the coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis and rampant unemployment.
According to Mr. Mohamed Abdel-Basir, an expert in Bitcoin mining and trading, and a prominent member of the Bitcoin community in Egypt, there is an increase in the number of members of the cryptocurrency community, which indicates an increase in demand for mining and trading digital currencies in Egypt.
He also pointed out that more than 16,000 Egyptians joined the cryptocurrency community, specifically cryptocurrency mining, and “Mohamed” declared:
The number of miners in Egypt should be greater, as each of the 16,000 members can train and mentor many of their friends and families in different regions and neighborhoods.
The same spokesman added:
Working online from home, reducing working hours, and curfews have increased in frequency since March as precautionary measures against the outbreak of the Corona virus in Egypt.
There is a huge shift in business and there is a tendency to work online from home due to the reduction of working hours and the curfew of thousands of Egyptians, which made them think of investing their spare time in unusual online activities such as mining and trading cryptocurrencies, and in particular Bitcoin.
Another Egyptian Bitcoin miner told that he chose the job after losing his job at a contracting company whose workers were downsized after the coronavirus outbreak.
He invested what he had saved over the past years in new work (mining).
And the aforementioned source article stated that more than half a million Egyptians lost their jobs, as unemployment in the country increased from 7.7% in the first quarter to 9.6% in the second quarter.
According to the cryptocurrency geography report for 2020 prepared by the blockchain analysis company "Chainalysis", Egypt ranks 64 out of 154 countries in the global cryptocurrency adoption index.
Chainalysis ranked Ukraine first, followed by Russia, Venezuela and China.
The report also shows that most bitcoin trading in Egypt takes place on global trading platforms such as:
Okex, Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex, FTX, and Bitmex.
While only small amounts of Bitcoin are traded on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms.
The Egyptian trading bitcoin on the “Localbitcoins” platform saw a volume of 10 Bitcoins traded in the week ending September 26th, but the volume of trading on “Localbitcoins” was growing steadily.
The Egyptian economic and financial advisor told “Wael Al-Nahhas”:
Unemployment, stagnation resulting from the spread of the Coronavirus and the precautionary measures that have been taken are among the main reasons behind the tendency of young people to trade bitcoin and mining.
Wael added by saying:
Bitcoin mining and trading attracts thousands of Egyptians because they do not need a lot of capital to start work, and the savings of millions of Egyptians are dwindling due to the recession.
Many young Egyptians have started investing with small amounts despite the bitcoin's increase in value.
They started mining bitcoins, making a daily profit of 4% to 5% of the difference between the purchase prices during the timing of the low demand and the selling rates at the time of peak demand, along with some quarterly or annual profits from unexpected increases in bitcoin prices.
Muhammad Mohsen, a lawyer and Bitcoin miner, also said:
Egyptian laws do not criminalize dealing in cryptocurrencies.
People arrested by authorities misused cryptocurrencies in crimes, such as fraud and terrorist financing.
“Ahmed Shoair,” lecturer in economics at Cairo University, believes that the Central Bank of Egypt will soon legitimize encrypted digital currencies.
He explained that the central bank was preparing to issue a law in this context in January, but the Coronavirus pandemic had changed the bank's priorities.
