Illustrative photo (Credit: Mehaniq/Bigstock)
BEIRUT — Across the street from a bank shuttered behind a steel facade in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiyah, an exchange house dedicated solely to cryptocurrency is open for business in the early afternoon of a weekday, US dollars whirring through a counting machine.One of the clients coming to the Buy Bitcoin in Lebanon shop pays $500 in exchange for Bitcoin that will be used for the customer’s online business. Another client buys cryptocurrency that will later be converted to cash in Europe, avoiding the higher fees and commissions of transferring funds through money transfer businesses or Lebanon’s dysfunctional banks.The footfall of new customers at the exchange, however, is down from when Bitcoin was spurring many to seek quick financial gains. “When market prices move up, everyone is coming,” Nader Dirany — founder of Buy...
BEIRUT — Across the street from a bank shuttered behind a steel facade in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiyah, an exchange house dedicated solely to cryptocurrency is open for business in the early afternoon of a weekday, US dollars whirring through a counting machine.One of the clients coming to the Buy Bitcoin in Lebanon shop pays $500 in exchange for Bitcoin that will be used for the customer’s online business. Another client buys cryptocurrency that will later be converted to cash in Europe, avoiding the higher fees and commissions of transferring funds through money transfer businesses or Lebanon’s dysfunctional banks.The footfall of new customers at the exchange, however, is down from when Bitcoin was spurring many to seek quick financial gains. “When market prices move up, everyone is coming,” Nader Dirany — founder...