A tale about 10,000 BTC, one Pizza and a lingering student’s crises in Lebanon.
In the fall of 2018, a MIT Professor and recently nominated for SEC Chairman under Biden administration, Prof Gary Gensler, took a class on Introduction to Money and Blockchain. If you have questions about how Blockchain impacts the economy via cryptocurrencies, it is an excellent class to take.
You can enjoy the lecture (discussion) here
Anyone with access to the internet can attend an MIT class through youtube; that’s already a breakthrough in the education paradigm.
While watching the lecture, I discovered that the first-ever bitcoin transaction was offered in May 2010 at 12:35:20 AM by ‘Laslo’ who just wanted a pizza to be delivered at his home; he was offering 10,000 bitcoins, which as per today’s rate is $603’790’00
Now, fast forward to 2021, after the grave Corona virus crises, an unexpected crises hit people of Lebanon, especially those studying abroad and were receiving money from their parents living in Lebanon.
“However, the Lebanese Parliament passed a law in 2020 allowing up to $10,000 per year to be sent for each student already enrolled abroad in 2019. In theory, the transfer must be made at the official rate of 1,515 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, more advantageous than that of the black market, which now approaches £12,000.”
but the problem, the Lebanese government don’t have any $ reserves to match these exchange rates
https://www.lematin.ch/story/la-galere-des-etudiants-libanais-a-letranger-764695810468
What I am trying to say here is: We are currently facing an unprecedented virus pandemic which we could not avoid in our hyper-connected world, but we have an opportunity to control how we decentralize financial regulation, mitigate risky situations like the one happening currently in Lebanon and Venezuela, wherefrom one day to another the ruling government or banks can decide whether you can use your own hard-earned money which you saved over the years.
