Lebanon - the country which is notorious for its political and cultural diversities - namely secularism, now demonstrates a discrepancy of official opinions on crypto-currencies. Not surprising, then, is the fact that this diversion of viewpoints emanates from the same source - the Banque du Liban (BDL).
The Lebanese main financial watch-dog was one of the first Middle-Eastern banking regulators which issued an official rebuke to digital money as far back as December 2013. Among other gloom-and-doom remarks, the referred circular, which was quite prolifically named "Call 900. Directed to banks and financial institutions, exchange institutions, financial intermediation institutions and the public.", contains the following paragraph: : "In order to address the risks and significant losses that may result from the use of virtual money, the Banque du Liban warns against buying, holding and using such money."
Since then this "Call" has became a battle cry of the undercover anti-Bitcoin campaign headed by the local banks. Although, doing business with digitalized money is, formally, not prohibited by law in Lebanon, it's still impossible to link your local saving or checking accounts to any crypto-trading platforms, national or otherwise. At the same time, despite their own arguments weighed in against the newly emerging electronic assets class, central banks' officials revealed (on October 2017) their plans to issue the one of their own in the following couples of years.
Among other things this startling revelation contains the following phrase: "We understand that electronic currency will play a prominent role in the future. But BDL must first make the necessary arrangement before taking this step and develop [a] protection system from cybercrime".
Now, the local crypto-community has to somehow deal with two contradictory future predicaments: the dystopian one, where their government will try to impose as stringent surveillance as possible on individuals' growing ability to access and to manage digital assets through personal electronic devices; and the other, where Lebanese authorities' natural tendency to maximize their gains from world's major technological innovations will inevitable make the new, open, crypto-currencies-based digital economy an integral part of Lebanese citizen's every day lives.
Business Notes for Lebanese Startups Founders:
political climate: not friendly;
economic climate: not friendly;
regions to focus: MENA;
industries to focus: FinTech (notably, banking), e-commerce, marketplaces, EduTech;
major limitations: contracting economy (GDP growth rate fell under 1%), high level of bureaucracy, dependence on foreign aid, high taxes (personal income tax is up to 21%), decreasing foreign investments, political instability caused by neighboring civil conflict in Syria;
stimulus: service sector orientated economy, low inflation, very high fixed Internet penetration rate (80%), fast growing population of young Internet users;
opportunities: to built an e-business aimed at MENA region.
Cryptocurrencies and ICOs (outlook): not regulated (moderately negative).
