The country of Syria, after going through war for decades and finally succumbing to loss with the fall of the government led by Bashar Assad, is thinking of going forward with a bold reform to legalize Bitcoin BTC. To combat inflation and provide more stability in the economic segment to attract foreign investors, Bitcoin is being embraced digitally via a proposal set forward by the Syrian Centre for Economic Research.
The proposal outlines a multithreaded approach to integrating Bitcoin into the country’s financial system as Syria pursues the monumental reconstruction process. Central to the plan is digitizing the Syrian pound on the blockchain, pegged with BTC, gold, and the U.S. dollar, a strategy to give much-needed stability to the national currency.
The Syrian Center for Economic Research publishes a proposal for the transitional government to legislate #Bitcoin in Syria and digitize the Lira 👏 pic.twitter.com/dEm8gwfzdP
— Bam ⚡️باسم (@bamskki) December 31, 2024
Syria Eyes Bitcoin Mining To Boost Economic Recovery
It also calls for exploiting Syria’s energy resources to mine Bitcoin, requiring a regulated framework to legalize mining and trading BTC. The proposal pays great attention to environmental protection and provides regulatory measures against monopolistic control.
Further financial inclusions would be promoted by incentivizing participation from Syrian financial institutions, startups, and money exchangers to build businesses that include Bitcoin. In this way, the privacy and security of Syrians are taken care of, and the self-custody of the digital assets is included.
Syria has lofty ambitions, but considerable obstacles remain, including the impact of international sanctions, a lack of technological infrastructure, and significant debt from the old regime. Supporters argue that Bitcoin’s decentralized nature could help Syria bypass traditional banking systems, a tactic employed by other heavily sanctioned nations such as Iran and North Korea.
Nevertheless, the proposal attempts to distinguish itself from the more controversial uses of cryptocurrencies. For instance, extremist groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, previously aligned with al-Qaida, have been reported to use digital currencies in funding operations, raising ethical and legal concerns.
On the other hand, the Syrian Center for Economic Research proposes a legitimate and transparent financial framework under the supervision of the transitional government that will benefit the wider population rather than particular factions.
Such a step to legalize Bitcoin for Syria at this moment of its development draws something parallel with other countries recently having made a similar move, like El Salvador and the Central African Republic, fully adopting BTC as legal tender.
According to their officials, both countries, especially El Salvador, have made gains with increased tourism and international investment so far, but they continue to raise eyebrows due to economic risk and debt complications.
This geopolitical complexity and limited resources make Syria’s path to Bitcoin adoption uniquely more difficult than others. It would take huge investments in technology and collaboration with international partners for such a thing to become a reality.
If done correctly, this may establish Syria as the front-runner in adopting cryptocurrency usage within the Middle East. New doors for economic progress and modernization may open; political instability and a lack of capital might prohibit such advancements. Thus, the future of Bitcoin is also very vague in this region.
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here