Home
News
Intro: Palestine’s Monetary Authority, Central bank is exploring an option of using the digital currency CBDC. Feras Milhem, governor of Palestine Monetary Authority has researched cryptocurrencies and CBDC. He feels that using CBDC for domestic and international payment will improve the economic status of the country.
In the first of its kind incident, the Palestinian Monetary Authority, Palestinian’s Central Bank is exploring the opportunity of using the digital currency, as per the report by one of the media publications. The governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority, Feras Milhem, is researching cryptocurrencies and informed the news channel that two studies have been done with the hope of using digital currency for domestic and international payment.
No independent currency
Palestine has not had its independent currency for 70 years. The economy of the country primarily runs on the Israeli Shekel for daily transactions along with the Jordanian dinar and U.S. dollar. Both of them act as the store of value for Palestine.
Palestine’s intentions of using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) puts the nation in a league with other important geopolitical players, including China and Sweden who have started using CBDC in their respective countries.
However, the analysts of the nation seem to be a little hesitant about the feasibility of a Palestinian digital currency. Raja Khalidi, Director of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute feels that the conditions of the country, especially the economical condition of the country does not allow a Palestinian currency-digital or otherwise to exist as a means of exchange.
The monetary authority that has been pushing the law for the CBDC is likely impacted by Palestine’s dire economic situation. Israeli anti-money laundering law has led to the abundance of shekels in the banks of Palestine. There is a limitation that the number of shekels the banks have to transfer back to Israel per month have combined to create an untenable financial situation for many.
Venmo app posing a risk
In another incident, there were some attempts made to send humanitarian relief to Palestinians but they were blocked for review by Venom, the social payments app owned by PayPal. The financial censorship inherent in payment tools like Venom were at risk. The policy of Venom came to the limelight through social media reports from users who found the app either refused to process or temporarily halted payments label as being for Palestine relief and related terms.
Venom saw the blocked payments. The U.S. sanctions laws are designed as such that it will stop the financial support for international terrorism. This sanction list is maintained by the office of foreign assets control from the U.S.
No doubt that Palestine and Israel are in a continuous war, but it is the only human life that is suffering at the hands of the war. Not only this, but the economy is also at the helms of international aid and hence, there are a lot of frauds, scams and other issues propelling in Palestine. The country is suffering at the hands of foreign aids and foreign currencies, which has led the monetary authority to look for CBDC.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
