Best Bitcoin Card for Palestine
The monetary authority in Palestine is reportedly considering the introduction of its own crypto currency. According to Reuters, Azzam Shawwa, head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority’s department, said Palestine was considering a Bitcoin-style solution to make up for its lack of a central currency.
With a missing Palestinian currency and the hurdles that would stand in the way of such a currency, the Monetary Authority has now focused on a fully digital approach. According to Shawwa, the authority, which is the de facto central bank of the region, should not be able to issue its own conventional currency. The reason for this is a treaty which led to the foundation of the monetary authority.
“It should bear the name of the Palestinian pound,” Shawwa told Reuters.
- In addition, the crypto currency will be secured by a commodity such as gold, oil or other reserves.
- Digital payments are urgently needed in the region as services like PayPal refuse to operate in the Palestinian market.
It is not yet clear when such a crypto currency will be introduced. Nevertheless, the Palestinian Monetary Authority wants to establish the currency on the market in the next five years.
About Palestine
Palestine is a country in the Middle East that claims the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The country has a total surface area of 6,020 km² and a total coastline of 40 km. This area is about 2.3 times the size of the Saarland. Palestine is therefore one of the smallest countries in Asia and ranks 172 worldwide. With 778 inhabitants per km² it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
There are direct national borders to the 3 neighbouring states Israel, Egypt and Jordan. The distance between Berlin and the capital Ramallah is about 2,890 km.
Palestine has a subtropical climate, so it is much drier and warmer than here. Only in a few more humid months per year there are heavy rain showers. The average daily maximum temperatures are between 18 and 33 degrees, depending on the season. In the colder months, the temperature drops at night to up to 8°C in the monthly average.
In 1995, income from tourism amounted to 186.83 million euros, around 7.8 percent of gross national product. Within 22 years, the country’s dependence on tourism has decreased considerably. In the last year of the survey, turnover now accounts for 199.17 million euros, or 1.6 percent of gross national product. Every visitor today spends an average of 396 euros on his holiday in Palestine.
A tourist is anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months. Insofar as the survey also included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other travel purposes not related to tourism have already been filtered out. The number of passengers passing through within the same day and e.g. crew members of ships or aircrafts is also not considered a tourist purpose in most countries. If the same person travels in and out several times within one year, each visit counts again.