financial privacy amid the Taliban’s dramatic insurgence, predicts
Charles Hoskinson.
However, he also believes the Taliban will embrace digital assets too.
In a Sept. 1 interview with CNBC,
Hoskinson, also a co-founder of Ethereum expressed his expectation that
“cryptocurrencies will play a larger role in Afghanistan [...] in the
war for and against the Taliban forces."
Hoskinson highlighted the need for financial privacy-preserving technologies in Afghanistan, stating:
Cardano
founder Charles Hoskinson believes that digital assets may play an
important role in offering financial privacy to Afghani citizens
following the withdrawal of US forces.
“Afghan’s digital
life is now under scrutiny, the last two decades are being reviewed by a
regime that if you expressed your opinion in ways that don’t fit their
regressive viewpoints you are now under threat of harassment,
imprisonment or even death.”
While concrete presumptions
around how cryptocurrencies will benefit Afghan society were scant,
adopting digital assets would allow Afghan citizens to evade the
Taliban’s attempts to track personal spending or seize their crypto
assets.
Using digital assets as a store of value could also provide protection against inflation, with some analysts speculating that Afghanistan may soon face a crisis of hyperinflation.
While
many local bank accounts have been frozen at the behest of
international aid organizations and the United States, Western Union
also suspended services in the country until further notice last week —
limiting the means available to Afghani citizens seeking to transfer
their assets internationally.
"Western Union understands the
urgent need people have to receive funds, and we are committed to
resuming operations for our customers in Afghanistan as conditions
permit," the company said in a statement.
There are already many organizations that have shifted to accept cryptocurrencies in an effort to facilitate funding of basic needs and medical care for the Afghan people.
Related: Crypto can alleviate the financial fallout for people in Afghanistan
Crypto adoption appears to have been rising in Afghanistan over recent years, with the country currently ranking 20th according to Chainalysis’ 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index.
Other
developing countries including Venezuela, Vietnam, the Philippines and
neighbor Pakistan also dominate the adoption rankings, suggesting
digital assets are seeing significant adoption in countries with poor
financial infrastructure.
source link: https://cointelegraph.com/news/cardano-founder-says-crypto-will-be-vital-to-afghani-fight-against-taliban
