Information on a Post shows a Redditor living in Yemen capital city of Sana’a using cryptocurrencies for charity works. This was from a Thursday Reddit post from user yemenvoice.
Accordingly, Yemen National raised a massive $12,000 via crypto donations.
This will be used to combat starvation in the country. Additionally, the donations will be used in buying food packages for families unable to access supplies during an ongoing civil war.
About 15 families from their claims is benefitting from the donations.
For instance, donations like flour, rice, oil and beans.
Meanwhile, they plan to reach 30 more in the near future.
“I have tried very hard to help my people by finding any possible way,”
said yemenvoice.
“I have tried to set up online donation campaigns, but unfortunately, all online donation platforms do not support Yemen. So, I thought of using cryptocurrencies as an alternative method, and indeed it was much easier and more effective.”
Since after the Yemen’s civil war in 2014, the country is om air, land and sea blockade since 2015.
This particularly causes the starvation and lacking of basic amenities in the country.
Also, this is after Saudi Arabian-led coalition of forces responding to a request for assistance from ousted President Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Reports from David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme shows that 16 million people in Yemen are starved.
Of course, This includes 400,000 children under the age of five, with food supply already very low and scarce.
However, Yemenvoice confirms a light of hope via using crypto donations to buy foods. Some of the cryptos includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Nano (NANO).
Crytpo Possible In Yemen
“[I] received donations, then transferred from my wallet to the wallets of merchants or the exchange company (we have only one company that accepts Bitcoin), then I bought these food packages, as you can see, and distributed them to the elderly, single mothers and orphans, although there is no difference between young or old, everyone is starving.”
Reports say Yemenvoice’s addresses receives around $600 in BTC, $1 in BCH, and $64 in NANO.
However, information from the Redditor reveals receiving $12,000 in crypto, which $3,000 is now used “to pay medical bills, buy medicines, pay rent and buy food.
However, they had some loss after trying to make trades with the remaining #9000 on binance.
“I consider the amount I lost as a debt to people, and I intend to pay it even if I had to sell one of my cars,” said the Redditor.
Despite the story still unverified, yemenvoice makes claims of how crypto helps him feed people in need.
Many Reddit users expresses support for the project. However, raises question on how one can effectively use crypto in a country like yemen.
“If I send an amount of Bitcoin, they give me the equivalent in exchange for the dollar, but in the local currency, and so on I buy and distribute these goods,”
Yemenvoice explains
“Soon you will see shop owners in Yemen trading in Bitcoin and not converting it to dollars or even to the local currency. Especially with the deterioration of living conditions here and the collapse of the Yemeni riyal.”
Yemen can now bypass sanctions from the United States or United Nations by relying on cryptocurrency donations. Also, Venezuela authorities uses crypto as a method of evading various sanctions on the country.
