Lebanon Inflation Rate Reaches 264%; Citizens Turn to Crypto

Lebanon’s annual inflation rate hit 264%, substantially pushing crypto adoption rates up. Citizens are also showing high interest in AI crypto.

Lebanon is facing an obscenely high amount of inflation, with the annual inflation rate increasing to 264%. That figure is up from 190% in February.

Lebanon Inflation Rate: tradingeconomics.com

Inflation Rates Skyrocket in Lebanon

As a result of the high inflation, citizens are turning to crypto to sustain themselves, including using crypto to buy groceries. Some users on Reddit have talked about the dire condition, explaining how $1 is the equivalent of roughly 100,000 LBP. The user has also talked about how crypto usage has skyrocketed in countries with high inflation.

The country’s central bank devalued the currency by 90% on Feb. 1 to combat inflation. Whistleblower Edward Snowden spoke about this, saying that Bitcoin fixed the problem of inflation.

That is a point that is frequently brought up in the crypto world. Citizens also appear to see the benefits of crypto, as seen in the massive increase in adoption in Lebanon.

Locals Turn to Crypto for Groceries

The situation in Lebanon is quite bad, as its infrastructure is also being affected by the state of the economy. It has gotten to the point that citizens are robbing banks while others are simply mining Bitcoin to keep themselves afloat.

There are even riots against financial institutions, with Beirut seeing intense activity. The central bank is facing some serious accusations, including fraud, embezzlement, and corruption. As such, people are using crypto assets like Tether to buy groceries, with $1 being worth about 15 cents now.

Interested in AI Cryptocurrencies

As citizens of Lebanon have been flocking to crypto, they have also been showing a lot of interest in AI. In fact, Lebanon is the country that is most interested in AI crypto, according to a CoinGecko report. Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates follow in second and third.

The general theme of that report seems to be that economically weak countries are most interested in AI, as is the case with crypto. It remains to be seen how they will be integrated into economies, especially since AI regulation is ramping up.