Can Bitcoin help global refugees and migrants to relocate to new countries?

[goldkingcoiner]

The problem in relocation for most of these refugees is not money, but rather opportunity. And as long as the government does not give them the opportunity to relocate, there will not be any need for Bitcoin in securing transport/housing/living costs anyway. But if they have the opportunity, then Bitcoin is obviously the currency of choice to take with you. No bank middlemen who refuse to pay your money out, no third parties demanding any rules of you before you can transfer your funds to a different country and no fear that someone will rob you at gunpoint. Unless you brag about your Bitcoin holdings, but if you do that then you are just asking for it.

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[Faisal2202]

Even the blockchain is transparent and the crowdfund/charity is raised by trusted intermediary e.g. president or government, there's no proof if the coins are distributed for the needs. If you're talk about the money is send to every refugees' addresses, Bitcoin address is pseudonymous and it's complicated to distribute to every refugees.

If one person (Refugee) is being migrated from one country to another then its means, government knows him/her and is providing them a chance to use BTC (if they are) otherwise this thread does not exists in the first place. And how this would be a difficult task, AFAIK, refugees if have to receive BTC they would have to fill some type of form, where they have to submit there addresses in order to receive the funds directly, or maybe some smart contract can do this work based on BTC blockchain. I might be missing the point that could cause complications but I'm all ears.

Bitcoin is not yet successfully as legal tender, it's really long way to achieve BTC can be used as a loan

I don't think to provide loan, it have to be accepted as legal tender, many companies in US are giving loans in BTC while USA does not accept BTC as legal tender.

There's no guarantee or obligation for local businesses to give discounts for the refugees, no one cares with you, that's the real reality.

It's bitter but yeah it is true and a valid point but those who wanted to do something can make some difference and would provide special discounts.

[DeathAngel]

Bitcoin could definitely help global refugees & migrants to relocate to new countries. The decentralised design of bitcoin could allow them to have control over their money without needing a traditional banking system. This could obviously be beneficial for refugees who could lack access to banking services in their host countries. Bitcoin's low transaction fees & fast cross border transfers makes it an attractive option for sending money across borders which could help migrants in supporting their families or funding their relocation. Bitcoin could provide financial inclusion to people who are unbanked allowing them to save, receive remittances & access financial services. It’s important to remember that adoption and infrastructure may vary in different regions & price volatility may pose risks to users.

[tabas]

That refugee card is actually a good card to be used by those migrants that are not yet documented if ever they fly somewhere else that they're still in the process and don't have funds remaining but their Bitcoin holdings. While fees for the process of their migration needed to be in cash, it would be better if there will be some payment channels that will integrated with the government process for them to get easy payment for these migration processes. In finance, definitely that Bitcoin is going to be of big help to them. No need to bring piles of cash and they won't be detected if they're holding a private key somewhere on their luggages. At first, it's going to be a hectic and tough process for them but as long as they've got funds sitting through Bitcoin, everything is going to be fine. But how about those that don't hold it and will go through with the same process? This is also like having and not having money.

[Cryptomultiplier]

If the refugee is tech savvy and a good user of cryptocurrencies, yes,  it wouldn't be any issue for BTC to help in migration to new countries.
The case for concern is if BTC is legal in the country migrated to, or it is legal but not considered a legal tender for transaction and payments.

[Zlantann]

Let's discuss more ways for Bitcoin to help these vulnerable people, so that we can help them to continue with their lives.... and eventually return to their country of origin.... when the conflict are done.   

The biggest problem these refugees will face is the legality of cryptocurrencies in the country they fled to. Life will be more difficult if Bitcoin is illegal in the country because they will have limited options to carry out financial transactions. I know refugees don't always have an option but those who want to depend on Bitcoin should choose to move to crypto-friendly nations. They can organize themselves and form a Bitcoin P2P community using social media. These refugees could also partner with shops that sell basic needs and arrange to pay for products using the Lighting Network.

This is exactly what I'm talking about! Most people in poor countries, or those forced to live in a conflict zone, are unlikely to own assets such as Bitcoin. If a person has money, he can easily leave a place where there are high risks to life, and live quite comfortably in another country. And what kind of assets these are, dollars, euros, bitcoin - this is no longer important, the scheme for transferring funds to a safe place is simply changing...

Only the financially stable can indeed own Bitcoin but these refugees might have relatives and friends that are rich. These rich friends or family members might want to send money to these refugees or people living in war zones. With the collapse of banks, cryptocurrencies could be an option.

[Kakmakr]

I am saying there are a lot of things that Bitcoin can do for these people and we as a Bitcoin community should brainstorm ideas on how to help them.

Let's take this scenario : You live in a country where a terrorist organization are forcing you and your children to fight for them or be killed. So you decide to flee the country to protect yourself and your children. So you pack your earthly possessions and you flee on foot.... but you know the enemy knows this and they are waiting for you on the way. (There are also groups of thieves that are raiding people that are fleeing the country)...... What do you do with your wealth?

Solution : Convert the majority of your wealth into Bitcoin.... use a safe online method to store your private key and/or Seed to keep it safe... then try to cross the border.... then retrieve the stored information and convert it into the currency of choice and begin a new life.

We as a Bitcoin community with a lot of talented developers, can create an online or offline solution to protect those coins, because it is all they have. 

[ultrloa]

Let's discuss more ways for Bitcoin to help these vulnerable people, so that we can help them to continue with their lives.... and eventually return to their country of origin.... when the conflict are done.   

The biggest problem these refugees will face is the legality of cryptocurrencies in the country they fled to. Life will be more difficult if Bitcoin is illegal in the country because they will have limited options to carry out financial transactions. I know refugees don't always have an option but those who want to depend on Bitcoin should choose to move to crypto-friendly nations. They can organize themselves and form a Bitcoin P2P community using social media. These refugees could also partner with shops that sell basic needs and arrange to pay for products using the Lighting Network.

Well maybe this one bring a lot of problem to them but I think there's nothing to worry about since most of the country have local exchangers where you can exchange your bitcoins to fiat, but if there's no services like this available for sure they can do p2p to the nearest crypto users since for sure there are people who use bitcoin in that country to use for their investment. That's why for them its really a smart choice to convert their local fiats to crypto especially if there's a war happening so that they will not struggle to bring a lot of money to secure their family once they decide to flee.

This is how useful bitcoin is in terms of national crisis that's why government should think about adopting it since it could give them convenience but as well it can give them some extra profit that can help their economy to grow.

[libert19]

Those 5 ways sum up pretty much everything, they can simply relocate to new country, convert their Bitcoin to fiat of that country with whatever method available, and rent and live. 

[justdimin]

I like the points you made OP. Because I also think that Bitcoin can help refugees or anyone who wants to flee or leave their country which is experiencing a humanitarian crisis or is at war. Carrying cash in person may be very dangerous. So converting it to Bitcoin will indeed be much safer. Because control is completely in our hands. Apart from that, with Bitcoin it will also be easier for us to access it as long as there is internet. Especially if the banks are closed. So as long as we can transfer money from our bank account digitally, we can convert it to bitcoin. But we also have to make sure that we use a safe wallet. And have stored the private key safely.

I mean by logic it's true that you can take everything with you online, like you do not even need a hardware, just need one email, and an account at an exchange, you can go to anywhere in the world and you can open the account there.

However, I do not think that people who are at refugee levels have the extraordinary amount of money that they would normally have to carry somewhere else to begin with. Imagine people in Gaza right now, Israel is attacking, and surely there are terrorists there but lets be reasonable and acknowledge that there are innocent people there too, who are getting their city bombarded constantly.

So let's assume you want to leave, you come from a nation that has nothing, even water and electricity is given by your enemy, and you basically have your clothes on your back that could be considered all you have, what good does bitcoin could do for you? What are you going to carry towards another nation if you could even leave?

[Davian144]

If the refugee is tech savvy and a good user of cryptocurrencies, yes,  it wouldn't be any issue for BTC to help in migration to new countries.
The case for concern is if BTC is legal in the country migrated to, or it is legal but not considered a legal tender for transaction and payments.

The issue of legalizing Bitcoin for migration countries can actually be done as long as the residents of that country are very familiar with Bitcoin and the procedures for using it. Because it goes back to the confidence of everyone there, including the state officials there, whether they are confident enough in Bitcoin, like the El Salvador president's confidence in Bitcoin, if they are confident enough, I think it will be easier to make legalization of Bitcoin happen. into these migration countries.

[Jawhead999]

AFAIK, refugees if have to receive BTC they would have to fill some type of form, where they have to submit there addresses in order to receive the funds directly, or maybe some smart contract can do this work based on BTC blockchain. I might be missing the point that could cause complications but I'm all ears.

There's a high chance of abuse, someone can fill the forms by submitting fake identity and different address that they own.

many companies in US are giving loans in BTC while USA does not accept BTC as legal tender.

Where you read this? I didn't find an article said US are giving loans in BTC.

Note: it must be a loan without collateral, if it's a loan with collateral, those refugees will not able to take loan because they don't have a valid collateral aka valuable asset.

what good does bitcoin could do for you? What are you going to carry towards another nation if you could even leave?

Yeah that's the logic, you must be rich.

Bitcoin is definitely good and can be used for many solution, but people forget not everyone have a same financial status.

[puloweh555]

The question is..... Can Bitcoin help these refugees?

We know that Ukrainian Banks closed their doors, when the first bombing started and most Banks do this when there are a possibility of a war. So how do people get their money out of the "Banking" system, when Banks close their doors?

When war occurs, everything will be in chaos, starting from the availability of food and even banks being closed or even suspended during the war, other possibilities will also definitely occur. In situations like this, Bitcoin must be the solution.

The existence of bitcoin will certainly help refugees or people in countries at war. Because bitcoin is easy to access anywhere and can be sent anywhere at a low cost. Moreover, Bitcoin is easy to carry anywhere, this is different from money which is difficult to carry around in large amounts and the possibility of the money being damaged will definitely occur when war occurs. So in conclusion, bitcoin is very helpful when war occurs, in fact many humanitarian transactions during war are easier to use bitcoin.

[ancafe]

We are seeing conflict in many countries all over the world and many of these people are fleeing their country of origin, because they are going to war and their local currency and economy are collapsing.

The question is..... Can Bitcoin help these refugees?

Of course, it is possible if there are good people who want to donate bitcoins to these refugees, as has been done by several communities on forums. The question is whether these donations can reach the refugees if they are not managed by the right party because if we directly send bitcoins to refugees they will definitely not have the opportunity to access and convert them to fiat currency. Because they were under heavy pressure due to the ongoing war.

You can answer this question in your heart and whether there is a community that is willing to run a charity that accepts bitcoin and distributes it to those who really need it. Institutions outside the impact of war may be able to manage bitcoin donations well because for communities affected it may be difficult to do so because they do not have access to these services.

We also know that the Banking system are reluctant to open Bank accounts for foreigners or refugees in the country where they end up.

That's why you need a charity organization to manage it and they have their own account to distribute aid. If they are willing to accept bitcoin it will be much easier because they can convert the bitcoin to fiat money before they distribute aid.

[Faisal2202]

There's a high chance of abuse, someone can fill the forms by submitting fake identity and different address that they own.

I assume the refugees have already given their identity to the government to move from one place to another, and that identity can be used for robust identity verification. I know this hurts the purpose of decentralization and anonymity that BTC provides but in hard times people in need of money don't have any privacy concerns. If they don't have any privacy concerns then KYC can be done to avoid the abusive use of forms. Overall, this system is way better than the traditional one (we are currently using)

Where you read this? I didn't find an article said US are giving loans in BTC.

https://coinledger.io/tools/best-companies-for-crypto-and-bitcoin-loans. You can find many companies providing loans in BTC to the citizens of US and also to other citizens too. I was going to provide the link in my previous but I thought it would be easily found.

Note: it must be a loan without collateral, if it's a loan with collateral, those refugees will not able to take loan because they don't have a valid collateral aka valuable asset.

That's a good point you have raised, I forgot to mention collateral free loan.

[so98nn]

If we overlook the facts of rules and regulations while crossing the borders then yeah I think it would be an amazing idea. For example, if I am in the conflict zone and I have a thousand bucks on me but I am moving to the conflict free zone which is another country and my currency isn't supported then it seems logical for me to convert all my assets to Bitcoin in the first country. Once I am free from it and moved to the new destination I could just either sell off my bitcoin and convert it back to the local currency. If we go with that sense then why not, Bitcoin can help me individually.

However, this doesn't seem to be possible as operated workflow by any government or entity for the refugee itself. I mean if any entity gets involved so as to help refugees with their finances using Bitcoin then they will have to declare every transaction. This way both sides will know Bitcoin is being used for such activities and they may have to follow all the rules and regulations of transacting it. Some may agree and some may not.

This could also give rise to money laundering under the name of refugee financing. So it depends whether it sindivudal choice Or an organizational level operation.

[panganib999]

It could happen. This happened in Ukraine last year, granted there is a centralized donation/charitable institution that handled the transfer and facilitation of donations and funds for the refugees and victims, as with Palestine's situation I'm not sure if they have the same liberty sadly. Although I guess we could send our donations to the same people who advocate for the abolition of the war and all that stuff, especially those who remain to have audience/internet connection within the country, preferably those who are opposed to the abuse that Israel is subjecting Palestine over cause I see a lot of these motherfucking influencers brainwashing people to make it as if what Israel's doing (bombing cities and using innocent palestinian children as practice dummies for their drones for months on end).

Globally, if we have a governing body regarding charities and institutions that we can trust, perhaps they could setup crypto donations, and I'd be more than happy to chip in some help!

[Fortify]

We are seeing conflict in many countries all over the world and many of these people are fleeing their country of origin, because they are going to war and their local currency and economy are collapsing.

The question is..... Can Bitcoin help these refugees?

We know that Ukrainian Banks closed their doors, when the first bombing started and most Banks do this when there are a possibility of a war. So how do people get their money out of the "Banking" system, when Banks close their doors?

We also know that the Banking system are reluctant to open Bank accounts for foreigners or refugees in the country where they end up.

"In April of this year, Binance Charity launched the first-of-its-kind Binance Refugee Card for all current and new Binance users from Ukraine forced to move to EEA countries as a result of the war with Russia, the card and crypto-based cash assistance helped 15,000 Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people." - Source : https://www.binance.com/en/feed/post/93305

How can Bitcoin help these people to relocate and continue with their lives in a new country?

1. Brainstorm "safe" methods to convert Fiat to Bitcoin
2. Provide offline and online cold storage solutions to protect their coins.
3. Provide an easy on-ramp to convert Bitcoin to Fiat and the other way around for refugees.
4. Offer reliable and trustworthy P2P services for these vulnerable people, when they arrive in a new country.
5. Keep the transaction fees at these services as low as possible, to give them more money to start a new life.

Let's discuss more ways for Bitcoin to help these vulnerable people, so that we can help them to continue with their lives.... and eventually return to their country of origin.... when the conflict are done.   

Bitcoin is actually very useful for this purpose, even more so when combined with a variety of other platforms and assistance. One of the hardest things any migrant will face is how to move money around when they originate from certain countries and cryptocurrency effectively stops that discrimination by allowing banking anywhere. However they have to be careful about getting ripped off and may be well advised not to carry any indication, or rely on something like a phone, while travelling some rather harsh routes that might result in them losing such a device or it breaking. However it's possible to spread a bitcoin wallet across multiple different drop boxes and reconstruct it later.

[lixer]

1. Brainstorm "safe" methods to convert Fiat to Bitcoin
2. Provide offline and online cold storage solutions to protect their coins.
3. Provide an easy on-ramp to convert Bitcoin to Fiat and the other way around for refugees.
4. Offer reliable and trustworthy P2P services for these vulnerable people, when they arrive in a new country.
5. Keep the transaction fees at these services as low as possible, to give them more money to start a new life.

These things can be done by an exchange or some service provider and they don't necessarily have to use Bitcoin for this and any other cryptocurrency can also be used, and what I'm trying to imply with that is that it is not really Bitcoin that is helping them relocate or solve their problems but it is some service provider that would do that. So, any cryptocurrency or any other asset can solve all these issues of the refugees if they are all being done by a third-party.

Some people say that governments of the countries allowing refugees should assist them using Bitcoin, they need to understand that governments of most countries are not in favor of Bitcoin and they will never do that. They might help them with local fiat currency or providing them shelters and food.

[Kakmakr]

If we overlook the facts of rules and regulations while crossing the borders then yeah I think it would be an amazing idea. For example, if I am in the conflict zone and I have a thousand bucks on me but I am moving to the conflict free zone which is another country and my currency isn't supported then it seems logical for me to convert all my assets to Bitcoin in the first country. Once I am free from it and moved to the new destination I could just either sell off my bitcoin and convert it back to the local currency. If we go with that sense then why not, Bitcoin can help me individually.

However, this doesn't seem to be possible as operated workflow by any government or entity for the refugee itself. I mean if any entity gets involved so as to help refugees with their finances using Bitcoin then they will have to declare every transaction. This way both sides will know Bitcoin is being used for such activities and they may have to follow all the rules and regulations of transacting it. Some may agree and some may not.

This could also give rise to money laundering under the name of refugee financing. So it depends whether it sindivudal choice Or an organizational level operation.

This is not money laundering.... because this money are not derived through illegal activities. Yes, people might be able to circumvent certain limitations that are placed on cross border transfers, but it is definitely not money laundering.

In any way.. the restriction are normally on the side of the country of origin.. because that country does not want the people to leave with their wealth. (taxes)