The Real Use Case of Crypto During Global Instability

[Miles2006]

During periods of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, do people actually turn to crypto as financial backup or is that narrative still mostly theoretical?

Am just thinking out loud!

Economy failure can result to poor financial status mostly when dealing with fiat or other kinds of asset that’s not reliable enough, crypto is not really 100% guarantee during times like this just focus on bitcoin mainly as a store of wealth and a backup for future purpose whenever the economy system fails to function properly. These conflicts are just means to fuel up hardship basically times like this inflation gets really serious, although I’m not certain if crypto is the right solution.

[Italian Panic]

I’ve said this before: to force Ukrainian men to go to war they’ve frozen the bank accounts of their family members, so that no one can escape or worse, flee in poverty in another country.
Being prepared and converting assets into Bitcoin or other crypto allows people to flee a country at war, save their lives, and live well elsewhere with their own money. This is certainly an excellent use of it.

[Agbamoni]

In certain context, people might decide to change the choice of the asset they are invested in based on safety reasons and the fact that in times of global instability, certain sectors might experience direct hit because of the instability and investing into something like bitcoin that to an extent does not easily get affected or even though it does get affected has an high tendency of quick recovery is a sure thing an investor will want to look into

Speak of the ability of Bitcoin to surpass its ATH even if it falls to its lowest. That is all the more reason why people should choose Bitcoin over others. If you talk about a high tendency to recover, just know that it is not always like that for Bitcoin. Perhaps you have not experince a severe bear season, as I did in the past. A dip that lasted for 2 years before it started recovering, almost everyone thought it was the end of Bitcoin. After having such experince, I dont need anyone to tell me to choose between Gold and Bitcoin. I know my preference.

[shinratensei_]

During periods of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, do people actually turn to crypto as financial backup or is that narrative still mostly theoretical?

Am just thinking out loud!

They did, there is reason sometime bitcoin being sold at significantly higher price in conflicting region because the demand surpass the supply.
Its not even theorical, see in many conflicting countries bitcoin is the best way to store your wealth and even when the price is volatile its far better than a currency that lost 99% of its value in just few days when conflict arise.

[slapper]

Not theoretical anymore. But also not what the narrative promised.

The Iran situation has created precisely the conditions that crypto maximalists were talking about for years as the use case. Sanctions. Currency collapse. Inflation above 40% even before any of this began. Internet blackouts. Capital controls. And Iranian citizens are using crypto, have been using it, specifically because the rial is unusable and formal banking channels are either sanctioned or surveilled or both.

The rest of the world, the people not within a collapsing currency regime, had largely not rotated into Bitcoin when oil spiked above $100. Gold did what gold does. Defense stocks went up. Crypto moved around and did not obviously work as the store of value that the narrative keeps promising.

And I think that makes a huge difference, and we keep flattening it.

Crypto is available as a financial back-up when the alternative is broken. When your central bank is the problem. When your banking system is the problem. When the dollar, which crypto is ironically still priced against most of the time, is the escape route and not the thing you're escaping from. For Iranians, Venezuelans, Nigerians on the extreme currency devaluation. Yes, real use case, documents real use case.

For someone in Germany or Singapore watching the price of oil rise? Probably not going for hardware wallet.

[viljy]

During periods of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, do people actually turn to crypto as financial backup or is that narrative still mostly theoretical?

Am just thinking out loud!

Very doubtful. When physical survival comes first, more reliable things gain value. Cryptocurrency does not belong to such assets. First of all, it is food and water, then the rest of everyday needs, then gold, currency. The simplest example: it is impossible to use not only cryptocurrency, but even bank transactions if there is no Internet. And it's not a figure of speech. That is, the Internet may be somewhere in some places, but its unavailability in most places greatly reduces opportunities.

[Webetcoins]

Depends on how your country is affected during this war. Some countries are having a shortage of gasoline and oil, and people are rushing to stock up on those and hence cashing out their Bitcoins or other assets.

For countries that are not affected by the war, I guess they are buying more crypto because the price dropped and it's a good time to get in because eventually everything will be alright.

In general, when a crisis or pandemic happens, it's usually bad for crypto because the assumption is that during a crisis, people will cash out their assets and prefer money in hand for survival.

[el kaka22]

The real use is just to hold your store of value. When there is a war, you just buy bitcoin and then you just hold it for as long as you can. If you were Ukrainian, and bought bitcoin in 2020 when it was low, and sold it in 2025 when it was high, you would be one of the few Ukrainians who got richer during a war.

If you can understand that logic, you can apply it to any instability around the world and you will not have any problems at all. Many miss that part and I think that's the reason why we are facing these type of issues. Value is protected with bitcoin and that's how you should use it.

[Glowy]

During periods of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, do people actually turn to crypto as financial backup or is that narrative still mostly theoretical?

Am just thinking out loud!

Well bro, the question is great and honestly the answer is both. Because it also depends on the country a person is living in. For example, during the Ukraine and Russian war, the P2P Bitcoin trading volume increased significantly within days. Even Ukraine was receiving crypto in the form of donations, because fiat would have taken weeks through traditional channels, and there are other reasons too.

The same happened with Iran's currency collapsing. People rushed to save their money by turning it into something that won't be eroded by inflation. The same has happened with Turkey and Argentina during crisis times there. But in tier 1 countries people won't buy Bitcoin in times of war, they will buy gold or maybe treasury bonds because they are old-minded, but the new generation is actively buying and taking interest in Bitcoin.

While this generation is interested in bitcoin there are still old folks who are interested in gold and the likes because they understand and trust investing in those. So, like you said, its both ways, whichever is safe for the investor that's where their money goes.

[ZAINmalik75]

I’ve said this before: to force Ukrainian men to go to war they’ve frozen the bank accounts of their family members, so that no one can escape or worse, flee in poverty in another country.
Being prepared and converting assets into Bitcoin or other crypto allows people to flee a country at war, save their lives, and live well elsewhere with their own money. This is certainly an excellent use of it.

Are you sure about this? Like the Ukrainian actually did that? Is there any reliable source for this? I have not found any yet. If this is true and they have done this, then I am surprised. I won't judge anyone here but the connection of Bitcoin is real here that I can judge on.

Centralized finance systems can be used as weapons against us anytime and there is no doubt that a country could use it to force a person in demand to do exactly what they want him to do. They freeze banks, revoke other privileges, so the person has to play their game. But morally speaking this is not the way to win wars. It is deperation but I am not saying anything about this until you confirm it.

[tabas]

IMO any asset can be used as a back up for every global turmoil that we're experiencing. Because there's no assurance of how stability a country will be if it's the oil that's being affected and its global supply chain. And investment that we have kept and held, there is a way to spend that depending on the situation. So, if you are in need of some cash then you have to liquidate the assets you have in crypto so that it will be put into use. But don't sell whole that you have.

[o48o]

During periods of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, do people actually turn to crypto as financial backup or is that narrative still mostly theoretical?

Am just thinking out loud!

In very specific situations, i might do it.

For example, if i was escaping from unstable and sanctioned region that's in middle of a civil war, or i would be in some way in danger to be imprisoned or assassinated by my own government.

Then i think it would be safer to sell all my wealth and store it into small file, that i could travel light with, and retrieve later, if i found an asylum that wouldn't immediately seize my money.