Arezo, 19, is one of hundreds of students in Herat who have been receiving about $ 200 a month in cryptocurrency since September, thanks to a US NGO Code To Inspire.
This amount, which she converted at a change bureau in Afghanistan, is crucial to the rent and to feed her family of six.
Since the return of the Taliban in August, Afghanistan’s economy has virtually collapsed and the country is in the grip of a crisis caused by the seizure of billions of dollars in foreign assets.
But digital currencies and their decentralized architecture, impervious to international sanctions, allow a handful of young Afghans to avoid the worst of the crisis.
“It was very surprising for me to learn that this can be used in Afghanistan,” Arezo told AFP. “It was really helpful.”
Code To Inspire was founded to teach computer programming to women in Herat, but its hi-tech approach now also helps students raise funds in the economically deprived nation.
Bank transfers to Afghanistan are currently almost impossible to prevent funds from falling into the hands of Islamist fundamentalists.
But even those with money in a bank are struggling to get it out – individuals are limited to withdrawing the equivalent of $ 200 a week, and businesses $ 2,000.
Customers have to stand in line for hours for these transactions as well.
Cryptocurrency transfers have allowed the NGO to overcome these barriers while making any donations to those who need it most, founder Fereshteh Forough told AFP.
“Crypto is an incredible way to overcome all kinds of political and economic sanctions, but it is also a tool that can change the lives of people living in an authoritarian regime,” said the American, whose parents in the 1980s have fled Afghanistan.
To ensure the financial security of its students, the NGO avoids paying them in Bitcoins, the most well-known crypto-currency, but their price fluctuates regularly.
Instead, it favors the BUSD, a so-called “stablecoin”, whose price is supported by the dollar.
“A BUSD is a dollar,” Forough says.
Crypto Coverts
In addition to this humanitarian initiative, cryptocurrencies are gaining other followers in Herat, according to Forex trader Hamidullah Temori.
He has seen an influx of new clients in the last six months, many of whom come regularly to convert crypto assets sent by family members from abroad to Afghanistan.
“Since the Taliban came to power (cryptocurrency), transfers to and from abroad have increased by 80 percent,” he told AFP.
Transfers are direct and commissions are much lower than transactions made through Western Union or Hawaii, the over-the-counter system traditionally favored by Afghans.
In Kabul, Noor Ahmad Haidar has been given a crypto-conversion by force of circumstances.
The young man, who in early 2021 exported saffron to the US, UK, Australia and Canada, has now paid 90 per cent of his orders in bitcoins.
“I avoid going through the chaotic process of bank transfers,” he says.
“Since August, it has really become the only available option, and the most convenient for me.”
Its growing popularity in Afghanistan was noted by Chainalysis in its 2021 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, which ranked the country in 20th place out of 154 countries for “big root take-up”.
“I do not think it was taken over just in response to the Taliban,” said Kim Grauer, director of the company’s research.
“It’s also because we’re in a time where there are more solutions that allow you to trade cryptocurrencies on your phone and more people understand what it is.”
Nevertheless, while the momentum is growing, the volume of trade remains very low, and will remain so due to the lack of internet access and high levels of illiteracy in Afghanistan, she says.
‘Very good protection’
But for those who can venture into this world, cryptocurrencies can be a lifeline.
In addition to his studies, Ruholamin Haqshanas of Herat writes for India-based media specializing in new technologies.
Since the advent of the Taliban, his pay, which is paid entirely in stable coins, has allowed him to absorb galloping inflation and the free fall of Afghanistan.
“Stablecoins offer very good protection against the loss of value of the currency,” says the 22-year-old student, who now earns more than his doctor’s father.
The young man is also trying to speculate about some of the more volatile cryptocurrencies, thanks to the advice of a WhatsApp group with 13,000 members in Herat.
Colleague Parisa Rahamati earned $ 600 in February to hedge the price of decentralized currencies like Ethereum and Avax – a windfall she shared with her widowed and unemployed mother.
“You have to be willing to take risks,” the 22-year-old confides.
“Crypto is 50/50 … You can double your bet or go to zero.”
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