Lebanon to devalue currency by 90% on Feb. 1, central bank chief says

reuters.com

30 points·monero-xmr··6 comments

> Salameh told Reuters that commercial banks in the country "will see the part of their equity that is in pound decrease once translated into dollars at 15,000 instead of 1,500."

Why would a bank have any pound-denominated assets at this point?

Any bank deposits would be pound-denominated. This is why many people throughout the world keep their money in wads of U.S. dollars under their mattress.

Against an official devaluation like this that does little good, because they can just invalidate old notes and issue new ones.

That's why they keep U.S. dollars under their mattress.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/2/3/lebanon-us-dollar...

> Ad hoc lirafication has been happening since the country first started sliding into crisis in August 2019, when Lebanon’s banks began to withhold deposits in US dollar accounts.

> Currently, depositors can withdraw from their dollar accounts in Lebanese pounds – but at an unfavourable exchange rate that wipes out 70 percent of the market value of those dollar savings, while helping banks trim their losses and expenses.

"But crypto is a terrible idea. People who violate banking regulations are criminals, Why do we need cash? I pay for everything with my card, it's sooo convenient!" Say many naval-gazing, privileged people on this very site who've never had to deal with the grotesquely regular bullshit of third world banking and government finance...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com