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Jordanians turn to cryptocurrency despite ban

Despite the risk in the cryptocurrency trading market, it remains largely unregulated in Jordan, where thousands have invested amid lack of job opportunities.

Bitcoin
A young woman walks past a Bitcoin symbol in the window of a company that offers blockchain application services on Dec. 21, 2021, in Berlin, Germany. — Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Ahmed al-Hindi, a young Jordanian, spends hours in the evening trading cryptocurrencies. 

Hindi works in accounting and has been trading in cryptocurrencies since 2017. He aspires to make profit in a country where the unemployment rate among young people is 50 percent, and the general rate is 24.8 percent per year, according to the World Bank and the Jordanian Department of Statistics respectively.

About 129,000 Jordanians, mostly males, trade in cryptocurrencies, according to a January report by the TripleA cryptocurrency payment company. 

Hindi explained, “I am currently investing around $12,000. Sometimes I make $2,000 over a period of months, and other times, I don’t make anything. Certain skills like proficiency in the English language, following the news and trading about 500 different currencies are needed.”

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