An Interview with Professor Nada Mallah Boustani Talking about Bitcoin is a bit emblematic these days when we hear the news about Sam Bankman-digital Fried’s asset empire who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ending one of the wealthiest and most influential individuals in the cryptocurrency market and his wide range of prosperous enterprises, including exchanges and a major trading operation. This situation led consumers to withdraw their money when the price of FTT, the exchange’s native cryptocurrency, crashed this month (November 2022), causing an instant crisis at FTX. Cryptocurrency values decreased after hearing the news, with Bitcoin losing as much as 8% before gaining some ground. Ether decreased along with smaller token sizes. What can we say about crypto risks, usage, and evolution? What are cryptocurrencies in a nutshell? Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum and the blockchain technology that supports them are among the broadest topics of study regarding the development of the financial sector in the past period. Bitcoin arose out of a liberal project that began as a reaction to the role played by central banks after the global economic crisis in 2008. Cryptocurrencies are intended to be a decentralized and liberalized payment method. Where is cryptocurrency widely used? There are great differences between countries in terms of the general public’s adoption of these new currencies and their technologies. Nigeria is now one of the leading markets in the cryptocurrency world. Its economy is developing in a difficult economic climate, as it has faced a crisis of losing confidence in traditional forms of investment. Although the Central Bank of Nigeria asked banks to close accounts using cryptocurrency in last February, arguing that these financial transactions are illegal, this did not prevent the largest economy in Africa from being one of the largest virtual currency markets, with transactions exceeding 400 million USD last year. The second and third-highest rates of cryptocurrency use were also recorded in Thailand and the Philippines. About 15 virtual currency exchanges are licensed in the Philippines, and the Central Bank of the Philippines is overseeing a new regulatory framework to oversee this booming sector. In addition to Africa and Southeast Asia, Latin America is also an active region in dealing with cryptocurrencies. Argentina leads with an adoption rate of 21%, and Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru are between 12-15%. In Europe, Switzerland has the highest adoption rate of 13%, while cryptocurrency adoption is lower in Germany and France 5-6%. Who are the cryptocurrency users in the world? More than 100 million people are believed to own cryptocurrency worldwide, three times what it was two years ago. While it is difficult to locate these new crypto wallets, due to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, it is difficult to know the address of the transactions or the number of funds being exchanged. Although the largest cryptocurrency exchanges are located in the United States of America and China, Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela are the countries whose residents use these electronic currencies. There is one element that unites these countries: the suffering of a political and/or economic crisis in the past years (Ukraine and Venezuela since 2013, and Russia since 2014). But one of the analyzes of online exchange traffic for these activities. It can be concluded that Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela outperform the United States of America and China in the proportion of operations in terms of population and income level. However, the use of these cryptocurrencies for payment has so far been very limited, even if the COVID-19 pandemic has blown up non-material digital payments after they have proven their strength against this crisis. Also, the shares of these currencies attract the increasing demand for them through operations in the “blockchain” issued from a digital token. How is the growth of cryptocurrencies evolving? In early February 2021, Tesla’s president, Elon Musk, announced that his company had invested 1.5 billion USD in bitcoin. In the wake of this news, the most famous currency experienced a wave of unbridled demand, and its value rose from 39000 USD to 57000 USD within a few days, and it was a record number since this currency was put in circulation before it fell to about 47000 USD after a few days. These currencies, like any innovative method, follow a certain curve before they reach a degree of wide acceptance among the people. This is called the innovation adoption rate curve (Everett Rogers law). First, we find the innovators, then the early adopters follow, as they reach the peak of the adoption curve, then the curve slows down during a phase when the later majority adopts the new technology. Crypto investments have increased by 880% worldwide compared to last year. The reasons for this vary in different regions. In emerging countries, people mainly own cryptocurrencies to protect themselves from the devaluation of national currencies. As for the West, the demand for it is increasing after many large investors have shown their interest and tangible support, as their deals are large, sometimes exceeding 10 million USD per transaction. In July 2020, the volume of their investment amounted to about 1.4 billion USD, and it grew a year later to reach 46.3 billion USD. Europe has become the largest liquidity provider for the global cryptocurrency markets. Where is Lebanon located in the cryptocurrency world? Lebanon is no exception to the crypto-asset frenzy. Amid the financial crisis, the Lebanese are using cryptocurrencies to bypass banking restrictions, but they are mostly motivated to try to preserve the value of their savings, which is an adventure that is not without risks. Virtual currencies no longer attract only a small community of savvy people who share the libertarian philosophy behind their creation, or those motivated by the desire to be in the crypto world. Indeed, many Lebanese use cryptocurrencies to deal with and invest their remaining savings after the financial collapse that occurred in Lebanon, which led to the local currency losing more than 90% of its value against the US dollar, and banks imposing restrictions