NgU or “Number Go Up” is a catch phrase, which I believe was coined by Pierre Rochard, and the Bitcoin community on Social media has been using it for all sorts of purposes. “Bitcoin is the world’s most advanced NgU technology.” Tweeted Pierre Rochard on May 7, 2020. This is to say that not only that newcomers drive the number to go up, but also the number going up attracts newcomers. In simple terms NgU leads to Fomo (fear of missing out). And NgU is a constant feature of Bitcoin.
What is the “Number” in Lebanon
Number go Up in Lebanon can mean first and foremost; Bitcoin’s price valued in Lebanese Pounds. Ever since the beginning of the devaluation of the Lira in late 2019, The BTC/LBP chart has been going through a parabolic uptrend. Second, NgU can also mean the number of Bitcoin newcomers to the Lebanese market. Only last year I used to struggle to find one person who cares about Bitcoin, however this year the topic is within a lot of people’s daily conversations.
Running the Numbers: BTC/LBP chart
If you go online, on any trading/forex app you cannot find a proper BTC/LBP chart because the Lebanese Pound is still considered as pegged to the USD. You will find a USD/LBP rate of 1515 while the actual rate is, as these lines are being written, around 7000.
So, I gathered data from lirarate.com and Yahoo finance and I generated the following BTC/LBP chart from October 2015 till to 28 October 2020.
On 9 October 2015, the price of one Bitcoin was LBP 369,555, on 28 October 2020 Bitcoin closed at LBP 94,678,907. In other words, Bitcoin appreciated by 25,520% in the duration period of 5 years only. Mind blowing to say the least. Moreover, Bitcoin reached all time high on the 5th of August 2020 at the price of LBP 101,024,393. At this specific date one Lebanese lira could not buy you one Satoshi. Here is a fun fact, my father’s monthly salary when he was in his 20s was around 50 liras. Bitcoin has no ceiling as fiat has no floor.
Bitcoin NgU Due to Money Printing
One could not simply assume that the economic crisis in Lebanon started on October 2019, some of this country’s issues are far older than that. However, one could say that after October 2019, the central bank was given a free pass to print all the money it can print. Money printing happened for many different reasons and to satisfy some specific purposes, I briefly explain all this in my article ‘Dollar Shortage? Let Them Eat Lira!’. While the central bank was pumping endless paper money into the Lebanese market, here is how Bitcoin reacted:
I obtained the M1 data from the Lebanese central bank website, Banqueduliban.gov.
As shown in the chart above, The M1 supply from July 2017 until September 2019 was constant as it was briefly fluctuating above and below 10,000 in billion LBP. Enter October 2019, the M1 supply skyrocketed from the 10,000 levels to more than 30,000 in billion LBP in September 2020. In other words, the supply was multiplied by 3.
While all of this was happening, Bitcoin was functioning as designed. When your government decides to print money, Bitcoin price goes up. Hence, NgU technology, a constant in Bitcoin. The BTC/LBP price went up by LBP 80,161,606 from 1st October 2019, the starting month of the printing fiasco, till 28th October 2020. That’s a 552% increase. The NgU effect.
Bitcoin NgU Leads to Newcomers
As I briefly mentioned in the introduction of this article, only last year finding Bitcoiners in Lebanon was not an easy task. In 2020 and as NgU took place, many newcomers entered the Bitcoin community. Bitcoin Du Liban’s telegram group now has around 550 members (The biggest bitcoin only community in Lebanon, to know more visit bitcoinduliban.org). I am also getting dozens of messages on twitter from Lebanese people asking about Bitcoin. Furthermore, People in real life talk to me about it, when two years ago everyone considered Bitcoin a boring topic. But guess what NgU is not boring!
Conclusion
Bitcoin means much more than simply its value in fiat. However, most of the future Bitcoiners will get in after the Number goes Up. It is only a few lucky ones who can understand that NgU is inevitable. If you live in a country which has not yet been devastated by hyperinflation, then you’re still in the early pre stages of NgU and for you, entering the Bitcoin rabbit hole, is not about luck, but simply about being informed about what happens in other places in the world ahead of you on the timeline and acknowledge that your country and your monetary system are never safe.
Bitcoin Diary In Lebanon
