Mudug region: Crypto, Remittances, and Survival in Somalia's Heartland

When you think of the Mudug region, a remote, semi-arid zone in central Somalia, home to pastoral communities and critical trade routes. Also known as Mudug Province, it's a place where internet access is patchy, banks are scarce, and cash is king—but Bitcoin and USDT are quietly becoming the new currency of survival. This isn’t a story about crypto traders in New York or miners in Texas. It’s about mothers in Galkayo sending money to relatives in Baidoa, farmers trading livestock for digital tokens, and young men using mobile wallets to bypass broken financial systems.

The remittances, the lifeblood of Somalia’s economy, accounting for over 30% of GDP. Also known as dahabshiil transfers, they flow through informal hawala networks, but now increasingly move via crypto bridges and peer-to-peer apps like Paxful and Binance P2P. In Mudug, where the nearest ATM might be 100 kilometers away, a phone with a WhatsApp group and a crypto wallet can mean the difference between eating today or going hungry. The Somaliland, a self-declared autonomous region to the northwest, with stronger digital infrastructure and crypto adoption. Also known as Republic of Somaliland, it’s not officially recognized—but its traders regularly send crypto to Mudug to support family and buy fuel, medicine, and grain. This isn’t just about convenience. It’s about autonomy. When the central government in Mogadishu freezes accounts or when inflation hits 40%, crypto becomes a shield.

And it’s not just individuals. Local merchants in Galkayo are starting to accept USDT for goods, bypassing the Somali shilling’s volatility. Community leaders are using blockchain to track aid distribution. Even the blockchain in developing regions, a growing trend where decentralized tech fills gaps left by failing institutions. Also known as crypto in fragile states, it’s proving more reliable than banks, governments, or international aid agencies. You won’t find headlines about this. No VC funding. No token launches. Just people using what works.

What follows are real stories from places like Mudug—how people use crypto not as speculation, but as survival. You’ll read about how Iranian traders under sanctions use similar tools, how Vietnamese families send money across borders using stablecoins, and how landmine clearance teams in Cambodia rely on digital payments to pay local workers. These aren’t isolated cases. They’re part of a quiet revolution: crypto as infrastructure for the unbanked, the ignored, and the resilient. What you’ll find here isn’t theory. It’s practice. Real people. Real transactions. Real life.