Venezuelans are using Bitcoin to go around government restrictions
The country’s foreign currency policy has been restricting exchanges for several years now, and since then the only legal method for Venezuelans to get US dollars is through a government agency. Venezuelans can have loads and loads of bolivars (the national currency) and still be unable to buy the sorts of goods that many in the developed world take for granted. Currency controls imposed by the former President Hugo Chavez more than a decade ago and maintained by his successor Nicolas Maduro, make it difficult for citizens to exchange bolivars for US dollars and other foreign currencies.....
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The weakening bolivar and strict capital controls have forced Venezuelans to use bitcoin in their everyday life. Bitcoin has already been recognized as the best performing currency of 2016. The digital currency’s price has been exhibiting a positive trend over the year. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin makes it immune to conventional market forces, which in turn makes it the best alternative currency in the world. This very feature of Bitcoin is now coming handy to countless Venezuelans who are currently going through the worst economic phase in the country’s history. The problem....
Venezuela’s national currency Bolivar Fuerte is rapidly losing value amidst hyperinflation. The official FX value of the Venezuelan bolivar is $1 to 9.95 VEF but in actuality, in the country’s black market, local residents are paying around 5,000 VEF for $1. To avoid the devaluation of bolivar and acquire necessary daily goods, Venezuelans have started to rely on Bitcoin to finance their expenditures. By local exchange rates, 100 bolivar is equivalent to $0.02. The country’s highest denomination banknote was 100 bolivar, but the government demonetized it earlier this week. As a result, the....
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, approved a minimum wage raise increase last week that took it to three dollars monthly, a very low income for the citizens of the country that are facing a strong economic crisis since 2013. However, the crypto environment has been growing, and now Venezuelans are flocking to exchanges like Binance and Localbitcoins, platforms that are now serving thousands of Venezuelan users monthly with their peer-to-peer offerings destined to preserve the value of their money. Venezuela’s Minimum Wage Raised to $3 Monthly Earlier this week. Nicolas....
Venezuelans are having trouble flying in and out of their country. Spanish discount airline Air Europa has indefinitely stopped taking taking bolivars, the Venezuelan currency, since the Venezuelan government stopped exchanging them for U. S. dollars. "The reservation people told me that I could buy the ticket in dollars or euros, but not bolivars," said one stranded passenger. "I'm Venezuelan, and what other money do I have?" Indeed, around the world, citizens are subject to dictators' whims by virtue of being forced to use a currency over which leaders have absolute control. Such was the....
A failing Venezuelan government that has left the country deep in the trenches of economic ruin has now published an article through a state-owned media outlet that sums up bitcoin as a currency used by criminals and terrorist groups who, it deems, are the “main activists and advocates [of] bitcoin.” In a time of hyperinflation and a failed economy, the country’s minimum wage alone puts Venezuelan citizens beyond poverty. A high unemployment rate and hyper-inflated food prices are among the most critical concerns faced by Venezuelans. Understandably, citizens have been....