Bitcoin Forum

The Venezuelan people are suffering under high inflation (official inflation rate is 124%, inofficial rate is 720%). Why do they not switch to Bitcoin or alternative coins? Do they not know about Bitcoin or do they do not have access to Bitcoin buying options? This is really a mystery for me  :-\

Becouse bitcoin is p2p any gov will not switch to any p2p currency,thay will loose power over people that way

The system is rigged in a way that money is king. So you control the money you control the people and bitcoin can change that right?
I believe so but in this situation we are dealing with people that need to provide for their people and a government that wants to stifle any alternate currency.
You factor in that people needing to get bitcoin are going to be overly exposed to being robbed till atms are setup and its more understandable why these poor countries are not adopting bitcoin.

When you are surviving in life things are totally different for you in priorities.

Are there many shops accepting bitcoin? and is mobile internet or free wifi popular in the country? Without the infrastructure, you can't even buy bread with bitcoins... besides, they can easily use another currency like USD or GBP or RMB... why bitcoin?

Bitcoin can't serve an entire country in the way that fiat does, currently it can't even take the volume of transactions.

why should they? they even arrested two guy that were mining there, i see no reason for them to embrace bitcoin, after that thing happened

like i've said it is more probable that advanced countey will embrace bitcoin more easily, like japan, europe etc, in fact they did embrace it already with a great form of regulation

if you were middle class in Venezuela, would you really not think about trying to procure a few (10-20) bitcoins?
Mining must be easier to track than just buying a few bitcoin.  They are getting destroyed by inflation at the moment, I would like to think that I would be getting my savings into PMs and bitcoin.

I think many of us in the west expect hyper-inflation at some point, if we generally accept that in the case of hyper-inflation our PMs and Bitcoin will be useless, then what is the point!

people in charge there don't care about what is happening as long as their pockets are getting filled each month. beside that, it's also the fact they will never allow a currency to be used as main currency that they can't control.

Bitcoin cannot be used as an 'everyday day' normal currency, plus there may be some legal restriction there to prevent its adoption.

Their government is probably restricting them from using bitcoins. Because if people are able to do transactions with bitcoins, the government wouldn't get a hold of their money. They would lose their power. That's why it's probable that their government is manipulating them.

i dont think inflation can solved with bitcoin,not an easy as you think,venezuela's inflation have so bad,and i'm sure bitcoin can't help for it,if bitcoin must help venezuela from inflation,people need to know and begin from the first,just like they knowing moeny from the first time.

Exactly. I think most Venezuelans are not even aware that Bitcoin exists. These people are in a daily struggle to buy their necessities - not because of the inflation alone, but also because of supply shortages. There are large queues in front of the supermarkets. In this economic environment it is not advisable to experiment with new currencies for a potential future gain. What people need is a working currency to buy what they need right now.

However Bitcoin is not accepted at any local supermarket. Also there are very few people in Venezuela, who are willing to sell Bitcoin for pesos.

ya.ya.yo!

Venezuelan people are suffering under high inflation but govt wont let them switch to bitcoins

Because it is illegal? People have been arrested...
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/report-two-venezuelans-arrested-mining-bitcoin/

But I heard so is Puerto Rico as well. They are in so much debt it is not even funny.  :-\
All these South/Cental American nations are falling like in domino effect and within time they will be just like other failed nations around the world ie. Iceland.

I would not categorize Iceland with these nations. Sure, they have had their share of problems, but they have taken tough measures and are pretty much normal now.
True example of a country in trouble is Zimbabwe

African nations are always in trouble. But they have an abundance of natural resources to garner from.
These Central/South American nations do not except tourism and coffee. That can only go so far (money wise) compared to the mega tonnes of oil and gold on the market from Africa.

Thats bad for the people itself

My question was about the Venezuelan people not about the Venezuelan government. I would be surprised when the Venezuelan government would freely switch to Bitcoin as national currency. But as far as I know, Venezuela has an open access to the internet. So everyone is able to get information about alternatives like Bitcoin. And everyone would be able to exchange their inflationary currency for relatively stable Bitcoin.

One reason why Venezuelans aren't switching to Bitcoin might be because they have no money to begin with. Have you ever been to Venezuela? It's not a very safe place because of high crime and poverty. I had an overnight stopover there and was told not to leave my hotel until my flight the next day. From the looks of things the brief time I was there, they weren't kidding.

The US Department of State has recently issued this travel warning for US citizens traveling to Venezuela: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/venezuela-travel-warning.html

venezuela has strict policies and cops over there like torturing people and lots of drug lords so I doubt they will start bitcoin over there because it doesn't have any value to there government or citizens. The people would most likely use it illegally and maybe fights will occur if someone doesn't pay so rules will be tough over there as well as crime.

Seems like a pretty rough time to be living over there. But as somebody mentioned there would be no point switching to bitcoin if they can't rely on actually having electricity. Can't do a lot with btc if you don't have power..

Because you can't buy your groceries and gas with buttcoin

You can buy everything with bitcoin. But we are not on that level yet. Venezuela is not ready for bitcoin, and as much I wanted to help them by introducing bitcoin - it won't help the whole country.
Bitcoin for now is supplementary currency, more of a commodity or speculative tool that real money usable in everyday. Definitely not a cure for national crisis.

This is not actually a valid argument in my opinion. Let's say someone has got Venezuelan currency valued $100 today then it will be less valued one day later because of the high inflation. If they need one half to buy food and clothes with or pay the shelter then there is still room to buy a stable currency (lets say Bitcoin which is available for everyone over the internet) for $50 in oder to keep the value.

Yes, the Govt. may be stopping the Venezuelan citizens for many reasons of their own interest. I think its time for the people to raise their voice for the freedom to choose any currency.

I was not talking about to buy groceries or gas with Bitcoin, rather I was talking about to keep the value of the money people own. They do not need to exchange all money into Bitcoin or alternatives but only a part they do not need urgently. I know Venezuela is a not a rich country, although it has the most known raw oil resources, but there is also a considerable middle class (compared to other Latin American countries) with savings.

There are many methods to control inflation, e.g. 1) increasing interest rates 2) increasing taxes 3) indexation and many others. Obviously the politicians of countries with big inflation are uneducated and they have no idea about economics like the politicians of EU.

Well, my argument begins with the premise that it may be that most Venezuelans don't have any money to begin with. You create a whole different argument when you start off with, "Let's say someone has got Venezuelan currency valued $100 today then it will be..."

My point is, if most Venezuelans are so poor because of poverty or inflation or whatever, then how are they even going to buy bitcoin if they don't have any money to begin with. Forget about not having electricity.

As to your argument, do you really believe someone with only $100 worth of money - regardless of what its value is later - would even consider spending half of that money on bitcoin? Really? The food and clothes and whatever they bought with the other $50 isn't going to last forever, you know. When that runs out, what then?

The politicians and the president of Venezuela wont let anything take his power and control over the people,soo thats why bitcoin wont and isnt an option there ,as someone said some people get jail because they were mining bitcoins,the politicians dont wanna let anyone freedom to choose and save their money into bitcoin,would be great for them to be able to protect themselfs with bitcoin soo the inflaction wouldnt make such jumps,the thing is fiat control=people submission.

Maybe because most people in Venezuala do not make use of the internet in that way. I believe that most people there do not even know what Bitcoin is so it is impossible for them to start using it if they do not even know what it is.

I think i must just not have caught on yet, it takes time for people to convert to new forms of money, that is both buyers and sellers.

i know some that switch to bitcoin already, even gvt doesnt want bitcoin, they find ways how to trade bitcoin and make profit from it.

As i Venezuelan i can attest that Bitcoin as seen a surge of popularity, but only among the tech-savvy. Bitcoin definitely offers great opportunities, like the possibility of protecting yourself from the country's triple-digit inflation and instant transactions, however, the government is seeking bitcoin miners to jail them. It's a pretty fucked up situation.

That's interesting to have someone here who can report directly from the country. How easy is it for normal people (not tech-savvy ones) to get Bitcoins? Is there something like a free market, I means something like localbitcoins, but inofficial?

Technically you can, but this is assuming you arent aware of the bitcoin debit cards thats provided.

Its been out for that last 5 months now or close to being a year almost. But what youre saying is right in some sense, if they just heard about bitcoin it`ll take them a couple reading around to find the debit card option.

There is actually a really cool website that lets you make Bids/Asks for BTC to Bolivares Fuertes (BsF).  Called SurBitcoin.  https://surbitcoin.com

It says you can connect your Venezuelan bank account if you have one. 

The problem is, not that many people have bank accounts and the minimum wage is set at 15,051.15 Venezuelan bolivars (VEF 15,051.15) per month.

According to dolartoday which is the internet website for the black market rate that dollars are going for in Venezuela. That's about $14 FOR THE MONTH.

A lot of the people live in third world conditions and this has only been exacerbated by the Chavista regime. The Maduro Presidency being the worst part. 

I do believe it's legal. Those miners were probably arrested on mad eup charges just so the intelligence services could steal their BTC.  The government is made up of nothing but thugs at this point. Straight up. Every libertarian conspiracy you've ever heard about government is almost asssuredly true in Venezuela. Price controls, censorship of media, political incarceration, government abuse and over reach.  Corruption on all levels.

The interesting thing is that if you do have Bolivares, you could buy BTC at a huge discount.  At current prices on SurBitcoin, you could buy BTC at the equivalent of $435. Everything is cheaper there by our standards but in theirs it's incredibly expensive.  It's really sad. 

The problem is that any transaction with current debit cards is that they are denominated in USD or EUR. There is the govt exchange rate and the black market exchange rate and they are hugely different.  

Govt Exchange Rate: 1 USD = 6.30 VEF
Black Market Rate: 1 USD = 1,050 VEF

VISA/Mastercard would convert the bitcoin at the govt rate and now everything is hugely expensive.

the same reasons why everybody else is not switching to bitcoin. the government is one of the biggest reasons, they are never going to let people switch to something they can't control. besides bitcoin is not the stable money you would like to use as your daily cash.

Strict foreign exchange policies have slowed it down - expect some growth there though, a lot of intelligent people who do not wish to be controlled in that country. Unfortunate situation the conditions in which some people have to live.

Jesus Christ I need to get down there and buy some property while the getting is good.

Bitcoin is great for exactly this kind of thing but I'm sure the US dollar works just as well, and so would any other stable currency.

you do realize that inflation works on everything, right?
it means when the price of property goes up, everything else is also going up which makes it hard to make profit by selling it higher in the future.
and also don't forget that converting your USD to Venezuelan money and converting it back after a period will cause you lose money because the value of their money will go down against USD.

there is too much criminal activity there i would avoid going there even for a holiday let alone buying an house

As far as I know, the Venezuelan govt is not restricting BTC. And believe me, BTC is much more stronger and more stable than VEF.

The problem is most people don't have any extra to try and invest in BTC and there just aren't merchants over there like here. For the well to do in Venezuela, BTC is great and I've been telling my family about it. Some are still doing okay over there and can afford to save in BTC.

It's just U.S dollars is easier. People like holding cash. Everyone knows the black market rate in dollars and wants them. Bitcoin is just too new and grew too late to help Venezuela. Especially cause the power goes out constantly.

Some countries do not allow Bitcoin to be a currency in their country and I am sure that most people there do not even know what Bitcoin is. The people there do not make use of internet in that way.

Chavez like dollars,dictators dont wants his people own his money,money is weapon,any kind of dictator know that

Bitcoin is not a stable coin, suppose they change to bitcoin and in one day bitcoin price collapse. Then the economy collapses badly.

You do not seem to realize they are currently experiencing hyperinflation. Even if BTC goes down in dollar terms it is still probably gaining strength in Venezuela's currency. BTC would be much more stable and save wealth than VEF at this point, without a doubt.

I know but even in that case BTC is not trustable, another problem for BTC is that it is an electronic currency and they needs lots of infrastructures for using it and also the price change in seconds so in different hours of a day for buying a kilo of potato people must pay different amounts of bitcoin.

The price is already changing on a daily basis. It increases.Aleays  At least with BTC it would depreciate in price. That is not a price variation they would mind. The problem is as you say infrastructure not price stability. Price stability has nothing to do with why it has not been adopted. BTC would be far superior to VEF.

The government controls all activities into Venezuela if they see a huge ammount being spent outside the country they will just ask where is going the money,besides that there is an insane prices changes all periods,i dont know how they are able to survive,i believe their salary changes accordingly the changes in price.

For the people who live there bitcoin should be the solution even if it drops a bit ,something that looks like wont happen not soo short ,they could avoid hyperinflation happening a long time already.

If people change to bitcoin, the government will definitely collapse. Where will it get the money to run the country? Currently it manages because it can just print money when required.

All governments have a level of control over the activity in their country.
The more desperate a country is, the higher will be the level of control the government will have. These kind of governments hate Bitcoin.  :)

I guess they're maintaining their economy, and I think they need the money is real and not be dependent on the internet

I'll have to fix some info.

Currently there are two legal exchange rate systems:

• Sistema de Divisas Protegido - Dipro (Protected Foreign Currencies [Allocating] System). This rate is set by the Government and it is used to import basic goods (food, medicines, etc.) and to pay pensioners who live abroad.
  Current rate: 9.9750 VEF/USD (bid) 10.0000 VEF/USD (ask)

• Sistema de Divisas Complementario - Dico (Supplementary Foreign Currencies [Allocating] System). This rate is theoretically set by the market, however, according to the economist Luis Oliveros there is no evidence of such, hence it is likely to be managed as well. It replaced the Simadi in April and expectations since its announcement have curbed the black market value of the dollar.
  Current rate: 415.5879 VEF/USD (bid) 416.6295 VEF/USD (ask)
  

According to the Venezuelan Central Bank latest data the first one assigns 92.17% of the foreign currency and the second one the remainder.

As you can see there is already a terrible distortion in the licit market which is unsustainable since people who can get dollars at the most overvalued rate (mostly the enchufados, those with ties to officials) are able to sell them for a greater quantity of bolivars which will then be used to get more dollars and thus perpetuate a vicious cycle. Anyway, there is no hard currency left, not even to pay key contractors of PDVSA (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-12/schlumberger-to-pare-services-in-venezuela-on-lack-of-payments), to import food (https://panampost.com/sabrina-martin/2016/05/11/venezuela-looting-wounded-5000-supermarket/) or medicines (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/world/americas/dying-infants-and-no-medicine-inside-venezuelas-failing-hospitals.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0) or to print money (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-27/venezuela-faces-its-strangest-shortage-yet-as-inflation-explodes) (Venezuela doesn't produce anything). The last bastion of the private sector, the brewing and food company Empresas Polar had to halt (http://www.wsj.com/articles/beer-becomes-the-latest-scarcity-in-a-venezuela-wracked-by-shortages-1461963129) most of its production due to lack of dollars needed to pay for the inputs. The Government blames the "bourgeoisie" for the economic paralysis and it announced production plants will be seized (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/14/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-orders-crackdown-as-countrys/).

With regard to credit/debit cards, there is no such thing as VISA or Mastercard in Venezuela as the national services are disconnected from the rest of the world and sums in foreign currency (cupos, quotas) destined to credit/debit cards are to be approved as well. If and when people miraculously manage to be granted foreign currency to be used abroad their credit/debit cards won't work overseas (http://www.el-nacional.com/economia/Anauco-Tarjetas-venezolanas-extranjero-franquicias_0_824317634.html) because of the debts accumulated by the Venezuelan banks with the electronic payment service providers.

My view about the use of Bitcoin in Venezuela based on SurBitcoin is that it is used mainly for remittances, in other words by Venezuelans living abroad who send money to their families also considering that 3/4 of the population are materially deprived and that the rich can always find their ways to expatriate their wealth directly in dollars. If affluent Venezuelans were interested in Bitcoin its local market wouldn't be so minuscule and skewed to the sell side.

As a final thought Bitcoin to function needs users who can satisfy their primary needs, electricity, computers, the Internet, knowledge. It can't be used in situations of distress due to the impossibility of fulfilling the minimum operational requirements.

Venezuela is like Argentina their currencies are very weak against dollar,the country rules the market exchange to be x ammount and the black market offer them dollars for 3times or more the real cost because they had limited people savings to an ammount daily or monhtly.There is no way out for those who live their to try to follow the rules or pay more for the same they could adquire by regular market.Its a nightmare to live there with such government control at the prices .

Most people are clueless about bitcoin, so dont expect the Venezuelan people going to use bitcoin out of nowhere. Bitcoin cannot save a country if the people aren't aware and educated to use it, so im afraid a lot of people in Venezuela will go down with the failing regime because they will not know any other way out, only the smart people using bitcoin to move whatever funds they have out of the inflation hell will make it.

Their new president should adopt bitcoin as he is having problems keeping his popularity now(being caught in the Panama papers scandal) and might be impeached such as has happened to the current Brazilian president.

I dont think its worth investing if the country itself is too chaotic.

Youre placing bets hoping the country gets back on its feet, and assume other support economic structure would be in play.

You are better off just buying more bitcoin then some house at some remote country lol.

Venezuelans are probably not switching to Bitcoin because, to be completely honest, they're either being limited by the government and being prevented from accessing any Bitcoin exchanges, or, they simply aren't able to afford it due to the really, really weak value of the Venezuelan dollar. Most Venezuelans probably have no idea what Bitcoin is either, so that likely has an effect as well.

Real estate in Venezuela is the store of value par excellence and prices are quite high even at the black market rate. You can see it yourself (http://listado.tuinmueble.com.ve/inmuebles/venta/distrito-capital/).
As techgeek has said it'd be a bet, specifically on the rise of the oil price.

@Yakamoto
Who undestands Bitcoin has the capacity for eluding Internet censorship.

The prices for real estates on this site are in the Venezuelan currency. This is actually not a proof of high real estates prices because the currency is loosing value form day to day. When you could show me a site where prices are in US-Dollar then i would believe you. Further, the market for real estates in Venezuela is restricted for foreign investors. But this is the prerequisite for good price development.

Nothing more to add. They just can't allow it, cause they will lose all power over the people of that country. I think this is exactly the case with whole world. Bitcoin need to grow much more before something like that happen, in some moments I doubt we will be alive to see that. Hope die last.

I thought division was taught at the elementary school.

Consider this (http://articulo.tuinmueble.com.ve/MLV-464587077-apartamentos-en-venta-en-distrito-capital-caracas-bar-_JM) apartment randomly chosen: one billion bolivars

Now consider the latest black market rate:
https://y9s1c5a5079dtmnpn.wolrdssl.net/custom/rate1.jpg?nc=1

1,000,000,000 VEF / 1096.15 VEF/USD = 912,283.90 USD

The premise is that you already have the dollars in the country and that you manage to convert all of them at the highest possible rate.
Also, it's not hard nor expensive to find nominees, come on.

Most of the time, if not always, it's not necessary to convert your dollars as they're well accepted so it's a matter of bargaining over the exchange rate.

I think Venezuela can still count their currencies to survive. VEF is still very strong. rate to the dollar is still strong enough
so there is no reason for them to leave their currency

Last June the IMF inflation forecast for this year was 720%. Considering that inflation is defined as the annual price rise of a given basket of goods, when most of them are no longer available, conceptually, inflation would be infinite relative to those unavailable goods (you can pay an infinite amount of money but you still receive nothing).

The current minimum monthly wage is 15,051.17 VEF or 13.73 dollars at the black market rate. Hardly and indication of strength.

Sadly said country sits on  enormous oil wealth. . And can not get the most out of it after good high prices on crude..
 After that there is a huge mental problem on a massive scale. Certainly from people in  venezuela do not expect some use bitcoin . Absolutely not.
  Socialism in venezuela not fail, but something else... people.. and over again and again

Oil was a blessing as well as a curse for Venezuela: the country is suffering from a severe case of Dutch disease (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease) and if you add the fact that the extractive industry is a simple source of revenue which can be easily seized by the Government to fund unproductive activities and countless subsidies, all other economic activities get crowded out. When the price of the only asset you have plummets Mrs misery quickly arrives.
Of course, the sheer scale of the mismanagement and corruption only worsened the situation.

But such switching is very expensive and suppose bitcoin comes back to previous days that changed a lot, I do not consider such transformation a long term solution.

But the question is how easy you can get US-Dollars or other stable foreign currencies in Venezuela in these times?
I guess you need to get it from the black market. This however means that  there is a big extra charge on it. For that reason, aquiring Bitcoins is cheaper and more saver.

@tyz
If you have bolivars you pay in bolivars. I was considering the hypothesis of a foreigner with greenbacks who wants to acquire real estate in Venezuela.
As I said, rich Venezuelans don't need Bitcoin to preserve their wealth and, as far as I'm concerned, its main use is for remittances, that's why it is cheaper than it would be if it were quoted in "black" dollars: Bitcoin local market is permanently skewed to the sell side.
Bear in mind that there is no such thing as middle class in this tropical country.

Did not even think about looking into real estate, nice way to kill some time online.
It seems to be a catch 22 for most of these economically challenged areas. If we could brainstorm a way to get Countries like this interested it coul reflect well for us all.
Atms to costly but some kind of service around the cell phone.

agree with that statement. since they arrested two people because of mining, I think they hate bitcoin. or probably they don't really know how bitcoin works or they're affraid of bitcoin power that can't be controlled by them.

@Hirose UK @Amph

They were arrested because they didn't have the necessary import paperwork for their equipment (everything is a bureaucratic mess there) and also because there were references to the black dollar rate alongside the bitcoin price, if I understand correctly.

Consider also that the country is plagued with rolling blackouts which are even threatening Venezuela's sole source of income (http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Venezuelas-Electricity-Blackout-Could-Cut-Off-Oil-Production.html), which is why the two guys got in trouble in the first place: the State electric power organization Corpoelec detected an unreasonable consumption spike in the city of Valencia, where miners were based, as a result of mining.

According to the following article dated 8 March 2016 Venezuelans are switching to bitcoin:

http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/the-stunning-rise-of-bitcoin-venezuela/

@alyssa85

The only exchange in Venezuela, SurBitcoin, couldn't cope with the new registration requests, got one of their bank accounts blocked (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=781313.msg14800279#msg14800279) due to the activity surge, their only employee working in Venezuela allegedly was arrested (http://venbitcoin.com/el-sebin-captura-a-daniel-arraez-por-tener-vinculos-con-surbitcoin/) by the SEBIN (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Intelligence_Service) (the poor guy received no assistance or support by the exchange owners) and now it looks like they have internal liquidity issues (http://bitcoinx.io/news/articles/claims-that-users-are-unable-to-withdraw-funds-from-surbitcoin-are-mounting/) judging by customers' complaints on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SURBITCOIN/) (their site is paved with grammatical errors and they don't have Twitter, ergo caveat emptor).

In October the exchange had a daily volume of 200 BTC (http://venbitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Untitled-1-Copy1.jpg), far more than nowadays (http://surbitcoin.com/#market).

Thanks for this extensive post with all the useful links. I read through all articles. To me it seems as if the Venezuelan government really afraid of Bitcoin. That a Bitcoin exchange has less volume compared to the times when the crisis was less strong, speaks volumes for me.

Well, frankly, president Maduro could decree Bitcoin to be illegal overnight.

To me one of SurBitcoin managers, Rodrigo Souza, made two fatal errors:

• showing the bitcoin price also in dollars in his exchange (reckless and useless as a. you can't trade dollars there and b. there are countless other pages which show the price in dollars) thereby giving a pretext to the SEBIN to initiate an investigation;
  
• he reacted to the Venezuelan State television VTV legally unfounded reports (http://www.vtv.gob.ve/articulos/2016/03/16/bitcoin-el-sistema-cibercriminal-9102.html) by saying they were conducting a "false propaganda", which is true, but voicing dissenting opinions against the dictatorial establishment isn't very helpful.
  

Had he stayed under the radar SurBitcoin and their customers would be faring much better.

Then some rich guy must buy computer for each venezuelan and also pay for Internet connection. This can cost a lot, so it is not so easy task - there are around 20 millions people, who need computer. Check here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Venezuela (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Venezuela)

10-20 bitcoins a few?

that's more than most people can afford.

we're talking Venezuela here, I know many people in first world countries who can't afford 10 bitcoin.

note that the government only has power as long as most of the people obey them. If people stop obeying them, they will lose their power. The more people use bitcoin, the less power the government has about banning bitcoin.     

It's obvious the government doesn't care about you, so why should you care about the government?

Because it can jail you... or worse in Venezuela.

Funny: since I've started posting in this thread I'm getting phishing e-mails to the address found on my LocalBitcoins ad. http://emojipedia-us.s3.amazonaws.com/cache/b6/a8/b6a8ce9b844574c73cd9dddaef0142d6.png

Venezuelan secret service is watching you now ;D
I always have the feeling that it is kinda risky to reveal on this board where you come from.

Yes, although the stats may not be correct considering that some of them have smart phones but infrastructure for such currency is very important

I think that quite a few tech-savvy Venezuelans already have bought some Bitcoins, i know that i would do that if something like that happened in my country.
Sadly, the masses do not have this option, since they probably don't know this option exists.

I am very sad for them and I like one can uproot the causes of this disaster,  maybe it is fine for them to use bitcoin as an informal currency.

90% of people did not hear about Bitcoin
99% of people are scared about Bitcoin and they can not even imagine how to use it
In Venezuela those numbers will be probably even higher.

There are other problems like that in socialist Venezuela the far biggest employer is the state. That does not help to adoption.

(But no, one does not need computer for bitcoins, mobile phone is enough)

It is because not everybody in the world are geeks like us in this forum.

Imagine those poor and stupid people trying to learn bitcoin. Try to teach them if you like. I bet you will get a huge beatdown in the end. Simple people will only accept paper ($$$) or maybe stones (gold) as payment.

Try to teach them about blockchain, bitcoin wallet, cold storage. Geez, too much geekness for simple people.

The last thing on these peoples minds is an obscure electronic gambling currency, pull your heads out of your asses guys bitcoin is not going to save them from collapsed socialism.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3595946/No-electricity-no-antibiotics-no-beds-no-soap-devastating-look-inside-Venezuela-s-crisis-struck-hospitals-7-babies-die-day-bleeding-patients-lie-strewn-floor-doctors-try-operate-without-tools.html

Capitalism would do them alot of good and the idea is bitcoin does help conduct normal business.   Its that invisible hand stuff some people think its garbage but its fairly clear that honest business is a good thing for most populations.  Its not that hard to believe in

They are suffering a lack of democracy mostly I think, the country is basically an oil oligarchy like many countries.   The elite dominate commerce in the country and its biased to dollars and the sale of oil except this business is not conducted efficently and the current low oil price is causing them alot of pain.   The people would correct this just through free commerce but government resists this change as it lows their power and ability to siphon funds for their own suvival, there is no gov fee given on a direct trade involving bitcoin.    Every normal sale in their currency is taxed by the gov printing itself a share of money

Getting out of an inflation spiral is not easy, ask Zimbabwe, they made it illegal to rise prices to stop inflation but it didn't work. The only way to stop inflation is to do a full economic sanitation, one key element of it is the currency purge, sure Bitcoin or any other good cryptocurrency would be good for them, but no government wants to lose his grip on the currency. Leeting it in the hands of the people to decide how to do business is not what governments want, even those who say we are in a free market.
Don't forget also that decentralisation is not real in all cases, right now the chinese are in partial control of Bitcoin by having the largest miners, so it alway comes back to central power, in the case of bitcoin: miners.

Well the reason why you see like zimbabwes case is like most smaller countries.

If the country isnt known into a position of to be a word reserve like the US or be part of the bigger countries to get a helping hand, thats where it`ll end up.

I mean you can see greece as another example, of a smaller country.

Yes, it is not that applicable for Venezuela thoughif they switch to bitcoin then it can be good for bitcoin community.

On LocalBitcoins the volume trend (https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/price_volume/2y/VEF/localbitcoins?r=week&t=lb&vu=btc) looks promising.
The gap between the market and calculated bitcoin price (black dollar x bitcoin price in USD), the latter of which has been consistently above the former, is closing:

https://i.imgur.com/WjVBeQ3.png

In all fairness the market price is stagnating around 450 thousand bolivars per bitcoin while the bolivar is appreciating against the dollar in the black market (of which DolarToday tracks the price).

the government only has power as long as enough people give it power.

They do not switch because Bitcoin itself cannot solve problems of a super poor country in the world , inflation 720% , that is a plain disaster if you ask me. I don't know why Venezuelian people don't wake up in revolution, its the only way to turn things around.

Don't be naive: it might be the case in seemingly democratic nations of the industrialized world, however under authoritarian regimes power is given by the loyalty of the best armed group which, usually, is the army.
Maduro controls both the army and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Tribunal_of_Justice_%28Venezuela%29).

Bitcoin still won't be any use to them if they can't buy toilet paper no matter what type of money they have. We're a few decades away from it ever being considered any type of safe haven by a decent number of people, if ever. 

Some rich people will have got their money out into either dollars or bitcoin. The poor are stuffed as usual.

Well, if I had access to dollars or Bitcoin in that situation then I'm going for dollars. It's no time for techno idealism.

Yup. Bitcoin is convenient for its value when easily liquidable. In Venezuela's case, USD would act as a better alternative as its value is more easily accepted for everyday services and people could benefit from using it with existing financial infrastructures.

Maybe for a collaping economy that many of people do not have internet or computer dollar is a better option compared to bitcoin.

I agree. A dollar will be readily accepted on the street.
I am not sure what percentage of the Venezuelan population has heard about Bitcoin, but definitely a lot more people are ready to accept US dollars.

it's true for any government, no matter what type.

people give it power, people can take it away.

why else would king yong il be so afraid for north korean people to learn the truth about north korea?

if enough north koreans knew how bad their country treats them, and enough people would revolt, there would be no north korea anymore.

i think the points about the tech requirements and USD comparisons make the most sense.. even tho if they are transferring out... BTC does become a real viable option for them.

Uh... corrupted politicians wanting to have control over their country? If bitcoin was their national currency, they would have no control over supply. Even if they had their own national altcoin, they wouldn't be able to control it.

Even if they're not corrupted, governments will not let the supply of a currency out of their control.

FTFY

Most people don't know that Bitcoin exists, how can you expect that people in Venezuela, which are probably very unintelligent due years of getting brainwashed by their dictator, are going to suddendly understand Bitcoin and start using it as a way out for their communist nightmare? Unfortunately, that is a pipedream. Only the highest IQ venezuelans will get saved, since they will understand Bitcoin and use it to scape financial control.

If bitcoin was a physical currency at least it had much more capabilities for becoming a national money and i think now the biggest problem is what you  mentioned.

I`m pretty sure, even the average joe would get involved, if they saw a 1min clip on youtube on their smartphone or the introduction of it.

The awareness of it though is if they run into bitcoin is if they read cnn blogs or anything related that can be back linked to this forum.

If not, then I hope they run into something related to bitcoin as some exposure.

But bitcoin does not have minimum requirements to become their currency. How do you want old people use bitcoin?

Average joe can only get into it when the hurdles are low. If there are no ways to easily exchange their fiat money into Bitcoin then average joe will stay away from this. Only the tech-savvy people will find ways to get Bitcoins.

Correct me if I am wrong but is Bitcoin not forbidden and punished with jail in Venezuelan? It's quite similar with Russia :/ 

It isn't—for now.

Venezuela has a bitcoin exchange, which is manfully carrying on in the face of obstacles:

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/03/24/bitcoin-uncertainty-venezuela-beneficial-surbitcoin/

I think they do not deserve venezuela adopt the bitcoin system. development of computer technology in venezuela somewhat uneven. when bitcoin want to get into Venezuela, then the technology infrastructure in venezuela should have been really ready.

I think they also want to have their own money, but I am quite sure, very many of those who seek and use bitcoin to earn money so that they could build a better life and support their families. they only need a computer and internet connection to do that, and probably most people there is still confusion as to how to use bitcoin

Bitcoin will never be used in Venezuela or any other countries as a currency and no one can use it. But Venezuela can invest some of their assets in bitcoin.

Agree! Bitcoin is not appropriate for being a main currency for a country.
Nevertheless, the Bitcoin blockchain tech could be by creating inflationary colored coins which are used a official currencies. Counterparty has created a layer on the Bitcoin blockchain which allows colored coins.

Why not? Is it not the plan to develop Bitcoin in the new world currency where I can buy products all over the world? I would love to see more user adoption, especially in the undeveloped worlds.

I heard that in Argentina, some people convert their money to bitcoin.  It seems like the Venezuelans could do that to unless it is illegal.  Even if illegal, the government may not be able to find out.

^^ The reason they would do this is bitcoin is a kind of proxy for the dollar which is highly useful resource to a country importing alot but with weak currency.   Also many countries have undemocratic currency restrictions, even UK had this at one point; that as a citizen its your duty to only use your own countries money.    Of course this is because its linked to tax and money printing, bitcoin famously controls its money supply hence its a useful balance to own

I dont know for sure but yes I believe so, they certainly restrict US dollar use to an official government allowed rate.  Effectively the government double taxes use of money they dont print, bypassing that monopoly is not appreciated


To be a main currency would require all business transactions to be digital, I'd be amazed to see this in Japan nevermind any lesser technology country.    We may get to see this experiment carried out if a major western economy fiscal balance sheet does start to slip, I doubt authorities would allow absolute free commerce though I personally believe its best

The currency is so unstable and low to begin with, entering into the BTC pairing would give them next to nothing. Even the USD/BVF pairing is skewed there due to heavy inflation, to be expected when even the USD/BTC pairing is $1 / $575 currently (Also foreign exchange controls in Vzla are very stringent)

police and military are people too

brainwashed yes, but deep down they're still human.

if you can manage to talk some sense into them and can make them not just blindly follow orders that will ruin the lives of many millions of people, and administer act like humans, you won't need a large armed army of civilian rebels.

A subpar cognition and lack of proper education are showing.
You need the support of a, or, more likely, several high-ranking military officers to move the subordinate pawns.

I don't think that imposing some ridiculous laws on people will make such law any less idiotic, and people know that.
If law is stupid and agains commons sense then citizens are obligated to break the law.
Fortunately bitcoin is still grey area and most governments slept away crypto revolution; it is easy to buy and sell BTC even if it is legally banned (example: Iceland).

Yes, this was the intention but it has proven that the current state is not really appropriate for mainstream adoption. The Bitcoin blockchain can not process thousand of thousands of transactions each second what is necessary being a world currency. There were / are improvments discussed which could remove this technical limitations and drawbacks of the current blockchain state.

All over the world there are "some" people converting some of their fiat into Bitcoin. There is not a trend recognizable (if I follow the media coverage about South America and Bitcoin) which states that their is an increasing number of people converting their money into Bitcoin or crypto currencies.

Because it is hard to get into for the average man. No matter what these extremist libertarians will try to tell you.

Its not just the education for it, its also the massive corruption in general in a dangerous area.

So for them to actually have everyday people to apply that, would take a time length of trends in their day to day life style.

@mrhelpful

Sorry, it was a reply for zimmah.

Maybe amny of Venezuela people did it before but the thing is that they cannot consider bitcoin as their national currency.

Well IMO opinion there is only one reason why venezuelan is not switching to Bitcoin yet. I believe that they are not switching to bitcoin because it is decentralized. No one controls it thats why the venezuelan will not be switching to bitcoin maybe in the future they will consider it but not now.

Well I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't know what Bitcoin is. But It is not as simple as saying, "We are switching to Bitcoin". You can't just tell a county to switch to Bitcoin. It will happen over time if they even want it to in the first place.

The problem is that even those with internet access are not shifting.
They prefer the dollar.  :)

Socialism did not lead to incredible utopia and paradise for everyone? I am surprised.  :o

I love how it is always the fault of the government when things don't work out, but never the people who voted the government in. Brilliant.

Sure, the US-Dollar is the first currency for average Joe in Venezuela to save wealth from inflation. However, USD are very hard to get in those times like this in Venezuela. You need to purchase it on the black market with at least 30-50% addition compared to the current exchange rate. Bitcoin or other crypto would be much cheaper to get.

Someone should sneak in some bitcoin on a usb stick and setup shop,  start splitting it up for people to be swapping as proxy dollars; it basically is that at this point.   Thats when it becomes a useful product to people because they literally being denied the simple freedom of reliable exchange in their trading everyday

Bitcoins will not be cheaper than USD. Both USD and BTC are hard currency in Bolivia and are sold for the same premium. The "current exchange rate" is just some artifical rate that nobody except big companies can use. Bitcoin market in Venezuela https://surbitcoin.com is defacto the same black market.

Because it would not really change a thing in long term.
You need better economic values to have strong national currency.
Economy is zero sum game, if you are weaker than us people in terms of production and other things.
You will have weak currency. That's the rule.

US dollar is way stronger then its actual economy because its supported by other countries as a reserve currency.   So Im not sure its totally simple, they have alot of confidence placed in dollar that other countries do not have.   That is justified in many cases by default and revolutions and so on meaning that money is not happily held long term by big institutions.
     Same deal could apply to bitcoin, Im sure the majority of possible users have no faith that is a currency they can trust over night to maintain its worth.   Just that simple factor can double worth attributed I think

Thats very easy if anyone tries to open an exchange to allow them to buy bitcoin, and then sell them as they need, the country will take those people to prison, because they would affect the way they manage the country with hiperinflaction, i remember some people get jail because they were mining bitcoins, just that, did you imagined you invest and get money from those, and the country comes and say you cant make money just us can.

If the government would allow it, bitcoin would be a good place for Venezuelans to store their money. They could hold their funds in bitcoin rather than saving accounts and potentially increase their money.

STT

That's the way I would try to do that were I connected to Venezuela (I visited there twice long ago).  Once *some* people see & understand Bitcoin, there would be some demand for sure.

To me there are two big problems however:

1)  As mentioned above, the authorities might not look kindly on that, and lock you up!

2)  Venezuela has problems just producing enough goods to feed their people and take care of basic need.  Barter might work better (?)

I ask myself the same question, it could solve many well-known economic problems in the location,
the inflation rate is really insane and the population pays a high cost for it.

#1: Where would they be able to buy Bitcoin in Venezuela? To my knowledge what they have access to is incredibly limited, and there are no real physical exchanges from what I know.

#2: What would they be able to use Bitcoin on? Since there's already a lack of a Bitcoin presence in Venezuela there's going to be an even harder time for them to find stores that accept Bitcoin in exchange for whatever good they're going to need or be looking for.

While having Bitcoin be there to help Venezuelans save their money's value, I don't think it matters much now because basically all their money has to go into surviving now.

This is the analyzation some bitcion enthusiast missed when they view things.  there should be realization in every plan.  In a country even a small adjustment cost them million of dollars.  Rather than spending it to an unknown currency to them, they would likely give it to people and make a use for it or corrupted official just put it in their own stash for future reference :D

it would be really great, in my opinion there needs to be something done in order for the whole situation to get better as soon as possible

IMHO perhaps the biggest problem is the shortage of consumer goods such as food and  absence of economic safety  due to economic crisis and lack of work opportunities this would be better explained in Maslow's hierarchy of needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs,  I mean that maybe they be more concerned about things much more basic for now.

The thing is the politicians wont allow any kind of companie working or offering bitcoin to people save their money at. I saw a report about the long wait to try to get food, and all days the price is different, the products arrive and are sold instant, usually isnt enought to cover all people needs. Its insane how a country can make those with their own people. Some people save some money, but those money loose power over the time, with bitcoin it would keep stable.

The inflation is the only way how to handle debts for them. The inflation does not come out of blue. Inflation of fiat money is always on purpose.

This is lunatic thread. I already posted here that Venezuela has its own working bitcoin exchange: https://surbitcoin.com/
It is working well. Anyone in Venezuela can buy or sell bitcoins.

Of course it is not that simple. There are numerous cases where quite strong economics had high inflation (e.g. Israel). there are numerous cases where economics had no inflation and are shit (economics of IIIrd worldcountries that peg their currency to USD or EUR).

Yes, some states in shit with high debt simply decide to pay the debt with inflation and money priniting. So there is higher probability that economy in shit will have also shit currency. But that is not always the case. Some troubled economics can choose the way with paying the debt with hard currency and not to decimate their money.

Unfortunately Latin American people has been very far from technological advances because of their poor educational levels. When someone is always struggling to survive, perhaps this technological inclusion is not a priority for them because of the daily needs to be covered.

thats true, in my opinion the key problem is not the possibility to change to bitcoins, the financial system as whole thing should be changed

Not sure on why but maybe because most people there do not have access to the internet and you need that if you want to kae use of Bitcoin.
Do not quote me on that but that is what I thought if I am wrong then let me know.

Venezuela is not a third world country. Most people have access to the internet there. I came to the conclusion, that the real problem probably is that most do not even know about Bitcoin and probably most do have other problems. In such a situation where trust is lost in authorities and many other organizations, even something like Bitcoin could be seen suspicious and they may consider other established ways to save wealth: Gold for instance.

Cause politicans don't want to make the BTC official currency and support it so more people start usint it.Also a lot of the people don't know that Bitcoin exist or they don't know the benefits of BTC

Not really...the only reason government doesn't support it due to the scalability issues and lack of IT education .As bitcoin is intended to work for computer professionals,it's quite difficult to make it as an official currency in a country where only 20% of the population contributes to IT.

the government won't ever support bitcoin.

They are trying to prevent people from even using dollars.

If people don't use their government issued currency they lose the ability to print money. They'd go bankrupt and wont be able to finance the military/police and the people would revolt.

Often wonder if our concept of how troubled Countries should be adopting bitcoin is the same as me being a white dude that thinks BLM is racist.
I have tried to understand the plight but keep coming to the same conclusion and think when we are looking at third world issues its hard to understand the "Why"!
Things are pretty rough right now for people in that Country and if oil stays suppressed it will continue to be a shitty situation for people in the area.
The transient move will increase North if things continue to bleed out.

The government of Venezuela isn't interested in paying its creditors.
An offer from the Indian government to enable it to pay for drugs using oil hasn't seen a response.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/KvdbATbwtRbAvCbXIJizJJ/Cold-response-from-Venezuela-to-Indias-plan-of-oil-for-drug.html

Strange because India has a lack of oil, massive country giant population and really not that much oil except some off shore.    I think Venezuela has a problem in even extracting their oil cheaply, their economy is broken because a capitalist structure would find a way to meet those exports.  Venezuela outlaws profit pretty much which sounds good on the surface but discourages enterprise and innovation to overcome any special problems such as might occur in oil extraction over time. 

India even has giant refineries, so I would guess Venezuela could even export the raw crude and not even put in the effort to change it from the raw product out of the ground

Seems I need to correct my assumption. According to an article on NewsBTC, hyperinflation leads to an increased Bitcoin usage in Venezuela.

Hyperinflation Leads to Greater Bitcoin Use in Venezuela
Recently, we reported on bitcoin activity in Russia. Now common knowledge, bitcoin usage has long been demoralized in the land of hammers and sickles. Those who indulge in the benefits of digital currency are faced with the prospects of prison time and exorbitant fees.
Full article (http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/10/13/36063/)

I think not the politicians are making the hindrance for the people to use bitcoin and that would be the lack of knowledge of people. Even though they are not switching to bitcoin.

Some of the citizens are just able to use that even the government will not going to recognize bitcoin just like with my country.

The government is no switching to bitcoin but there are a lot of users already.

tyz

The pattern I am beginning to see is that there is a fairly good (but not easy to quantify) correlation between lower economic free and greater use of Bitcoin within a country.  For years Argentina was somewhat noteworthy for rather high BTC use (I knew two Argentines who were into it), though I do not know what the current status of BTC there under the new government.

Both Russia and Venezuela are great candidates for high BTC usage, whether or not their .govs approve.

*  *  *

Maybe "third world country" is a matter of how it is defined...  My two business trips (some 17 years ago) to Venezuela made me think that it was much closer to Peru than to the USA.  All the barrios up on the surrounding hills and the high crime rate (even then, pre-Chavez) made me think "Third World".

How can they pay with Bitcoins at small shops, where Internet is not available or even it would be available, transaction time can be up to 0,5 - 1 hour. Just a few buyers will wait for 30 min for transfer, and also shop owners will not agree this.  ;D

Yes you are also talking about people who may not have an internet connection, or a mobile phone, let alone a smartphone that could run a Bitcoin app.

Also, as pointed out, most of these people would be using Bitcoin to pay for everyday goods like food/ clothes at a local shop.
We have a long way to go before local businesses are going to accept Bitcoin. The wait for confirmation time is simply not acceptable for an in-store transaction.

Until there are nearly instant confirmation times, we need more ways to load Bitcoins onto a debit card or something similar, where there is nearly instant payment.
People complain about newer credit card security features that take between 30 seconds and a minute to confirm payment.
No one will be willing to wait 30 to 45 minutes for a Bitcoin transaction to be confirmed.

The polotician that rules that country wont let no one take advantage of bitcoin, the last attempt to build a farm, ended with people going jail, soo how do you wanna to make such at a place where you have no freedom, be sure they cant buy the rigs, they can make their own miners but its hard to keep that hidden.

When your country's population is starving, food prices are skyrocketing, sometimes as much as 20 times the regulated price, inflation is rampant, economy is not existent.
I think it is enough to say that Venezuela is on now a level of 3rd world country.

Bitcoin won't help the situation there. Mainly because no one from government will be willing to try a new and experimental way of fighting the crisis.

the answer is pretty simple in my opinion:
they don't switch to bitcoin for the same reason why they don't switch to USD or any other fiat! simply because if they switch to another currency, while they keep their money's worth at the same time they can not do anything with that money since there is nowhere to spend it.

Let's be realistic here. We need to understand 2 things:

First: Bolivar is a dead currency, what  can you do with a FIAT with almost 200% inflation rate?!

Second: Venezuela in its current state has zero potential to issue stable currency or create a new one.

So maybe the only option is to accept other currency?

It's not easy to switch currencies in one big country. Especially it's hard to suggest to people to move on bitcoin, probably bitcoin is pretty unknown there. How many Venezuelans knows about bitcoin, I would be afraid to move on something that I don't know nothing about.
Probably for some country to adopt bitcoin as currency will need much more insurance then bitcoin can offer in this moment. How much bitcoins Venezuela need to have to be functional just 1 year? How much bitcoins for salaries, for credits, and other things, is bitcoin ready for such a big task?

The same reason why America doesn't switch to bitcoin. Because creating huge bubbles and ripping people off in every 7 years is quite profitable.

Maybe, the Venezuelan people are just poor and don't have spare money, while the wealthy elites prefer the US dollar? Besides, their government doesn't seem to be very friendly towards Bitcoin. I've read about people being prosecuted for mining and using Bitcoin there. But that might have been expected because if people start running for stable currencies, that would only further accelerate inflation.

Maybe they don't know about it, and if they know and still not using it then there must be some governmental restrictions which is stopping the people to use bitcoins as a government might not like the people to use a currency which is not in their control at all.

Well, you can not really compare the economical systems of America and Venezuela in my opinion. These are fundamentally different. Venezuela is not interested in cleaning up its economic system every seven years by letting bubbles burst.

Venezuela Citizens Turn To Bitcoins In Record Numbers

Bitcoins are becoming an increasingly popular form of digital currency, especially in areas that are suffering from currency devaluation. Unlike other forms of currency, the bitcoin remains relatively stable and isn’t likely to suddenly drop in value at the drop of a hat.

This explains why Venezuela, a country that has been suffering from severe economic problems, is increasingly turning to bitcoins over there own currency.

http://bitcoinbulk.com/venezuela-citizens-turn-bitcoins-record-numbers/

I'm Venezuelan, And this argument is almost everything. My government want to keep people eating his shit and his arguments, the principal problem of BsF is the inlation, you only can buy the goods in the local markets these marketsdon't have so much variety if you want something from foreign country is kinda hard.

however, more Venezuelans are learning about bitcoin, maybe in one or two years will be very popular, and we will have huge ammount of sellers that will accept bitcoin as payment method.

So, maybe will be the first country in adopt widely the bitcoin, who knows..

That would be strange if they didn't but actually they are. At least, there are many people who use it. As said here https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/venezuelas-hyperinflation-sees-record-highs-bitcoin-use/: 'The month of July saw a high number of bitcoin transactions in Venezuela with August achieving a new record high as more people turn to the digital currency as the country continues to tackle the inflation of Bolivar.'
Oh, and it is interesting that under Venezuelan law, Bitcoin is regarded as property and not currency.

I didnt know about the bitcoin being regarded as property and not currency, this change a bit the vision that some people does have and the limits, its important for Venezuela citizens to be able to save their currencie into bitcoin.

Bitcoin is still to complex and small for the average person to be used. It is still very annoying and convoluted when you are trying to buy Bitcoins from outside the US and EUR, and even in those countries people are at the begining confused with the whole thing. Only 0.01% of people in Venezuela use BTC (statistic out of my ass but I would guess it's about that)

We are pioneers, thats the good news.

Things are going more and more crazy in Venezuela. This year's inflation is 45%. All hopes are for the OPEC meeting on 30th November when the consortium decides about cutting the oil production. If it will not find an consensus then it is expected that oil price goes back down to $30-35 per barrel. If so this will end horrible for the country and its people.

Bitcoin may not help the Venezuelans much at all. If they barely manage to survive on their pay, of what real use would Bitcoin be for them then? Inflation may be hitting astronomical figures, and that would most likely lead to the widespread use of the American dollar in Venezuela with further removal of the Bolivar from currency circulation.

It may all end along the same lines as it ended in Zimbabwe.

They don`t know about bitcoin or they don`t have personal computers.Maybe both...

Buying bitcoins is expensive and risky.

Is there a way to buy btc with the venezuelan currency?

Why would oil go back to $30-35 per barrel when OPEC has already managed to stabilize it at around $50 per barrel?

Well theres probably a lot of countries that dont use them to the same level of venezuelan

Time will just come they will follow. If bitcoin is increasing its adopters, there's no way they will resist the opportunity. They can integrate business in bitcoin.

Wow that's a nice futuristic view, seeing your country to use bitcoin in a large scale adoption. I am happy for your country if you can achit it, whilst in our country it will be impossible to conduct a mass adoption since many areas are not reached by electricity so how much more computers and internet.

there's still a way to resist to use bitcoin. if government see bitcoin as a threat to their economic circumstance then they will trying to prevent from the use of bitcoin. that's the actual struggle when a currency is not created by big organization or a country and trying to take over the whole economic

If any Venezuelan's are here and want to sell thousands of dollars of their currency, I am interested.  Would need it shipped to the United States.  Please let me know if your interested, there is a hefty profit margin for your participation.

The reason is venezuelan fiat price called bolivar is drop so much againts dollar, so they looking for the alternative to safe their wealth. They make demand to cjange their 141 million bolivar to bitcoin and 117 million bolivar to usd.

Interesting article about Bitcoin miners and their profits, fears and struggles in Venezuela. Fits to the topic.

Bitcoin Miners Make Big Profits but Fear for Safety in Venezuela
In economically-ravaged Venezuela, bitcoin has proven to be an important alternative currency, according to an article in Reason Magazine. And because the government supports cheap electricity, bitcoin mining is highly profitable.
Full article (https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-miners-make-big-profits-but-fear-for-safety-in-venezuela/)

OPEC can do nothing against the shale oil producers. This "stabilization" has been lasting only for two days so far, and it is not certain that it will last any longer. The shale oil producers are becoming more efficient over time, therefore they may drag the price down as they did before. Besides, $50 per barrel doesn't seem to help Venezuela much, though it is still a lot better than 30 dollars per barrel.

Not everyone knew or understand about crypto currency.
Especially in the third world countries, not everyone understands how to use computer or smartphone.

Good to hear from someone live at the scene as it is.    Is technology the limitation for Venezuela or more like education about some entirely 'virtual' product being able to help them maybe.   I assumed it was due to a government ban that bitcoin is not being used more or maybe bad internet

Hopefully some of the decline will be arrested with this OPEC agreement but it seems to me it might be too little too late and measures to stop inflation have to occur now or the whole currency might be lost

Nothing is more profitable then good business, sellers and buyers perfectly matched is incredibly profitable for both nations.   All the other tricks are just short term gains that lead to losses in the end

I partly agree. There were a lot of positive developments to facilitate the use of Bitcoin. Everyone is able now to create at least a relatively secure Bitcoin wallet on service providers like Blockchain.info or Coinbase for instance. Of course, buying Bitcoin from outside of European or North American countries is sill often a hurdle, but I see increasing improvements. A lot of such poorer countries do even have Bitcoin exchange what is a big jump ahead compared to one or two years ago.

Is there anyone from Venezuala who is willing to ship their currency to me?  I am looking for a few hundred US dollars worth of Bolivars, and there will be a nice profit for the person who sends them to me.

Two arguments here stand out. How on earth can people abandon fiat for bitcoin when:

1. Blockchain simply cannot handle the extra 20 million transacts that will come daily (very conservative estimate). Should people wait 2 or 3 days to ensure they aren't victims of double spends?

2. Should electricy and internet get disrupted (a lot for more than half its population) are people going to simply pause trade and commerce?

Is there any law that say any country suffering inflation must switch to inflation. So if all Venezualans now switch to Bitcoin which is just 16million in addition to the number of people already involved what will now happen. Will they be better of or worse of than the current situation. Countries all over the world have suffered inflation at a particular point of time and what really reduce the effect of currency is sound economic policies and not just adoption of specific currency alone.

Good points here. I'd added that still many people in this planet don't know what Bitcoin is.

One can't ask people in Venezuelan all switch to use Bitcoin when significant percentage of people there knows nothing about Bitcoin.

Beside that people don't understand how many complications can this switching bring to people. What will happen with all the people without internet, and in far villages without any signal? If its easy for us here, that doesn't mean this will be easy for millions of people who live and work in Venezuela. This switching can create chaos in their country, they first need to understand blockchain in order to adopt it.

Agree not all in venezuelan people know what is bitcoin or we cant say that they are really advance on technology so that they are capable on using bitcoin or converting to bitcoin. We should always think about technology in their country before talking about bitcoins.

Yeah... extremely naive to ask an entire population to just adopt bitcoin. Even if it were possible to do so, the outlay in tech investment and infrastructure (not even talking about internet yet, just phone lines and electricity) would dump the country in immediate and extreme debt.

Probably need to focus on the blockchain first and make it ready for mass adoption.

People in Venezuela get screwd by their government every day.
That brings them to a general distrust against a lot of things.
What you can usually read about bitcoin in mainstream meadia is often not positive.
And when their first impression about bitcoin through the media was negative, I think there is distrust against bitcoin as well widely spread and will be hard to overcome.

No offense, but it would be helpful to explain why you want to buy Bolivars worth of several hundreds of US-Dollars which loses value from day to day. This sound a little bit odd when you do not provide a comprehensible explaination.

How do you want them to be using Bitcoin when they cannot afford ANYTHING? Do you think they can afford a PC, a smartphone and... Most importantly, electricity bills?? They can't, so they cannot use any currency like Bitcoin (except for those that are rich out there).

I just do think that its not need it to be honest and that duo to that they are not doing it.

The Bitcoin network could handle it and transactions would still go through fine if you just add enough fees.
There will be services who will encounter problems, but if you just send coins personally you can guarantee your transaction is included in the next block by adding more fees.

How could they possibly go through if there would be not enough room for them in the blocks? Only a small percentage of these transactions will get included with the rest being thrown away in a couple of days. Basically, it would mean that the majority of users won't be able to transact at all just because most transactions with be lost.

Venezuela is a country who is suffering from poverty. It is one of the hostile countries due to conflicting political groups. Venezeluan cannot access bitcoin since people have more priority things to consider than just bitcoin. Large number of poor people dominates venezuela and their banks are in the brink of collapse. Poor people cannot purchase or avail any internet connection or own a pc or an android phone. They are relying solely in fiat currency since they have no access to bitcoin.

This is really not true, what Venezuela lacks is innovation not wealth so much.  Its sad, I'd say they need capitalism and democracy but people will assume Im a radical or something.    This is the country with the worlds largest oil reserves for those who dont know.

Not the cheapest oil but the largest potential wealth per person on the planet.   They just have to be smart enough to extract this oil in an efficent way, I dont believe its anything as difficult as some of the Canadian oil which basically requires open mining.

They really do have the energy to produce electricity for bitcoin, I think this is a smart direction for them.  Instead we have China which does not have oil, not alot of energy per person and is reliant on rough coal burning quite alot.  The Chinese are using hydro power with alot of their bitcoin use, Venezuela could do this more easily I think but they need to engineer the correct extraction of their oil fields.  Under investment is most likely holding them back and now foreigners are too scared to 'help' as its seen as exploitive or profiteering in the political language that dominates

Venezuela  is poor because their political system has restricted free enterprise, thats my view of how events have gone there.  They make absolute laws to lock down people to what the overseers think is correct, a rich society gives credit to even the smallest elements who can come with a solution and profit from it.  Credit where credit is due, miss that and society becomes poor

A country to switch from currency to bitcoin surely required a lengthy process. The transition was at risk of incurring long-term economic recession, let alone no one can control the bitcoin. So when the prices go up and down in a quick, of course make the issue price of the goods in the country.

If electricy and internet should get disrupted then you can further pay with fiat of course but in a globalized and interconnected world as today, it will cause an economical crash and disruption. So that bitcoin can no longer be used as a payment then, is one of the smallest problems in such a situation I guess.
And it is not meant to use Bitcoin as a daily payment option but rather to save value in times of hyperinflation.

Yes the big fish in the industry can afford bitcoins, but what about the common masses. There is 76 to 80% of Venezuelas total population is below poverty line and that is why they have more things to consider rather than just accessing internet and buying bitcoins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela

Remember that Venezuela is considered as a murderous capital of the world and  that facts is given that people in Venezuela prioritize their safety rather than thinking of bitcoin.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/29/venezuelas-capital-worlds-most-murderous-city/79508586/

But it doesnt mean that there are no movement in Venezuela to use bitcoin, there are a few of course, and possibly in time they will increase in number. Hope the masses will also embrace bitcoin and not the elites only.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-bitcoin-idUSKCN0HX11O20141008

Why you really think that most of people in venezuela are so poor that they can't afford such thing like a PC? If you go to the city there many people could afford that and even if they don't then they can simply go to the internet cafe which provide anything needed to connect to the internet

bitcoin altcoin or another digital curency
can't replace and take over fiat money real money
in real life must use fiat money can transaction, without fiat money is very dificult
bitcoin until now noth physic only digital curency, and not regulate, so if use real life is very dificult and imposible can replace fiat money

Venezuelan is not switching to bitcoin in my opinion because of some reasons. First of all, bitcoin is not really accepted as a real currency yet by them. They don't want to use a cryptocurrency that has only been there for years as their national currency and government also don't want it since they can't control or impose tax on it easily. Finally, They want fiat to be their national currency, not a crypto currency.

As I stated in a post before, I do not mean that the entire economy and all payments should be shifted to Bitcoin in Venezuela. Bitcoin is not (yet) a payment system which could deal with thousands and thousands of transaction per second. What I mean is, why don't they use Bitcoin to save their wealth. They could also transfer their fiat money into gold but it is just harder to get in a political environment as in Venezuela, and you can forbid it.

Bitcoin is illegal in almost all of the Latin American nations. The governments are afraid of Bitcoin. The Latin American currencies always have the devaluation problem, and if alternatives such as the US Dollar and Bitcoin are available, then people will dump the local currency without a second thought.

The countrys in south america are still not yet ready to switch to cryptocurencys in fact many countrys are afraid of bitcoin and they making it an illegal thing because in most of these countrys there is a high activity of drugs and weapons trade because many dealers uses bitcoin as a payment method to provide his services without being traced down because using bitcoin hides your identity

I thought many of these south american currencies have a fixed linked to dollar so bitcoin is not much of a further stretch.   The main problem is telecommunications in most cases, they dont have the readily available dsl network that is needed for a wallet to stay online and upto date

What's the problem of using an online wallet then? It seems that it will be a safer option when we take into account the hostility of the authorities toward Bitcoin in these countries, especially in Venezuela, though I don't know much about the attitude of other South-American governments in this regard. Online wallets are safer for the simple fact you could expect your home being raided by the local police and your computer taken away.

Same reasons why people don't switch in other countries:

- majority of population don't even know what bitcoin is

- high percentage of population not tech-savvy enough

- every government will oppose unregulated money

- in poor countries many people don't even have internet connection

This statement might have been true a few years ago. But the situation has changed drastically. Cheaper smartphones and inexpensive data packages have made internet affordable to 99% of the world population.

Is so difficult for a country to change its currency. It's almost impossible for a government to admit that its policy failed and must change the fiat currency. And is laborious for people especially older one have to learn how to use in a very short time a currency without centralized control(banks). Is there any time for education and information?

World population ?  seriously, you dont mean that because the world geography is so varied.   They dont have cell towers all over afghanistan, they should I think have put in better communication as part of the war liberation efforts.  I think better comms would help spread democracy and stop isolating factors and domination by armed factions but unfortunately alot of the world does not have access to cheap communication especially access to global links like alot of the west does.    
Some countries have made efforts, obviously south Korea is a world leader pretty much coming out of a war with strong investment.   My guess is Venezuela is not one of those places to lead strongly with investment in telecoms infrastructure, since its not a flat country I doubt all sections of the population is easily able to connect.   Sure of course theres a wealthy middle class but the majority Im not sure about.     Even if you think online wallets make it ok then I think we have to consider the spending ability also because the country is not rich and so the capital under discussion is not savings but transactional.   Its all cash notes most likely, they may not have even a good development in digital fiat currency like Dollar does have and alot of countries with Euro or other fiat do have good digital use and that staging point allows for an easier switch to bitcoin or similar from business already facing a virtual economy

Had an interesting read.

‘Sorry, Bitcoin Only’: Venezuelan Travel Agency Responds to Hyperinflation: Venezuelan online travel agency Destinia will now only accept Bitcoin for payment citing “increasing restrictions” and economic woes in the country.

Travelers who use Destinia to make their travel reservations can now only pay in bitcoin. The company has made the decision after witnessing the impact of the free-falling Venezuelan economy. “The economic situation in Venezuela is ever more complicated,” the company explains. “Given the increasing restrictions faced by Venezuelans, Destinia has decided to operate exclusively in Bitcoins in order to further facilitate reservations by local travelers.” more (http://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-venezuela-travel-hyperinflation/)

As many here said it is the decentralization and being difficult to control and regulate as one of the factor why Venezuelan government do not switch to bitcoin.  As for people, many of them are ignorant of Bitcoin.


Lol affordable? Internet service in my country sucks big time.  Aside from high rate, they even put a capped on data to use per day if we subscribe to their services.  How cheap is 800mb (cap) of data at a rate of $1 per day?  Not saying a 15 min. of data usage will cost us 10 cents if we don't subscribe to their promotional services.  And they advertised falsely by saying 52mbps and yet we will be lucky if we get 2mbps of internet speed. Internet  is unaccessible to remote areas and majority of the province especially in rural areas.  Now tell me where do you get that 99% statistics?

I eagerly confirm that. Unless you have a broadband connection (optic cable or DSL), you are rather stuck if you want anything apart from simple messaging and reading news. Wireless Internet through GSM networks sucks heavily, and it seems to be so in any quarter of the world. GSM operators are sheer vultures when it comes to their rates, data plans and the quality of Internet they provide.

Newbtc has published an article (http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/01/09/venezuela-hikes-minimum-wage-good-news-bitcoin/) with title 'Venezuela Hikes Minimum Wage Again Which is Good News For Bitcoin' yesterday.

Excerpt

Unfortunately in most Latin American countries the word "bitcoin" is not even known, as there is very little access to real financial and digital education. But I also believe that at this time it would be impossible for any country to supply its local currency for bitcoins, although i have no doubt that there are some smart Venezuelans taking advantage of bitcoin to protect their money.

Hyperinflation has been raging for decades now, like the plague. But at this time, the increase in the minimum wage in Venezuela to promote local people to accept bitcoin is a good news. Increased inflation will allow more people to buy a certain amount of bitcoins. Although the increase in the minimum wage is able to affect the Venezuelan accept bitcoin remains to be seen, but it shows that the encryption currency is the only viable option in venezuela.

Just forget about Venezuela using bitcoin. It is just for few as digital gold.

Using bitcoin as a means of currency does not automatically serves as a means of controlling inflation. Even in elementary economics, I didnt read anywhere where an adoption of a form of currency is a way of controlling inflation. Inflation is caused by several factors and when those factors are not resolved there is nothing that can be done. A cost push inflation cannot be controlled unless something is being done to reduce the cost of production with having no relationship with the currency in the economy.

Bitcoin is not illegal in Venezuela, in fact they are beginning to use bitcoins online. The problem with Venezuela is that bitcoin is only starting to grow in that country and so the number of users are very limited in numbers. Possibly the users in that country only runs up to a hundred people and needs more push so that bitcoin will be widely used by the masses in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Authorities are ‘Weakening’ Bitcoin Mining Operations
Venezuelan authorities are cracking down on Bitcoin mining facilities and are focused on “weakening” these mining operations within the region. According to reports on January 27, the Organized Crime Bureau of the Bolivarian National Police (BNP) shut down an 11,000 unit Bitcoin mining undertaking.
Full article (https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-authorities-weakening-bitcoin-mining-operations/)

Government rules are bound and strict. But you as citizen are free to choose bitcoin for your daily transactions, think about it.

In Turkey, there is a stock market, there is a stock market, on behalf of "BtcTurk", it is closed, they do not want to see innovation, they are censoring everything.

It all depends on the users, there is no doubt about that. There are people who think that in order for the use of Bitcoin to spread to their countries it is necessary that there be intervention of institutions or companies. However, Bitcoin allows people to have, for the first time, the power to decide how they will transfer value among others, and it only depends on themselves.

Venezuela will be killing their economy completely if they leave their fiat for bitcoins and I've read in the news that their central bank has expressed this concern and have hence barred the usage of Bitcoins in their jurisdiction so I don't think it's a matter of knowledge because they already know and are not interested.

As bitcoin is a peer to peer connection , with bitcoin introduction they will loose control over people .with venezuela money they will have control over their people .

Venezuela Shuts Down Bitcoin Exchange, Arrests More Miners
Venezuela’s largest Bitcoin exchange Surbitcoin is no longer trading locally after its bank suddenly suspended withdrawal and deposit services.
Full article (http://bitcoinist.com/venezuela-shuts-bitcoin-exchange-arrests-miners/)

The situation in Venezuela is getting more and more worse. CNN is closed and many bad things are going on.
Forbes released an interesting text (http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/02/03/why-venezuelas-currency-crisis-is-a-case-study-for-bitcoin/#12cbacfb3aa1) about why Venezuela's currency crisis is a case study for Bitcoin. Worth reading.

The government of Venezuela does not want their citizens to use bitcoin because she cannot control them. Bitcoin means freedom and their president will lose his chair if Venezuelans escape from the shackles of this worthless and undervalued local currency that is, bolivar. I don't know if after a while the situation will be the same like as in Zimbabwe where 1USD=35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.

Worth to read the blog entry (https://cryptohustle.com/using-bitcoin-to-survive-in-venezuela) of a Venezuelan named Alvaro writing about "Using Bitcoin To Survive in Venezuela" on CryptoHustle.

...

I read that Maduro y Cia are now going after the bread bakers.  They do not grow wheat in Venezuela, they must import it.  The directives also apparently include demands that bakers only cook basic bread (cheap) and not produce any pastries or cakes (expensive).

Some bakeries have already been seized by their government.  Great..., their bakeries will be run by bureaucrats and cronies.

I started the thread over a year ago. I would not have thought at the time that the topic would still be so topical today. Venezuela sinks into chaos. It must even go bad deals with Goldman Sachs. The population is the most popular. The currency has been massively depreciated in recent days. Since gold is hard to get and defective goods, only alternatives such as bitcoin and other crypto currencies are left for the people to keep value.

Today I read this impressive story about something telling that Bitcoin stands family starvation.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/06/bitcoin-stands-family-starvation/

Of course the UK/EU is likely cracking down on bitcoin in similar ways. They're only being more discreet and sneaky about it. Using the media to attack bitcoin's reputation rather than opting for the heavy handed totalitarian approach.

If the euro/pound start to devalue and people turn to crypto as a means of avoiding hyperinflation, they could resort to more drastic measures.

I don't think that they are not yet comfortable with bitcoin because of the possible flaws that they see in bitcoin and we cannot blame them if they are not accepting bitcoin because it is not that easy to trust because of being online money. Bitcoin just needs more time to prove to itself that it is a good and trusted currency.

Well, it's not exactly supposed to surprise me that stuff is censored in a place like Turkey. Considering they basically voted to get rid of democracy there is nothing that I worry about coming out of Turkey for a very long time.
They don't want people to use Bitcoin because it saps from the value that their own country has, both in an economical and social manner, and that is simply something a government structure like that can deal with. As such, they get censorship.

Its easy to understand that the president dont wanna to let people to get freedom, neither save their money over bitcoin, i did read some news about a mining project that took the owners to prison, i dont know what were the issue at all, but there they wont be able to push bitcoin ahead if they dont change the president on the new elections.

Is there any government who is willing to switch to Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency)? Can you combine these currencies with taxes? I dont think so, right? So, thats a big no no no for every country's government.

No government would voluntarily switch to a decentralized and difficult-to-control currency such as Bitcoin. This is not the point of discussion. It's about people. Why the people doe not switch to Bitcoin to secure their savings and their values. And not the government, which has already shown its failure.

Venezuela is one among the country that experienced a big crash on the oil crisis. Now this time it could have got recovered, but the government and the entire system seems to be corrupt. This takes time for a change.

Well this is another authoritarian regime that wants to control bitcoin, but apparently no country or government can banned it. Venezuela government has banned bitcoin, they don't want their citizens to really enjoy bitcoin and used it to help them alleviate their daily lives. That's why we pity our fellow bitcoin enthusiast we live in a authoritarian country. Freedom today is likely a privilege that any country will take it away from its citizens and not enjoy it. Lucky for us that our government is bitcoin friendly so that we are enjoying it right now. I really hope that other government will find bitcoin not only used in illegal means, but rather very helpful to their citizens specially earning through it.

Stop being ridiculous. We all know that the government will never ever accept bitcoin as a main currency because they can not control this currency. Moreover, no one will use anonymous cryptocurrency for a country system

But it helps to overcome government failures. See article from yesterday below.

Venezuelans Keep Surviving Government Failures Thanks to Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency adopters in Venezuela are currently surviving government failures partly thanks to digital currencies, such as bitcoin and dash, which help them buy food and groceries from other countries.
As previously covered by CCN, hyperinflation and government policies prevent most people in the country from accessing foreign currencies, which led to a serious of problems, including food becoming barely affordable. Those who deal with foreign customers or buy from abroad, for example, were forced to turn to digital currencies which, right now, are in a gray area in the country.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/venezuelans-keep-surviving-government-failures-thanks-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies/

Worsening Inflation In Venezuela Continues to Drive People Toward Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies (http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/07/31/worsening-inflation-venezuela-continues-drive-people-toward-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies/)
Venezuela is not the most pleasant country to live in right now. Hyperinflation in the region is soaring to new heights virtually every quarter. It does not appear the central bank has any option to solve this platform anytime soon. Things are only getting worse as more time progresses. It is not entirely surprising to learn more and more people are looking to obtain cryptocurrency. Venezuela set a new weekly LocalBitcoins volume once again.

Thank you for the info. Looks like Venezuelan has no other options really because of the worsening situation there but to go into bitcoins to buy some foods outside of the country. I think the country will be extending far down and bitcoin is the only safe haven for its citizens. The bitcoin weekly volumes already speak for itself. Just hoping that this country can set everything straight once again because the real victim here is its citizen.

I think a lot of the factors that cause it, think the uncontrolled phytochem of Crypto to be monitored by the government, it becomes one of the factors that cause it to happen, crypto currency is a digital-based currency, where the internet becomes the ingredients, it makes crypto can not Controlled by the government, but I think quite a lot of people use bitcoin, and maybe in the next few years crypto will be adopted by every country.

Yeah it wouldn't be able to function like that as it is right now.  But in a place with hyperinflation it's a good store of value.  Whenever a place is in a currency crisis I would expect a huge influx into Bitcoin as one of the top alternatives along with gold, for protecting wealth.

A simple reason why are Venezuelan not switching to Bitcoin:

Because Bitcoin price is now too expensive for them. :)

Just kidding. I thought they should switch as soon as possible.

Even some of them trying to save their money into bitcoin its very hard to be able to move their local currencie to bitcoin, besides those their president can close any companie that is allowing people to fight against the country manipulation and abusive behaviour. I do believe this is the main issue a company moves there to provide exchange service to crypto and president says they are illegal and put all into the prison.

I created this topic almost 16 months ago and it seems Venezuelan people are figuring out the advantages of Bitcoin and crypto currencies while the country's currency madness inflation continues. I am very interested in this happing because it could happen to each country in the world when new financial crisis happens. So I am researching newspaper articles from time to time. Here are three articles from the last week from mass media covering the topics Venezuela and Bitcoin. Worth to read imho.

USA Today: Bitcoin is surprisingly popular in this country (https://www.usatoday.com/videos/money/2017/08/24/bitcoin-surprisingly-popular-country/104905460/)

Express co UK: Bitcoin army: More Venezuelans mining for cryptocurrency (http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/845478/Bitcoin-mining-news-Venezuela-crisis-latest-cryptocurrency-min)

CNBC: Cash is useless in Venezuela thanks to hyperinflation — so people are turning to bitcoin (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/bitcoin-mining-is-popular-in-venezuela-because-of-hyperinflation.html)

Venezuelans are suffering from economic crisis.Their currency bolivar has lost its value and many have started using bitcoins and especially bitcoin mining.Electricity is also almost free there from 2007  i think so.But the government has warned the people that they would even be arrested for money laundering if found mining bitcoins.But still,government could not control people fully and most people are fulfilling their day to day needs with bitcoins.

I think is is very surprising that venezuelans are actually mining cryptocurrencies.
There are many reports in tv that show the conditions there. No food, no water no electricity.
It is understandable if they use bitcoins instead of their local fiat. But mining is something that consumes a lot of electricity and you need to have the hardware for that.
I can only assume that there are a few companies who do so. For the large majority of the population I do not think they have the options to do mining with profit.

Venezuelan Central Bank convened a symposium in which foreign exchange representatives, known as DICOM, and blockchain private sector experts took part. The discussions covered a wide range of topics ranging from the technical aspects of blockchain to practical guidance on the implementation of tokens.
One of the speakers was Ángel Salazar, CEO of the Venezuelan blockchain- OnixCoin company. He explained that the motive behind organising the meeting was to find a way of using the technical capabilities cryptocurrencies in order to strengthen the state economy. He suggested that the bank should issue cryptocurrencies as a strategy to alleviate the fiscal difficulties affecting society.
Source (https://dowbit.com/venezuela-wants-to-use-cryptocurrencies-potential/)

I've just read a news about it today. In Venezuela one can end up in jail for bitcoin mining. So most of the miners do not really stop instead they take the risk and hide their identities or else their families will starve. This country is in poverty but still i dont know that the government is doing for the betterment of their people or atleast to ease the problem.

I don't get it, why do they end up in jail despite mining being legal on their country? Read somewhere that they get accused of terrorism, internet fraud, crime and what not  lol. Also read that someone had to bribe the cops $1000 for each mining rig he owned. Had like 90 of those.
 Thats really stupid lol.

I think the Venezuelan state is more concerned with real work than the people choose to work online or the country is afraid if the original currency will be replaced with bitcoin coin type later.

The country has a large inflation rate as the government is printing money to cover a deficit.   That is why they will not allow their citizens to freely use other currency and you cannot easily obtain dollars, the inflation is a form of taxation and to this large extent it becomes a way to seize wealth from the country to feed politics and the elite.

I would be surprised if they allowed use of bitcoin but I do wonder how they can ban everything that might be an alternative like gold.   I know that trading petrol is considered illegal, largely because its supplied at a subsidised price.
It is very much not a capitalist country, everything is in control of government and if they had democracy they dont now

That is not the cause, they are actually into thinking about going into bitcoin because of the huge inflation rate that goes up to 700% and that is why it is good to have bitcoin for their citizens because it will help the people there to avoid from being victim of the inflation because if they will have bitcoin and hold it for long then they will escape from inflation.

Im not sure but at my opinon this process is very hard for them and they just can't start using bitcoins cause its digital currency and many people can't understand what to do.

Not that I terribly disagree with you here (in fact, I agree to a degree), but let's not forget that there are a few countries which are using some major currency like the American dollar or euro as their national currency. For example, a few Latin American countries don't have a national currency and they are using the dollar instead. In this manner, I don't really see any insurmountable barrier for a small or developing country to actually accept bitcoin as a sort of parallel currency. Truth be told, some African countries are said to have already adopted this approach.

Look at all the countries that have embraced cryptocurrencies. What do they have in common? They all seem to be highly developed nations (e.g. South Korea, Japan, USA, etc.), don't they? I'm not saying it's not possible for Venezuela to do it but I don't think they're ready yet.

Because the governments do not agree with losing the monetary control over their inhabitants, principally the government of Venezuela, which is absolutely dictatorial. To do so would be to give the Venezuelan inhabitants financial independence.

Maybe one of the reason is that, they are scared to try and take risk with bitcoins.If they doesnt havw sufficient idea with what is bitcoin and they didnt see it as option or solution, they arent going to switch in it.

The Venezuela government has been choked of US dollars to such an extent they are now accepting all crypto to their government agencies.   I dont know they are allowing their citizens proper access but I believe its possible that might be a secondary effect.

Heres a thread on Petro a new currency being setup by their government to be linked to national oil sales - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3006037.0



https://i.imgur.com/FKqxU1w.png