Venezuela is in an interesting situation where Bitcoiners may be in a unique position to help. As far as I've heard, most Venezuelans have decent Internet access, and they are also readily able to accept foreign packages. But even so, many people are starving due to various government nonsense. One major issue with the government (though certainly not the only issue) is that the Venezuelan currency is in hyperinflation. Bitcoin could be used as an alternative medium of exchange in Venezuela, and apparently this is already happening to a small extent. And separately from Bitcoin, as far as I can tell it'd be very much possible to ship supplies into Venezuela in order to help people there.
It'd be nice if someone trustworthy on the ground in Venezuela could organize the following activities:
- Accept and distribute shipments of food donations to people who are not government supporters.
- Accept and distribute BTC donations to act as a replacement for the garbage government currency.
- Work in other ways to promote the usage of BTC as a medium of exchange in Venezuela.
- Trade between BTC and other supplies in order to most effectively meet local demand, and also to promote the creation of a BTC-centric market.
There are some existing charities for helping Venezuela, but I suspect that a large percentage of donations to these charities end up in the hands of the government itself or government supporters. I'd like donations to go only to people who are not supportive of the government (or, even better, to those who actively oppose it).
Due to various not-yet-perfectly-solved technical issues, raw Bitcoin transactions are a bit cumbersome for medium-of-exchange purposes. Therefore, it may be best to distribute OpenDime devices preloaded with set denominations of BTC, with the amount of BTC written on stickers on the devices. (I have some
security concerns regarding OpenDime's current design, but it'll suffice for now.)
Does this sound like a good idea? Would you donate? Does anyone know of any trustworthy Venezuelans who would be willing to work on this?
Hello theymos I'm a citizen of Venezuela, and I'm not with the government. I have been talking about this with my father a long time ago ways to do donations this because the government has hard regulations on everything Included donations. If you are interested in someone who can help with the donations I'll be glad to help, and also I can give you all my personal info for more transparency via PM.
I appreciate your initiative; every cent counts for a Venezuelan because we have an hour wage of .17 cents and also the food It has become more expensive, we can't find medicines and more things. I'm sure this a good way to making the difference and I think like you most large percentage of donations to these charities end up in the hands of the government itself or government supporters
