Venezuela Planning New 100,000-Bolivar Bills Worth Just $0.23

[Vishnu.Reang]

It’s efficient for transferring large values but not at all suitable for small transactions, which is why it isn’t suitable as a currency. Cross border transactions are are good use for speed and cost, but that doesn’t make it a good currency.

Have to agree. A few days back, when the transaction fee was low I made a series of transactions with fee of 11-21 Sat/Byte. As per the current exchange rates, it cost me less than $1. I don't think that you can go much lower than this. If you keep your fee below 10 Sat/Byte, then there is a good chance that the transaction may never get confirmed. So the minimum you need to spend is $0.50-$1.00. That makes Bitcoin unsuitable for smaller transactions (i.e <$20).

[Hispo]

Then what was left was citizens fighting with each other to eat stray dogs or competing for government sponsored rations of food.

As Venezuelan, I must say that even though I have seen and heard some crazy things. That statement is not completely accurate if taken literally.

[Hispo]

It’s efficient for transferring large values but not at all suitable for small transactions, which is why it isn’t suitable as a currency. Cross border transactions are are good use for speed and cost, but that doesn’t make it a good currency.

Have to agree. A few days back, when the transaction fee was low I made a series of transactions with fee of 11-21 Sat/Byte. As per the current exchange rates, it cost me less than $1. I don't think that you can go much lower than this. If you keep your fee below 10 Sat/Byte, then there is a good chance that the transaction may never get confirmed. So the minimum you need to spend is $0.50-$1.00. That makes Bitcoin unsuitable for smaller transactions (i.e <$20).

That is why people here likely hold their Bitcoin in the long term and always have some spare alt-coin like Litecoin or Doge to buy the necessary daily things.

However, in spite of the transaction fees my country has one of the largest volumens of Bitcoin on P2P platforms and there is no doubt why.

https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/venezuela-is-the-leader-in-america-in-volume-of-bitcoin-and-in-traffic-to-p2p-crypto-platforms-according-to-google-trends

Cryptocurrency is even more meaningful for us because not only allow us to have some savings but also keeps the prying eyes of the government and criminals away from us.

[STT]

That makes Bitcoin unsuitable for smaller transactions (i.e <$20).

People are arguing BTC is not to be used for transactions in that way only in final settlement of a tab or bill paid over months that kind of thing.   That relies on credit and good will within those companies to customer relationships.    It seems obvious to me crypto overall needs to develop further, add more detail to payment layers to enable all parts of an economy.  I firmly believe the smallest entities of an economy are the most vital to have within crypto as the smallest businesses are the most able to double their size and revenue in one year and crypto requires that growth to justify itself.   If we get stuck on whales trading it will end badly imo

[Sithara007]

That is why people here likely hold their Bitcoin in the long term and always have some spare alt-coin like Litecoin or Doge to buy the necessary daily things.

However, in spite of the transaction fees my country has one of the largest volumens of Bitcoin on P2P platforms and there is no doubt why.

https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/venezuela-is-the-leader-in-america-in-volume-of-bitcoin-and-in-traffic-to-p2p-crypto-platforms-according-to-google-trends

Cryptocurrency is even more meaningful for us because not only allow us to have some savings but also keeps the prying eyes of the government and criminals away from us.

Well... how reliable and safe are these P2P platforms? I have been trading in P2P platforms since 2014 (in India), and I have faced issues with scammers multiple times. For example, once when I sold my coins the buyer marked the transaction as "paid", but I didn't received the amount in my bank account. I checked with him and then he was saying there is an issue with his bank and he needs some more time. These delaying tactics went on for some time, before I finally got my coins back through dispute resolution. Inexperienced users would have lost their coins in such circumstances. And if something goes wrong, then we can't even go to the local police station and report about it, because cryptocurrency is not 100% legal here.

[Hispo]

That is why people here likely hold their Bitcoin in the long term and always have some spare alt-coin like Litecoin or Doge to buy the necessary daily things.

However, in spite of the transaction fees my country has one of the largest volumens of Bitcoin on P2P platforms and there is no doubt why.

https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/venezuela-is-the-leader-in-america-in-volume-of-bitcoin-and-in-traffic-to-p2p-crypto-platforms-according-to-google-trends

Cryptocurrency is even more meaningful for us because not only allow us to have some savings but also keeps the prying eyes of the government and criminals away from us.

Well... how reliable and safe are these P2P platforms? I have been trading in P2P platforms since 2014 (in India), and I have faced issues with scammers multiple times. For example, once when I sold my coins the buyer marked the transaction as "paid", but I didn't received the amount in my bank account. I checked with him and then he was saying there is an issue with his bank and he needs some more time. These delaying tactics went on for some time, before I finally got my coins back through dispute resolution. Inexperienced users would have lost their coins in such circumstances. And if something goes wrong, then we can't even go to the local police station and report about it, because cryptocurrency is not 100% legal here.

I have used Binance P2P and there are groups with only trustworthy people who exchange Bolivars for Exchange credit, mostly Uphold which is very popular here. So far, I have not suffered a scam.

[bryant.coleman]

I have used Binance P2P and there are groups with only trustworthy people who exchange Bolivars for Exchange credit, mostly Uphold which is very popular here. So far, I have not suffered a scam.

I have heard that Binance P2P is more secure when compared to the other platforms. I have used Localbitcoins since 2012 and there were a few attempts to scam. And one thing I have learnt is not to blindly trust accounts that have very good feedback and high volumes. If such an account is indulging in scamming, there are two possibilities - either the account can be hacked, or the original owner has sold the account to someone.

[magneto]

Precisely why you need to hold some decentralised cryptos to hedge yourself against this sort of thing.

Might seem like a distant problem for people in first-world countries, but there has never been a fiat currency in the world that has survived in the long haul.

Debasement and eventual collapse is inbuilt. When the regime in charge is no longer credible, people no longer value the currency and fiat will topple to its ultimate, intrinsic value - zero.

Venezuelans have it tough right now. You could be next.

[LUCKMCFLY]

~snip~

In Venezuela, the levels that were released according to the Caracol Noticias(TV) (Colombia) was that inflation is around 3800%, but to be more honest this amount exceeds 5000%, what happens is that the Central Bank of Venezuela does not Publish the true figure, because the Government prohibits it, obviously the country is dollarized, but it is a dollarization of another Universe, since the government does not pay wages and salaries in dollars but in local currency (Bs.S), for the province The country handles Dollars and Colombian Pesos (COP) this because of its proximity to the neighboring country, which in fact the border between Colombia and Venezuela through San Antonio del Táchira was the most active in the world, now people go through the "Trochas" in rafts improvised passing through a dangerous river, in search of their articles, food and basic articles, since in Colombia the prices are not so high and they are of good quality.

That means that the numbers that they're showing isn't the actual yet it's already high. But in actuality, it's even higher than what they're showing to the public and if that information from Caracol is for real, that's surprising although it's really hyperinflation.

I've watched a video about the citizens crossing borders and Colombia is where most of them are going because life and economy are better than their mainland.

Yes, it is an extreme hyperinflation, in fact many who come from the center of the country flee because of the situation, because in the center of the country everything is more expensive and for some people it is impossible to get dollars, and the prices in dollars implement inflation, If a 1Kg of Sugar is worth 2usd, then they can put 2.5USD to 3USD, if demand increases, the truth is that the internal economy that is being formed is crazy. That is why many flee the country, just as there are others who come from the center of the country to go to Colombia to look for these foods and take them for their own consumption or sale.

[Sithara007]

Yes, it is an extreme hyperinflation, in fact many who come from the center of the country flee because of the situation, because in the center of the country everything is more expensive and for some people it is impossible to get dollars, and the prices in dollars implement inflation, If a 1Kg of Sugar is worth 2usd, then they can put 2.5USD to 3USD, if demand increases, the truth is that the internal economy that is being formed is crazy. That is why many flee the country, just as there are others who come from the center of the country to go to Colombia to look for these foods and take them for their own consumption or sale.

Hyperinflation will be there as long as the government doesn't support the national currency. They are just printing the banknotes and not supporting it at the forex market. As a result the banknotes have zero value. On top of that, most of the population now uses USD as a currency for making payments. It will be difficult to import anything in to the country, because of this situation. So it doesn't surprises me that imported items cost more.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Yes, it is an extreme hyperinflation, in fact many who come from the center of the country flee because of the situation, because in the center of the country everything is more expensive and for some people it is impossible to get dollars, and the prices in dollars implement inflation, If a 1Kg of Sugar is worth 2usd, then they can put 2.5USD to 3USD, if demand increases, the truth is that the internal economy that is being formed is crazy. That is why many flee the country, just as there are others who come from the center of the country to go to Colombia to look for these foods and take them for their own consumption or sale.

Hyperinflation will be there as long as the government doesn't support the national currency. They are just printing the banknotes and not supporting it at the forex market. As a result the banknotes have zero value. On top of that, most of the population now uses USD as a currency for making payments. It will be difficult to import anything in to the country, because of this situation. So it doesn't surprises me that imported items cost more.

If, in fact, the new bills are not so valuable, the paper money has more value, I believe that this economy has no solution, no economist has been able to find the solution, the experts believe that the only solution is that the government resign, and be taken by someone else with the opposite radical political ideology than they are now. The good thing is that there are no restrictions on the cryptocurrency economy, since the government itself has its bitcoin mining farms, the government has no way of generating liquidity, people no longer care that it is in hyperinflation, they only seek the way to generate business to attract more dollars.

[Hispo]

I have used Binance P2P and there are groups with only trustworthy people who exchange Bolivars for Exchange credit, mostly Uphold which is very popular here. So far, I have not suffered a scam.

or the original owner has sold the account to someone.

This should not even be legal, imo.

[Hispo]

Precisely why you need to hold some decentralised cryptos to hedge yourself against this sort of thing.

Might seem like a distant problem for people in first-world countries, but there has never been a fiat currency in the world that has survived in the long haul.

Debasement and eventual collapse is inbuilt. When the regime in charge is no longer credible, people no longer value the currency and fiat will topple to its ultimate, intrinsic value - zero.

Venezuelans have it tough right now. You could be next.

I agree.

You need to be careful wherever you all are from.
We never thought this could ever happen to us, we were in a very good position.

There were economical experts warning us about the future, about the long term consequences of our model and people did not care. They called them neo-liberals, imperialists and even facists just because they asked logical questions.

Where is the money gonna come from?
What if oil prices go down? We are too dependent on oil.
Are these debts with China going to hurt us in the future?
What if we diversify our economy first before increasing social programs?


Nowadays, they even try to take advantage of the increasing usage of crypto within the country to try to make their private party last a little bit more. If they could, they would track and force crypto-holders to pay unfair taxes, thank God their are too inefficient to do that.

[Sithara007]

I have used Binance P2P and there are groups with only trustworthy people who exchange Bolivars for Exchange credit, mostly Uphold which is very popular here. So far, I have not suffered a scam.

or the original owner has sold the account to someone.

This should not even be legal, imo.

Definitely not legal. But I can see a lot of Paxful, Localbitcoins, Bitcointalk accounts up for sale in various sites. Some of them may be put up for sale by those who hacked in to them. But at least some of the sellers would be the original owners of these accounts. And in 99% of the cases, the sold accounts would be used to scam someone. So the person who is selling this account is also responsible for fraud. BTW, an example here:

https://bitify.com/auctions/download-misc/a-localbitcoins-t2-verified-3779578/

[STT]

First time dealing with someone most people on there would ask to personally verify not rely on the site itself.   Also judge on recent feedback mostly not just legacy, its an ok site used with caution just costs to use it.   Ideally you would build up a relationship gradually with a trading partner not rely on them suddenly for an immediate large amount, do that regularly and you should be ok with a greater amount is best method.

It will be difficult to import anything in to the country, because of this situation. So it doesn't surprises me that imported items cost more.

This applies to every country that a trade balance is required to truly import and export goods at a reasonable price.   Because oil is so difficult to process and low demand now Venezuela has lost alot of its trade and so support for its currency in addition to all the other problems.   Dollar is already an inflationary trade by the time it arrives in the country and brings its own problems but also liquidity on global scale where as the national currency has become isolated and avoided in all trade for lack of integrity.
   If any loses use of currency barter becomes a better prospect for retaining value and crypto is easily better day to day for almost anyone who has to transport that value over distance.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^^^ I agree with the previous posts, but why do Venezuela needs to import basic commodities such as sugar? Why can't they produce all this within their country? I have heard that Brazil is one of the top producers of sugar, so I guess the climatic conditions in Venezuela will also be favorable for sugar production. I just took one example, but I would like to know the reason why Venezuela imports most of the commodities from abroad.

[Hispo]

I have used Binance P2P and there are groups with only trustworthy people who exchange Bolivars for Exchange credit, mostly Uphold which is very popular here. So far, I have not suffered a scam.

or the original owner has sold the account to someone.

This should not even be legal, imo.

Definitely not legal. But I can see a lot of Paxful, Localbitcoins, Bitcointalk accounts up for sale in various sites. Some of them may be put up for sale by those who hacked in to them. But at least some of the sellers would be the original owners of these accounts. And in 99% of the cases, the sold accounts would be used to scam someone. So the person who is selling this account is also responsible for fraud. BTW, an example here:

https://bitify.com/auctions/download-misc/a-localbitcoins-t2-verified-3779578/

I see...

thanks for the example, I am quite new around here.

^^^^ I agree with the previous posts, but why do Venezuela needs to import basic commodities such as sugar? Why can't they produce all this within their country? I have heard that Brazil is one of the top producers of sugar, so I guess the climatic conditions in Venezuela will also be favorable for sugar production. I just took one example, but I would like to know the reason why Venezuela imports most of the commodities from abroad.

There was a time the government started to seize private companies and producers in order to advance into the socialist model and others things, obviously that affected the production, since those companies became useless because of the lack of management.

The sugar was a special case, because the producing plants were surrounded by a ton of corruption by the local authorities.

Nowadays, we are importing almost everything with consume, cigarettes, sugar, flour, cereal, lentis, ect. Specially processed products, there is no support to the local production neither by the government nor non-existant private investors. It is speculated that this is because, there are people in the government who profit from the importation of these goods. So they do not want local production to increase to keep their business