Why Latin American economies are turning to bitcoin

[the_poet]

Have a nice read

http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/16/why-latin-american-economies-are-turning-to-bitcoin/

[NUFCrichard]

That sounds good, but are they? I think if any significant part of a country, or even the rich in a country, decided to 'turn to Bitcoin' the price would be much higher than it is now.

I don't really know why they aren't really getting into Bitcoin, Argentina and Venezuala have huge currency issues and Brazil's economy is a state too.  It would be well worth their while to move some money into Bitcoin, but they are obviously aren't.

[ahpku]

^^Noticed who penned that fine article?
Sonny Singh
Crunch Network Contributor
Sonny Singh is the chief commercial officer of BitPay.

[BTCBinary]

The Latin American countries are turning into bitcoin becuase the country's governments usualy tend to force capital control over citizens and bitcoin is the only was to go around this.

[Iseecookies]

Better odds with Bitcoin when their currencies tank so often for one issue or another.
But I do not buy that they are adapting to bitcoin either,as quite a few people live out of the cities and its not such a easy
transaction to make compared to US or parts of Europe.

[mkc]

Summary up, the reason Bitcoin is booming in Latin American is:

1 local government isn't stable.
2 local inflation is through the roof, local currency is dropping value fast.
3 Bitcoin price was going up last year
4 local government has capital control.

Speculation: in troubled area, holding Bitcoin is better than gold, because Bitcoin is more useful, can be exchanged into goods easier.
Traditional, gold is the number 1 choice.

[DeathAngel]

I read stuff like this all the time. I used to get excited by it, expecting some kind of a surge in mainstream adoption bit as usual it leads to nothing.

[Lionidas]

I read stuff like this all the time. I used to get excited by it, expecting some kind of a surge in mainstream adoption bit as usual it leads to nothing.

You keep reading in to these articles about how countries are going towards bitcoin as a currency of choice or a better way to maintain a countries economy but that would mean every single citizen would have to accept it and dump their current fiat. This can only happen of this government capital control does that for them. And that is not going to happen.

[kanazawa]

Lotta people in this forum are right. There are so many wrong things in the LATAM scenario that Bitcoin fits like a glove. There are just few points to consider... The adoption is very low and the knowledge is almost non-existent. The latin currencies are a joke. The government dominates everything. I wish better things but it is so distance that I can imagine. There are few exception, but they are veryyyyyyyy small. Won't get too long here. It will be a book. There's a ton of problems to discuss.

[mkc]

I understand many folks , including myself, hoping Bitcoin will fly to the moon soon. However, if these two things are tied together,

1 severe toilment of your local government and local currency.
2 huge appriciation of Bitcoin.

Do you still want this? I would rather Bitcoin price stay put. I do believe in Bitcoin, I hope because of limited supply, the price will slowly and steadily going up.

[sdp]

I live in Argentina and I find it very difficult to find brickand motor locations that accept bitcoins.   There is ONE web site and there is rampant confiscation of things by customs.  So bitcoins are a long term investment here ONLY.   Whenever I ask whether a shop accepts bitcoin they either say noor they still don't know what it is.

sdp

[Junko]

Well, in order for Latin American countries to turn to bitcoin, people have to buy or obtain bitcoin. Many, if not most people in Latin America don't have the money to buy bitcoin in the first place. Sure, there are many rich and middle and lower middle income folks in Latin America that have the means to buy/obtain bitcoin, but I imagine the great majority of people there don't.

[knowhow]

Well this wont happen as the most people of that countries are poor,some hasnt internet or a phone,soo why would this really happen?The inflation at the most of the countries are unreal soo some of those people may invest at bitcoin to protect their capital but well,its already know that bitcoin community is becoming bigger every week.

[RealPhotoshoper]

Have a nice read

http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/16/why-latin-american-economies-are-turning-to-bitcoin/

america latins countries like Brazil as we know have so good bitcoin developing,they have so many store accept bitcoins,and something blow my mind "Last year, adoption of the digital currency broke records in Latin America. Payment processor BitPay reported a 510 percent gain in merchant transactions in mid-2015" and i'm sure this year will more and more,i wish Asian and europe will follow this movement soon.

[West man]

But what about the richer Latin countries they won't give up their valued currency for a new economic crypto they know nothing about. Latinos are hard pressed to try new things if they know that something works already. Why change it they say.

[nanonymousx]

I live in Argentina and I find it very difficult to find brickand motor locations that accept bitcoins.   There is ONE web site and there is rampant confiscation of things by customs.  So bitcoins are a long term investment here ONLY.   Whenever I ask whether a shop accepts bitcoin they either say noor they still don't know what it is.

sdp

No worries, I am sure Argentina wi pick things up soon. It is no doubt that bitcoin is most economy way to move coins across border.  Also, from wiki:

It was around 4 pesos per US dollar from 2009 to 2011, surpassed 6 pesos in November 2013, sat at 6.5 pesos per dollar during December 2013. As of October 2014, the exchange rate was about 8 pesos per dollar, by February 2015, it was 9 per USD, and by December of 2015, 13 pesos per USD, after a record of 14.

Do you think keep Peso is inferior to bitcoin?

[bebeko]

They understand that bitcoin now is on a trend and has really the potential to be a true money, since it is an online currency we can use it as money in the real world.

[n0ne]

They understand that bitcoin now is on a trend and has really the potential to be a true money, since it is an online currency we can use it as money in the real world.

The trend might got more acceptance over the Latin american region. This will be an initiation of trend setting for the neighbouring countries. The users of bitcoin has increased in this region.

[Kakmakr]

Latin America needs Bitcoin, but they are not ready for it yet. The government is very aggressive towards any form of capital flight and will do anything to protect their local currencies. The education levels are poor and the country is struggling economically. Bitcoin will be the ideal solution to solve many of their problems, but the government will not allow it. You will have to do backroom deals, not to get caught buying and selling Bitcoins, but for now this is a good way to protect the value of your money. Someone needs to go there and open the doors for Bitcoin. 

[target]

I read stuff like this all the time. I used to get excited by it, expecting some kind of a surge in mainstream adoption bit as usual it leads to nothing.

Yes. thats the problem with press releases you can keep reading them but its mostly not true. No silly country/government would prefer to use bitcoin. fiat is easier to use of course and can't be tracked.