Why are Venezuelan not switching to Bitcoin?

[zimmah]

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!

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.

[zimmah]

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.

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?

[Divitiae miserae]

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.

[Divitiae miserae]

Funny: since I've started posting in this thread I'm getting phishing e-mails to the address found on my LocalBitcoins ad.

[tyz]

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

Funny: since I've started posting in this thread I'm getting phishing e-mails to the address found on my LocalBitcoins ad.

[expert4knowledge]

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

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

[eternalgloom]

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.

[expert4knowledge]

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.

[Atdhe]

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)

[mindrust]

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.

[trollercoaster]

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

[STT]

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

Venezuelan people are suffering under high inflation

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

[arcanaaerobics]

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.

[techgeek]

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.

[expert4knowledge]

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)

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

[Divitiae miserae]

On LocalBitcoins the volume trend 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:



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).

[zimmah]

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.

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

[BitcoinSupremo]

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.

[Divitiae miserae]

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

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.

[gentlemand]

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.