Venezuela In Chaos - Massive 95% Devaluation -new Bolivar pegged to state crypto

[stompix]

On the other hand, I like the fact they're giving the finger to "Team America: World Police".  US foreign policy has pretty much become a blight on humanity at this point.  They are categorically not making the world a safer place.  More countries need to defy their increasingly absurd will.  If state-backed cryptocurrencies become the new norm for doing this, I'm okay with that.

Yeah, giving the finger to the ones that are keeping you and your country alive.
The moment the US bans at least oil trade not a full embargo on Venezuela, the country will be sent from the stone age directly into the Mesozoic.

Why there is no revolution is good question, but in country which have dictator like Maduro this is not easy to achieve - any such attempt is crushed at its very beginnings, military and police take care that this does not happen. Also hundreds of thousands have left the country, by some data almost 1 million people emigrated from Venezuela-migration-situation . So a large number of dissatisfied already gone, critical mass has decreased a chance for some serious change is very low.

Its actually because, nobody wants a real revolution...
The things are so bad in Venezuela that there are only two solutions
-pray to the great Karhu that oil prices go up
-massive cuts in government spending

And since the first one is pretty obvious it won't work the second threatens millions of government employees.
They won't let a revolution happen, they cling to their positions which at least now it grants them a bit of food, they will do anything to prevent it. With the support of those, with the military that is also dependent on government paychecks, with the support of fanatics that still believe the US is to blame for it, with the silence of the many that indirectly depend on the former and the fear of change from others...nothing will change.

Even the opposition knows that even with Maduro gone, the way back out of this mess will be even harder than what's happening now.

The only thing we will see in Venezuela is how the end of a country looks like.

[CaVO32]

it's not all about crypto just to address what's happening with their current situation. political leaders should think of other solid solutions rather than focusing themselves in the technology that they are not really expert with.

[DooMAD]

On the other hand, I like the fact they're giving the finger to "Team America: World Police".  US foreign policy has pretty much become a blight on humanity at this point.  They are categorically not making the world a safer place.  More countries need to defy their increasingly absurd will.  If state-backed cryptocurrencies become the new norm for doing this, I'm okay with that.

Yeah, giving the finger to the ones that are keeping you and your country alive.
The moment the US bans at least oil trade not a full embargo on Venezuela, the country will be sent from the stone age directly into the Mesozoic.

In the sense that you could put a gun to someone's head and then claim that you're "keeping them alive" until the moment you pull the trigger, sure.  But at some point you have to consider if the situation would be improved by removing your involvement from the equation.  Obviously the US are incapable of that, though.

[camps74]

It seems like Venezuela may be the first country to have its national currency be crypto.  I have been hearing about them attempting this for quite sometime now.  I believe the government run cryptos will start in South America. 

[bitmover]

Its actually because, nobody wants a real revolution...
The things are so bad in Venezuela that there are only two solutions
-pray to the great Karhu that oil prices go up
-massive cuts in government spending

Cutting spends is not enough at this point.

Maduro, chaves etc, needs to be removed completely from the country. They have literally robbed the country economy.
They have expelled all big private companies from the county and robbed their infrastructure.

There is not even food anymore in the country, and corruption is on bizarre levels.

Look at this news:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/08/10/hugo-chavez-daughter-is-richest-individual-in-venezuela-report-claims.html

On more than one occasion the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez declared that being rich is bad, often adding “Rich people attack me for saying that, but I claim it is bad.”

His favorite daughter, however, may disagree.

According to the Miami-based Diario Las América, Venezuelan media sources will soon publish materials showing that María Gabriela Chávez has bank accounts in the U.S. and Andorra with assets totaling nearly $4.2 billion.

This what real socialism is about: robbery, corruption, hunger..

[embargo]

It seems to me that the idea of attaching a currency to a crypto currency will be a failure for Venezuela. With hyperinflation, when the flywheel is tempted, it is possible to stop devaluation of the local currency only by fundamental reforms in the economy, which is not happening in this country. The fall will continue.

[stompix]

On the other hand, I like the fact they're giving the finger to "Team America: World Police".  US foreign policy has pretty much become a blight on humanity at this point.  They are categorically not making the world a safer place.  More countries need to defy their increasingly absurd will.  If state-backed cryptocurrencies become the new norm for doing this, I'm okay with that.

Yeah, giving the finger to the ones that are keeping you and your country alive.
The moment the US bans at least oil trade not a full embargo on Venezuela, the country will be sent from the stone age directly into the Mesozoic.

In the sense that you could put a gun to someone's head and then claim that you're "keeping them alive" until the moment you pull the trigger, sure.  But at some point you have to consider if the situation would be improved by removing your involvement from the equation.  Obviously the US are incapable of that, though.

What gun is the US putting at Maduro's head?
Threatening him that they won't buy oil? Probably the lamest threat ever....

And speaking of giving the finger to the US, there is another country that far goes above anything Venezuela has done. Vietnam, after 40 years of "giving the finger" to the US , writing books on how they defeated the US, on how strong they are, how the US is the evilest thing on this planet....are down on all fours wagging their tails and licking asses to make sure the US protects their country The god if irony had a heart attacks when he heard of that  

So why is Venezuela not cutting all the ties with the US?
Probably because of the fact that despite all that propaganda about embargo and sanctions, it runs a trade excedent with the US?

It's pretty easy to label the US as evil and blame it for everything, it's the coolest # this century, it's pretty damn hard to explain with fact why Venezuela is the only one experiencing this.
Why is not Norway in the same situation?

[magneto]

Pegging their national currency to Petro doesn't really do much to help.

It still relies on the price of oil to rise or at least stabilise in order for this to function. Also, don't forget that Petros are state owned, which means that they can essentially issue as much as they want if such drastic measures are called for.

The hyperinflation crisis has been going on for ages now in Venezuela, and has no signs of stopping any time soon. I don't think that this is a viable solution by simply pegging it to another central bank issued currency, but bitcoin could definitely be useful to Venezuelans who want to store their wealth in the long run without having to worry about inflation.

[UNOE]

Venezuelans are started accepting Dash in their stores, so when your local currency is not good store of value, then cryptocurrencies could be good option. I hope that we do not need to wait Venezuelan scenario for cryptocurrencies adoption.

[drm]

Venezuelans are started accepting Dash in their stores, so when your local currency is not good store of value, then cryptocurrencies could be good option. I hope that we do not need to wait Venezuelan scenario for cryptocurrencies adoption.

They are honestly better off accepting bitcoin, instead of dash.

[Phil315]

I don't think the government is actually getting everything right. There is no way they can force a crypto price on people. It will be determined by the market.

[Lucius]

Venezuela has "heavy oil" that requires significant additonal treatments to make it useable.

Heavy oil usually contains significantly higher contents of asphaltenes

The presence of asphaltenes, chemically altered fragments of organic chemical compounds, in oil can greatly complicate the production process. Subsequently, certain asphaltene elements require that the heavy oil also undergo a special refining process called deasphalting. The chemical composition of asphaltenes can consist of various amounts of sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and the heavy metals nickel and vanadium and are widely recognized as soluble.

Thanks for this info, this somehow explains why a country rich in oil does not profit from it, or we may say that very small % of people make some profit, but but the rest of the population gets only crumbs. Of course there are also economic sanctions from USA, all in all a very bad situation.

Its actually because, nobody wants a real revolution...
The things are so bad in Venezuela that there are only two solutions
-pray to the great Karhu that oil prices go up
-massive cuts in government spending

And since the first one is pretty obvious it won't work the second threatens millions of government employees.
They won't let a revolution happen, they cling to their positions which at least now it grants them a bit of food, they will do anything to prevent it. With the support of those, with the military that is also dependent on government paychecks, with the support of fanatics that still believe the US is to blame for it, with the silence of the many that indirectly depend on the former and the fear of change from others...nothing will change.

Even the opposition knows that even with Maduro gone, the way back out of this mess will be even harder than what's happening now.

The only thing we will see in Venezuela is how the end of a country looks like.

I would not say no one wants a revolution, but when millions of dissatisfied people leave the country those who stay are just too week to begin some changes. As you say it would be necessary that all people decide to go out on the streets, but those on government paycheck are just in fear of losing what little they have. But situation will touch the bottom at one point, something will have to change - if not by citizens in Venezuela then maybe with some outside help. We've all seen how "democracy" is introduced in Iraq, Afganistan, Syria and some other countries...

[stompix]

something will have to change - if not by citizens in Venezuela then maybe with some outside help. We've all seen how "democracy" is introduced in Iraq, Afganistan, Syria and some other countries...

Funny that you name 3 countries where socialism was introduced so peacefully by the URSS before the events you refer to /sarcasm

But situation will touch the bottom at one point, something will have to change -

No, it won't. There are tens of countries that are still dirt poor even with more resources than the whole of Europe and nothing is done. They keep on dying of hunger while fighting the evil westerners that want to plunder their resources....

Pegging their national currency to Petro doesn't really do much to help.

They could have pegged it to whatever they wanted, to the euro to gold even to the USDT
The problem is how you maintain this value.

What they've done is basically flood the market with another few million worths of $ coins (in theory) but with no money to back the value,  so no wonder it will just make things worse...a lot worse.

[tomahawk9]

Venezuela has "heavy oil" that requires significant additonal treatments to make it useable.

Heavy oil usually contains significantly higher contents of asphaltenes

The presence of asphaltenes, chemically altered fragments of organic chemical compounds, in oil can greatly complicate the production process. Subsequently, certain asphaltene elements require that the heavy oil also undergo a special refining process called deasphalting. The chemical composition of asphaltenes can consist of various amounts of sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and the heavy metals nickel and vanadium and are widely recognized as soluble.

Thanks for this info, this somehow explains why a country rich in oil does not profit from it, or we may say that very small % of people make some profit, but but the rest of the population gets only crumbs. Of course there are also economic sanctions from USA, all in all a very bad situation.

That doesn't explain why Venezuela, a country with one of the largest Oil reserves in the world, is having the worst economic collapse in its history and can't profit from its oil reserves.

The govt is unable to profit from the oil reserves simply because they destroyed PDVSA^[1], the company in charge of refining and exporting oil in the country. Things went from bad to worse after Chávez died, not only the crude oil price has gone down over the last few years but PDVSA has had such a shit management under Maduro administration with some terrible policies that the company has started to import oil despite having large oil reserves.

Things are so shit in this company that the oil workers have started to quit their jobs^[2].

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevehanke/2017/03/06/venezuelas-pdvsa-the-worlds-worst-oil-company/
2. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-workers-insight/under-military-rule-venezuela-oil-workers-quit-in-a-stampede-idUSKBN1HO0H9

[muslol67]

Venezuela is having a hard time. I hope to recover soon. States can make economic mistakes. But it still has to attract people to get in trouble. Unfortunately, the hard days of Venezuelan citizens are waiting.

[Akpuv]

The Venezuelan government really need to be careful with the way it is handling this its national cryptocurrency of a thing so that it doesn't plunge the entire country into financial crisis.

[wxa7115]

Venezuela is the perfect example of why stealing money from the productive members of society is not going to work for the long term, the government is trying every single thing they can think of to avoid their inevitable fate, in fact I am surprised the government is still in place when the economy is in such a bad shape.

If they cared about their citizens as much as they say they do Maduro and everyone in their government should quit immediately and accept whatever punishment the people imposed on them, but that is not going to happen, this is about power and if they need to destroy every single institution of Venezuela to keep their power that is what they will do.

[timerland]

Venezuela has obviously been in constant economic problems for a good amount of the decade.

By looking at this article, they seem to think that by having a national, centralized cryptocurrency to which they peg their fiat to will solve all the country's problems, which is far from the truth. Just because a peg exists, doesn't mean the government can't continue to print more and more Bolivars by the day. They can even create more Petro, if needed, without necessarily have to have an independent auditor to audit their reserves first.

If you really believe that such a scheme is going to be successful, then you're just too naive. Venezuelans should not invest in the Petro token or keep any wealth in their currency, but rather, put it in something like bitcoin which is actually decentralized.

[chocolah29]

Pegging their national currency to Petro doesn't really do much to help.

Yes because as long as Petro is being controlled by the government it won't resolve anything from everything. Corruption is rampant and Petro will just end up like bolivar so nothing will be useful.

Hunger and crimes will arise more and casualties and deaths will seen on the street. For once and for all, they needed a country that will step up from this and help them from their reserve and start all over again but of course US should be out of the picture first.

When it's totally heart breaking seeing the kids suffer from hunger that could lead them to death. I hope Chavez can sleep soundly at night.

[zhanyiguai261315]

Venezuela was originally a country with abundant resources, prosperous economy and strong national prosperity.
In just ten years, Venezuela has become a country with a sharp economic contraction, inflation, external debt, and extremely poor people's lives.
The government of Venezuela is the biggest sinner!