Bitcoin demand in economically volatile countries surges

[GideonGono]

Before there wasn't bitcoin, people used gold as alternative, other precious metals and other goods, but bitcoin beats them all, its easier to hide and transfer it, if we talk about some higher amounts, how will someone transfer gold, or anything else, bitcoin wallet full with bitcoins can be hidden anywhere, much easier.

We haven't really seen a global meltdown yet. In the last couple of decades it has mainly been the USD that people used as hedge and store of value, and to some lower degree as means of exchange as well.

Currently we have Bitcoin but that doesn't mean it's going to benefit from economic turmoil, especially with how people still consider it a very risky and volatile asset class.... stability is key to gain people's confidence.

If the price pumps and dumps by 20-30% every so often that's not helping people. People looking for alternatives want stability and not constantly stress out about the price having gone up or down significantly.

Stability of cryptocurrency is impossible since we all know that cryptocurrency is volatile in terms of value, meaning the price is changing time by time when there are transactions happening all around the world. The idea is that if we experienced downfall as of now, do not lose hope because there is a big chance that the price will come back again to its high value, all we need to do is to wait and HOLD that particular token we have. For you to gain a lot of money or profit you should learn different things with regards to the token you are holding.

Theoretically, it's possible that's why I disagree with your statement that cryptocurrency could not be stable. Prices face volatility and minimizing this volatility into a certain point where the changes aren't that significant i.e. including the stocks, cryptocurrencies and even the products we buy. It is a matter of how huge the market is meaning a market with higher volume would tend to have higher resistance and wall in so in a sense the prices would appear to be stable due to low volatility or rather the movement of the price is minimal.

[bitbunnny]

One of the good things of bitcoin is its power as a decentralized storage of value and asset which are mostly needed by countries that are having problems and crisis with their own currency and country. The riot in Hongkong serves as a threat in hongkong nationals in losing their country as well as to the government they have. In relation to this, they are threatened with the possibility to lose their freedom and assets, and maybe this is the reason why they choose to put their assets in bitcoin because of its potential in the future.

But Bitcoin as a storage of vallue is very volatile. On that way they might also loose their assets because there is no guarantee of positive movements.
 Bitcoin can't help countries with volatile currencies and economy because it's volatile itself and they need stability for progress. It can only help individuals who are good investors or trader.

[JeffBrad12]

One of the good things of bitcoin is its power as a decentralized storage of value and asset which are mostly needed by countries that are having problems and crisis with their own currency and country. The riot in Hongkong serves as a threat in hongkong nationals in losing their country as well as to the government they have. In relation to this, they are threatened with the possibility to lose their freedom and assets, and maybe this is the reason why they choose to put their assets in bitcoin because of its potential in the future.

I heard from some news that the hongkong riot just only increase the use of bitcoin to store their wealth a little. Quite the opposite, people there are trying to move their assets to a country with good stability and if possible to gain a permanent residence aswell since they probably worry that their assets will be in danger.
Quite different to country with fragile economy that uses bitcoin to seek profit instead of utlising its function of stroing wealth which quite honestly too volatile.

[alyssa85]

Latin American payment providers are now using cryptocurrency:

https://www.coindesk.com/60-latin-american-banks-can-now-use-bitcoin-for-cross-border-payments

Bantotal is a core banking service provider based in Uruguay that services over 60 different financial institutions across 14 different countries. According to a Bantotal spokesperson, an estimated 20 million people use Bantotal’s money management services.

“Bantotal is one of the biggest banking providers in Latin America and is a huge player not just in Latin American but the greater Pacific,” said Sebastián Olivera, founder of the Uruguayan Fintech Chamber. “For me, Bitex provides a great solution for payments and they will be boosted by the structure and name of Bantotal.”

The partnership means that Bantotal clients will be able to access Bitex services in a marketplace of other traditional financial services that Bantotal offers through its BDevelopers program.

these transfers are significantly faster, according to Beaudroit, who said payment times for exporters between Argentina and Paraguay in one instance last February dropped from one month to one hour after switching to Bitex’s cross-border payment services.

Looks like this is about businesses using crypto to speed up the rate they get their money.

[el kaka22]

I think when you do not know what your countries money will be worth in the next year, you tend to look for other stuff. For example in my country the value of our currency dropped significantly compared to other countries which resulted with a high inflation and that is why many people moved to dollar. I can understand why they moved to dollar, it is not really a bad idea because compared to many currencies dollar is stronger.

Still, I am not one of those people because I feel like bitcoin is a better store of value currency and yes I know that bitcoin has been doing recently but in the long term bitcoin is better compared to dollar. Maybe I am wrong, maybe they feel like gold/dollar is more guaranteed and they are right but I feel like in 10 years I will be doing much better.

[KrisAlex18]

Before there wasn't bitcoin, people used gold as alternative, other precious metals and other goods, but bitcoin beats them all, its easier to hide and transfer it, if we talk about some higher amounts, how will someone transfer gold, or anything else, bitcoin wallet full with bitcoins can be hidden anywhere, much easier.

We haven't really seen a global meltdown yet. In the last couple of decades it has mainly been the USD that people used as hedge and store of value, and to some lower degree as means of exchange as well.

Currently we have Bitcoin but that doesn't mean it's going to benefit from economic turmoil, especially with how people still consider it a very risky and volatile asset class.... stability is key to gain people's confidence.

If the price pumps and dumps by 20-30% every so often that's not helping people. People looking for alternatives want stability and not constantly stress out about the price having gone up or down significantly.

Stability of cryptocurrency is impossible since we all know that cryptocurrency is volatile in terms of value, meaning the price is changing time by time when there are transactions happening all around the world. The idea is that if we experienced downfall as of now, do not lose hope because there is a big chance that the price will come back again to its high value, all we need to do is to wait and HOLD that particular token we have. For you to gain a lot of money or profit you should learn different things with regards to the token you are holding.

Theoretically, it's possible that's why I disagree with your statement that cryptocurrency could not be stable. Prices face volatility and minimizing this volatility into a certain point where the changes aren't that significant i.e. including the stocks, cryptocurrencies and even the products we buy. It is a matter of how huge the market is meaning a market with higher volume would tend to have higher resistance and wall in so in a sense the prices would appear to be stable due to low volatility or rather the movement of the price is minimal.

This theory has less than 30% to be true. Cryptocurrency can be stable yes, but who will be the regulator? adding the fact that relationships between country are hard to please. Especially now with the current market situation where competition is highly on with various coins and projects volatile cannot be deny the main reason why we could not be into that theory. Plus the growing user of cryptocurrency whom they see as an investment rather than currency.

[Vishnu.Reang]

But Bitcoin as a storage of vallue is very volatile. On that way they might also loose their assets because there is no guarantee of positive movements.
Bitcoin can't help countries with volatile currencies and economy because it's volatile itself and they need stability for progress. It can only help individuals who are good investors or trader.

I still believe that these news reports are inflated. Bitcoin is not suitable as a store of value. For that purpose, you need to use United States Dollar banknotes, or gold coins/bars. Bitcoin was trading at $10,000 per coin a few days back. And now its exchange rate has fallen to $7,100 per coin. Anyone who considers such an asset as a store of value is out of his mind.

[LUCKMCFLY]

The demand in countries with economic crises that have much enhancement with an increase in inflation are the big Bitcoin adopters, not only Venezuela, Argentina, now Chile is joining, Colombia can soon do it, but the reason is simple, Bitcoin see it as a shelter for your money, regardless of its price drop is still the best option even above gold.

The volumes have been growing little by little in Chile, localbitcoins has some statistics:


Source: https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins/CLP

There are also other Exchanges that may have increased their volume, adoption due to economic problems is usually a plus for Bitcoin demand.

[uneng]

But Bitcoin as a storage of vallue is very volatile. On that way they might also loose their assets because there is no guarantee of positive movements.
Bitcoin can't help countries with volatile currencies and economy because it's volatile itself and they need stability for progress. It can only help individuals who are good investors or trader.

I still believe that these news reports are inflated. Bitcoin is not suitable as a store of value. For that purpose, you need to use United States Dollar banknotes, or gold coins/bars. Bitcoin was trading at $10,000 per coin a few days back. And now its exchange rate has fallen to $7,100 per coin. Anyone who considers such an asset as a store of value is out of his mind.

You have a point. If they are trying to avoid volatile currencies, why do they buy bitcoin instead of dollar?
I guess they might be choosing bitcoin because they believe on its long run potential, that is exactly the opposite of their local currency which is losing value without chance of recovery. But it's still a very risky idea.

[EdvinZ]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that countries with hyperinflation now prefer Bitcoin instead of global reserve currencies, such as the US dollar, to save their funds. After all, Bitcoin has a high volatility of value, which can expose savings to even greater risk than if the population left their savings in the national currency.

[abhiseshakana]

I heard from some news that the hongkong riot just only increase the use of bitcoin to store their wealth a little. Quite the opposite, people there are trying to move their assets to a country with good stability and if possible to gain a permanent residence aswell since they probably worry that their assets will be in danger.
Quite different to country with fragile economy that uses bitcoin to seek profit instead of utlising its function of stroing wealth which quite honestly too volatile.

Demonstrations in Hong Kong really hit businesses there, as evidenced by the release of investments from Hong Kong dollars into other foreign exchange investments. This led Hong Kong's economy to recession. The impact of the demonstration was felt by me as an exporter of seafood such as lobster & red corral trout. As a result of falling demand from the Hong Kong market, prices have become very cheap.

Demonstrations in Hong Kong were used by the United States to harass China as evidenced by the US Senate's move to pass a bill to support protesters in Hong Kong. There were many conflicts of interest there. Both from the Chinese government, the Hong Kong Government, demonstrators, the United States, and even Taiwan.

While the increasing use of bitcoin and other crypto in Hong Kong because many demonstrators adopted Bitcoin as a form of protest against the interference of the Chinese government in Hong Kong. The demonstrators also received support from various crypto exchanges in Hong Kong with a water donation program for Hong Kong demonstrators.

[tonyvo2017]

Have a look at the following graphic:



The image comes from the following tweet:

https://twitter.com/CryptoWelson/status/1190094660578037761/photo/1

Demand for #Bitcoin in economically volatile regions reached record highs in 2019.

Since 2013, volumes on Argentine peso, Hong Kong dollar, and Venezuelan bolivar bitcoin pairs have exceeded $600 billion in total value.

I wonder whether the surge in the bitcoin price that started in March/April is correlated with the Hong Kong riots which started on 31st March 2019 and are still ongoing.

Honestly, this was never before. because in China or in Hong Kong, there's always bad news about crypto. They say the majority are fraudulent and encourage people not to invest in it. so that has led to many people not being aware of bitcoin over the past time. As for the charts above, I think that only a few people in that country buy more bitcoin because they think bitcoin is at the bottom, and it's sharks. They collected a lot of bitcoins and later sold them at higher prices.

[Vishnu.Reang]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that countries with hyperinflation now prefer Bitcoin instead of global reserve currencies, such as the US dollar, to save their funds. After all, Bitcoin has a high volatility of value, which can expose savings to even greater risk than if the population left their savings in the national currency.

It is just an unfounded rumor. The first preference remains other assets such as gold coins, which are more stable than Bitcoin. A few individuals from these nations may be investing in Bitcoin. But compared to the gold and USD volumes, this amount may look minuscule. The main reason is, as you have pointed out Bitcoin volatility remains too high to be used as a store of value.

[CarnagexD]

One of the good things of bitcoin is its power as a decentralized storage of value and asset which are mostly needed by countries that are having problems and crisis with their own currency and country. The riot in Hongkong serves as a threat in hongkong nationals in losing their country as well as to the government they have. In relation to this, they are threatened with the possibility to lose their freedom and assets, and maybe this is the reason why they choose to put their assets in bitcoin because of its potential in the future.

I pity the hongkongers, I know what it is like to be a protester for the rightful. It is expected for any country, especially when there is a calamity or crisis that they will need a decentralized network to store their valuables. And just so happen that cryptocurrencies is the top option for now, worth having bitcoins.  As long as there is a protest in hongkong the need of bitcoin will continue to surge, having their btc pair trades higher than the others. Some banks and stores are closing due to the events but people from hongkong can still process payments with the help of crypto. I literally see the vital role of cryptocurrencies in the future now with these occurrences.

[naikturun]

People who see the news as the increase/decrease in prices of BTC and alt may say so.
Actually the news just utilized to manipulate the price.
The last news that I heard yesterday was the Gopax exchange in a hack worth 51.2 million $, should it be bad news, but the market shows the opposite reaction.

[Karmakid]

People who see the news as the increase/decrease in prices of BTC and alt may say so.
Actually the news just utilized to manipulate the price.
The last news that I heard yesterday was the Gopax exchange in a hack worth 51.2 million $, should it be bad news, but the market shows the opposite reaction.

It shows that the people in the cryptocurreny community is now getting smarter than before. Before, people used to react so fast with the news online whether it is a fake or not because they are driven by their emotions but now we matured enough to just focus on the technical side of the market rather than fundamentals.

[alyssa85]

Before there wasn't bitcoin, people used gold as alternative, other precious metals and other goods, but bitcoin beats them all, its easier to hide and transfer it, if we talk about some higher amounts, how will someone transfer gold, or anything else, bitcoin wallet full with bitcoins can be hidden anywhere, much easier.

We haven't really seen a global meltdown yet. In the last couple of decades it has mainly been the USD that people used as hedge and store of value, and to some lower degree as means of exchange as well.

Currently we have Bitcoin but that doesn't mean it's going to benefit from economic turmoil, especially with how people still consider it a very risky and volatile asset class.... stability is key to gain people's confidence.

If the price pumps and dumps by 20-30% every so often that's not helping people. People looking for alternatives want stability and not constantly stress out about the price having gone up or down significantly.

Stability of cryptocurrency is impossible since we all know that cryptocurrency is volatile in terms of value, meaning the price is changing time by time when there are transactions happening all around the world. The idea is that if we experienced downfall as of now, do not lose hope because there is a big chance that the price will come back again to its high value, all we need to do is to wait and HOLD that particular token we have. For you to gain a lot of money or profit you should learn different things with regards to the token you are holding.

Cryptocurrency is only volatile because it's still small in terms of dollar amounts, and is not yet liquid enough. That means determined people can move the price with relatively little effort.

Once more institutional investors come into the space and billions rather than millions are traded daily, then the volatility should decrease.

[Vishnu.Reang]

People who see the news as the increase/decrease in prices of BTC and alt may say so.
Actually the news just utilized to manipulate the price.
The last news that I heard yesterday was the Gopax exchange in a hack worth 51.2 million $, should it be bad news, but the market shows the opposite reaction.

Are you sure about the exchange? From what I heard, it was the South Korean exchange Upbit, which got hacked. Some $53 million worth of Ethereum were stolen, along with considerable amounts of TRX and BTT. But the hack occurred two days back, and if you remember there was a considerable decline in the exchange rates back then. The prices started recovering only today.

[clickerz]

People who see the news as the increase/decrease in prices of BTC and alt may say so.
Actually the news just utilized to manipulate the price.
The last news that I heard yesterday was the Gopax exchange in a hack worth 51.2 million $, should it be bad news, but the market shows the opposite reaction.

It shows that the people in the cryptocurreny community is now getting smarter than before. Before, people used to react so fast with the news online whether it is fake or not because they are driven by their emotions but now we matured enough to just focus on the technical side of the market rather than fundamentals.

Crypto traders are becoming mature too on trading. That's why even a piece of big negative news like the Upbit, Gopax, etc hacking incident, it barely affects the price. Crypto Traders are becoming wiser too and with experiences from previous years plus losses    they become more cautious.

[Webetcoins]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that countries with hyperinflation now prefer Bitcoin instead of global reserve currencies, such as the US dollar, to save their funds. After all, Bitcoin has a high volatility of value, which can expose savings to even greater risk than if the population left their savings in the national currency.

It is just an unfounded rumor. The first preference remains other assets such as gold coins, which are more stable than Bitcoin. A few individuals from these nations may be investing in Bitcoin. But compared to the gold and USD volumes, this amount may look minuscule. The main reason is, as you have pointed out Bitcoin volatility remains too high to be used as a store of value.

Bitcoin never intended to become a store of value and people starting investing in it due to its volatility. Because of fluctuations, bitcoin traders can earn on daily basis and the long term holders also get huge profits as the coin holds high potential too. Future belongs to bitcoin and people who are buying it now are the rich guys of tomorrow. Everyone is given equal chance to improve financial standard but only intelligent ones will avail at right time.