Venezuela & The Bitcoin

[mrquackquack]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuelan-bolivar-trading-volumes-on-localbitcoins-hits-new-record-high

Any thoughts or ideas?

[acdc]

Currently, Venezuela is facing a terrible crisis and embargo from abroad.
The Venezuelan government has tried to launch the peso to stabilize its finances, attract foreign currencies and break the embargo, but this did not achieve the desired results. People tend to hoard foreign currencies and bitcoins, which are more stable than local currencies. Perhaps that is the reason for the high transaction.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

If may be good if you provide your thoughts in the OP, in order to open a debate as to the specifics you want to discuss …

Venezuela has a galloping hyperinflation as we know, which causes the population, the fraction that can, to move away from the Bolivar, and shift to the USD when possible, to the extreme where the USD is a common currency for everyday life in many areas.

Additionally, those that have a bit of technological background use crypto (BTC and others, including stablecoins) in order to try to slow down the impact of hyperinflation on their savings, and, if possible, skim a percentage from the benefit (if any - not going to happen this week for example) in order to live off it, or at least complement their household incomes. The proportion of the population that is capable of managing BTC is not massive, but large enough to show on LocalBitcoins a a trend for those who dare venture the crypto path.

Note: Forget the Petro (a government centralized invention that bears no value outside its borders, and little within).

[xZork]

Venezuela's official currency is facing the highest inflation in history, people seem to have lost all faith in the government.The financial crisis in Venezuela has led to serious consequences for the economy. Bitcoin has solved many of their consequences and will likely replace the Venezuelan currency.
Bitcoin's rising demand in Venezuela also makes it much more likely that they will replace these national currencies. People are still trying to do whatever they can to get USD, gold and Bitcoin to ensure their lives.
Every Venezuelan citizen is looking for a more stable and stronger currency, maybe that's why they chose bitcoin.

[mrquackquack]

Pardon me but a thought that might be common with others is, if you have a country or even a nation with lets say bountiful resources, money etc etc.. why would you be so reliant on someone else's governement?

[avikz]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuelan-bolivar-trading-volumes-on-localbitcoins-hits-new-record-high

Any thoughts or ideas?

Recently we have seen a similar surge in bitcoin trading volume from Hong Kong when the protest against China was on full swing. Protesters thought that China may ban them from banking services and hence they converted their HKD to Bitcoin to protect their capital amidst all these unrest!

Probably a similar thing is ongoing in Venezuela as well! Not the protest but due to the devaluation of the national currency Bolivar, Venezuelan people is trying to protect their capital and maintain their purchasing power. The reason can be anything but capital protection is one primary reason due to which we are seeing more trading volume in Venezuela! But really, a concrete reason is hard to conclude!

[tungaqhd]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuelan-bolivar-trading-volumes-on-localbitcoins-hits-new-record-high

Any thoughts or ideas?

Economic crisis is the biggest problem for Venezuela now so cryptocurrency is their best option. I heard that they made their own currency named Petro. By the growing of Bitcoin in Venezuela, i think their own currency will grown too.

[iram3130]

Its a good thing to see that wherever there is a financial crisis, the government is turning towards crypto, there are pros and cons for this but the governments of developed countries should understand the importance of it and try to implement blockchain in their system.

[alyssa85]

The majority of people in Venezuela are too poor they won't be able to afford to buy bitcoin. The economy there has collapsed so people can't even earn enough to buy food.

The only rich people are the ones connected to Maduro's regime, and I guess they are carefully trying to hide their money in the form of bitcoin so that when the regime finally collapses they can get out unscathed.

[AliMan]

Its a good thing to see that wherever there is a financial crisis, the government is turning towards crypto, there are pros and cons for this but the governments of developed countries should understand the importance of it and try to implement blockchain in their system.

Venezuela is country that isn't not really a progressive one when it comes to economy, then why their leaders prefer choosing cryptocurrency as their mode of payment? It made me more amaze for their leadership, because of the open minded leaders which has adopted on the system that crypto has; even if it was recently encountering several downturns. Their people towards the economy, was strongly motivated on how crypto works on particular advantages that provides financial freedom to all individuals.

[BrewMaster]

it is obvious that bitcoin adoption is growing everywhere and that means more trading volume on every exchange that you look at in any country around the globe.
but the small rises or even small spikes that sometimes we see in localbitcoins volume is not something to get excited over and start an article about specially when you convert the volume to another currency you are more familiar with like USD!
when you look at the volume in Bolivar it looks big (209 billion) but when you convert it to USD or even BTC (607 bitcoin) then you can see how small it is in comparison with volume elsewhere.
in fact when you convert it to BTC you can see there is a big decline in the volume compared to the beginning of the year!

[dothebeats]

The same metric to gauge interest over and over again for the same country. Not that I'm discrediting Venezuela's progress on everything crypto-related but apparently LBC is not really reliable anymore and the stats that they are producing/showing are somewhat unreliable. Even though that's the case, Venezuela is still showing progress in cryptocurrency adoption.

[pakhitheboss]

Only the rich and influentials are converting their local currencies to Bitcoin in order to save their fortune. Poor people won't have that kind of financing capability to buy Bitcoin.

It is Bad to hear about a country, so rich with natural resources has come to this state. Corrupt politicians and bureaucracy have to be blamed.

[UsBRanches]

Every year inflation in Venezuela increases more than 10,000%, so a record in bolivar trading volumes is irrelevant. They're trying to use USD, and a trading volume in USD would be more relevant

[electronicash]

Only the rich and influentials are converting their local currencies to Bitcoin in order to save their fortune. Poor people won't have that kind of financing capability to buy Bitcoin.

It is Bad to hear about a country, so rich with natural resources has come to this state. Corrupt politicians and bureaucracy have to be blamed.

those who bought bitcoin however are also going to experience misfortune when the price of BTC will crash. a lot will take profit because of them panic buying. these rich influentials if not aware of the of the risk will be forced to dump back to USD in loss. they're fucked in both ways. 

its hard to run a government when politicians around the president are advising different things, all these because they want Guaido to be their leader. so it has to appear like the country is in turmoil for Guaido to take over.

[DdmrDdmr]

This is the same data that is represented in the article referenced in the OP, but in BTC (despite what the chart’s title says – it doesn’t seem to adjust properly when switching between VES and BTC):

It tells a different story … BTC trades on LocalBitcoins in Venezuela seems rathe stable since June 2019, and a third since the beginning of year. Of course BTC has doubled in price this year (in relation to a stable FIAT).

All in all, interpreting with precision a chart of the kind when both the currency (way more in a single direction) and BTC (way less) have wide shifts in their relative value, is not a simple task.

Note: Historical data in VES is only present since halfway through 2018 (in BTC it goes back to 2013), when the Bolivar Soberano was reconverted from it’s prior form.

[YuginKadoya]

The country is now embracing the idea of cryptocurrency because their government is in turmoil right now at least the people are doing something in their own to lessen the inflation that their country is suffering right now, but I think the volume of BTC is below right now so I think they are buying other cryptocurrencies that are cheap, well there are still people switching to Bitcoin but mostly I think Altcoin is popular in Venezuela right now,

Well, that spike from February 2019 was because of them that are starting buying BTC only but many can not afford the price value of it so they are inverting to other cryptos.

[kryptqnick]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuelan-bolivar-trading-volumes-on-localbitcoins-hits-new-record-high

Any thoughts or ideas?

What can I say... I give my condolences to Venezuelans who have to live in such a terrible economic situation... The government does not seem to be doing good in terms of improving the situation as well. No wonder people sell their almost worthless fiat for something valuable like Bitcoin. Then again, since exchanges report fake volume sometimes, perhaps this data is inaccurate as well. It's also sad that the government is trying to push that Petro pseudo-crypto, whereas it's clearly not helping the situation. As far as I know, the majority of the population is leaving below the poverty line and unemployment is at 30%. Unfortunately, in such a terrible situation, I don't think Bitcoin can help Venezuela or vice versa.

[Lucius]

Then again, since exchanges report fake volume sometimes, perhaps this data is inaccurate as well. As far as I know, the majority of the population is leaving below the poverty line and unemployment is at 30%.Unfortunately, in such a terrible situation, I don't think Bitcoin can help Venezuela or vice versa.

Sometimes it is really a little funny to me when Bitcoin connects with Venezuela in every way possible, either as the savior of the entire monetary system of the country or as some straw of the salvation of ordinary people. Although the percentage of unemployed is very large, the minimum wage in August was only $2 which is really not enough for any kind of life. It should also be noted that more than one million people have left the country in recent years.

Bitcoin can't help Venezuela, they need a lot more than that, above all, they need a miracle - and we all know that miracles happen very rarely, especially if you have bad relations with the masters of the world.

[mrquackquack]

Well taking it off subject back to the dumping btc. If you look at btc being dump, people will look as it is a problem since its driving the price down but in reality in the future i think it could create a higher distribution rate than it is now which in turn drives up the price. Gets it away from weak hands and maybe into stronger hands and turns it into more into a main stream currency and a storage of wealth. The beauty of bitcoin or any "altcoin" in that matter is that it's almost a neutral currency. It's goes around lots of barriers that may be there with other Fiat/currency.