And who of the participants in this topic can provide evidence / arguments that the use of bitcoin as a means of payment really helped the country's economy, and did not become, such a distraction, in a situation where there are no good solutions? Changing the type of means of payment cannot correct the fundamental problems of the country's financial system and its economy. And this type of problem is the key problem for Venezuela and Cuba.
As Venezuelan living in Venezuela. I believe Bitcoin and other crypto assets are not a panacea for our economy (perhaps it was never supposed to be one in the first place), however it does help us to manage our few savings not only against inflation but also against crooks and crooks in uniform thanks to self custody.
There have been many cases of people getting out the country though airports are getting their money and even gold stolen by officials claiming whatever BS they want in order to justify their theft. Bitcoin solves that.
The amount of corruption one can see here it is so big that people can sleep tighter holding Bitcoin than having their USD cash under the mattress (A friend of my family got their money robbed while doing that) or precious metals (I was personally extorted by military to hand over a silver coin).
So even though Bitcoin may not have a big macroeconomic impact in my country, I am happy enough with the fact it has a positive impact for ones who give it a chance here.
Thank you for your answer, it is very pleasant to communicate with a direct participant in this process!
The question is - why, for example, you are not satisfied with the US dollar or, for example, the EU euro? They are quite stable. They can act as a means of accumulation and storage. Yes, they do not give a x10 chance of growth, but there is also no x10 chance of a loss. The only caveat is that there may be difficulties with the enrollment and withdrawal of these funds. But the withdrawal of funds from the sale of bitcoin from script exchanges can also be blocked very quickly. As for me, there was just a change of some "pieces of paper" for "electronic pieces of paper", and the complexity and risks associated with their use have not yet been "appreciated"
Strong FIAT like Euro and USD have become common here for daily transactions, as I mentioned. I personally don't mind much, it has given us some stability after all at a big cost of course. I personally hold my few satoshis as a long time investment, since I have in a position I can have some bucks lying around doing nothing. When something serious happen and I need to sell, I am supposed to use and exchange, yes.
The situation with the USD in cash here is that we Venezuelans use social media to let know all your contacts we are selling USD cash. It is not strange here to see people announcing in Whatsapp, Facebook, ect "Selling 10$", "Selling 50$" or " Buying 40$". I don't know about you, but I personally prefer to deal with some exchange instead lettling know a bunch of people that I am dealing with cash and how much.
While I am here in this country, I everytime someone ask me about money I always tell them I am broke.
And about the risks, I believe one needs to stay correctly informed about how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency work and are supposed to move and be used. Gladly here in Venezuela one can find some businesses like restaurants, candy shops, ect that directly accept crypto with no FIAT bridge.
Bitcoin clearly represents the way out of the crisis, but not everyone knows BTC and as he has said before, if you have a fraction of BTC saved and you have an emergency, that fraction of BTC is used without thinking, because apart from everything, any service is as expensive as in Ibiza here, showing that 1000USD to 10000USD is not so much money in Venezuela, because it can be easily spent without realizing it, some people are like that, as well as others who with 100USD work miracles to survive.
It is difficult to hodl when there are some many things that could go wrong and the most basic civil rights as healthcare are not longer guaranteed.
But You don't need me to tell you about it, you have probably already lost someone because of the awful conditions of the public services, as happened to me.
So this is already moving into the format of the usual use of crypt, as in many other countries. This has nothing to do with saving the economy, "it just means that cryptocurrencies, not bitcoin or some other kind, but all crypts, went to the masses, and the market adapted to their appearance, as a means of payment, or as a payment surrogate that suits many
If "saving the economy" means saving the interests of central banks and the politicians, then Bitcoin is not suitable for that purpose. Venezuelans use Bitcoin just because their own national currency is worthless.
Yup if their currency is still standing High till now , I'm sure bitcoin will not enter their economy this big because surely they will prioritize using their respective fiat than this virtual money.
The ruling elite has other ways to take care of their expenses and to maintain their wealth, but for the vast majority of the ordinary Venezuelans that is not the case. With the annual inflation nearing 10,000%, they are desperate to save their wealth. Other assets like gold and platinum are not readily available there and even if the are available, the threat of confiscation will be there.
10,000% annual inflation ? damn that is the lowest dropping country in the world now.
Yes Venezuela is just going to what they can only afford now.
To be completely honest, inflation (even though it is still a problem) has been experimenting a deceleration since a couple of years ago. Back in 2015-2018 the situation was insane, you could be in a line waiting for your turn to pay and and price of your products would be updated when you reached the cash register.
Nowadays, the situation is a bit less dramatic, thanks to the adoption of USD and to a lesser extent Crypto.
You can check this graphic from Statista as example.Bitcoin has been really a good substitute for other worthless currencies. It's a good thing that other countries recognize it as a useful currency especially during hard times. Other strict countries are also using it to transact internationally. The convenience that Bitcoin has been providing is really helpful for lots of users.
I agree, hopefully we all as a community will be able to face the FUD and counter-crypto measures the ones who don't want our money to be free from a rigid and old system will take.
