https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-05/venezuela-is-now-more-than-50-dollarized-study-findsVenezuela’s economy is increasingly dollarized, with more than half of retail transactions now being carried out in U.S. currency, a study found.
An estimated 54% of all sales in Venezuela last month were in dollars, according to a survey by Econoalitica, a Caracas-based research firm.
In Maracaibo, the country’s second-largest city, about 86% of all transactions took place in dollars, according to the study. The city has been one of the worst hit by blackouts, which has rendered credit card readers useless for days on end.
As Venezuela has become dollarized, inflation has come down. Even their idiot president Maduro admits the dollarization (which was done by citizens spontaneously ignoring their govt's ban on dollars) is a good thing.
A year ago, some of us were hoping that Venezuelans would have adopted bitcoin as their currency (or an alt). But the rolling electricity blackouts not only mean you can't use credit cards, but you can't use cryptocurrency. So they've gone with old fashioned US dollars in cash.
This whole real life case study shows that cryptocurrency won't get adopted in poor countries (because of lack of electricty). It will get adopted in rich countries - rich regulated countries.