Adapting to the complex monetary system has been a learning and adaptation process. There are three exchange systems here, and sometimes a fourth additional exchange system.

Official exchange rate: In Venezuela, there is something called the BCV dollar. This means that the amount is fixed at the official rate imposed by the government for the exchange rate on the dollar.

Currently, the government requires merchants to use the official dollar rate to receive payments, which has a gap of approximately 25% over the parallel dollar rate (street or black market dollar). This results in most people being confused and some others trying to take advantage of those who are less informed or less knowledgeable about the issue.

Parallel exchange rate or black market: this is the exchange rate you find on the street, while the government dollar (BCV) is currently around 235 VES per USD. The parallel or street exchange rate is around 325 VES per USD. You can make payments with greenbacks anywhere, but they are accepted at the BCV rate. The only way to take advantage of the exchange rate gap is to sell dollars at the black market price for bolivars. That way, you get more bolivars for each dollar, as this would be the true price, dictated by the street market, rather than the price set by the government.

Payments in USDT: Less informed people often refer to them as “payments on Binance” or “payments with Binance.” This is because most people who handle USDT do so through Binance. USDT is logically valued at the parallel dollar price at the time of payment, and at the time of purchase, it is slightly more expensive than the physical dollar.

Euro rate: This rate is used by some merchants who, in order to get more bolivars for each dollar, set the price at this exchange rate.

Paying for products or services can easily become a difficult task. When you ask for the prices of a product or service, you get different prices. Some tell you the price directly in dollars (CURRENCY), which means you can pay that price in either cash dollars or USDT. In other places, even though prices are expressed in dollars, they charge the BCV rate (price set by the government), which means that the price to pay is higher, expressed in dollars, but in the end it is cheaper when you convert that price to the real dollar (black market) and sometimes, as I mentioned, they tell you the Euro rate, in order to get more bolivars. Once you understand how this whole mess works, it's not so complicated, but at first it's quite confusing. I have yet to meet merchants who accept payments directly in satoshis. This is not a problem, as those who handle SATS are at the top of the food chain.

Being SATS is the best thing an ordinary citizen can do, and it obviously results in better use of the money you have. And of course, understanding how the entire exchange system works gives you an advantage over those who don't understand it or who base all their consumption or existence on the BCV dollar.

Thank you for reading, and I hope this information is useful to others. 👥