Things have changed a lot and in a strange way, after the maximum shortage that occurred in the period 2016 to 2018 where the basic products to exist were not available, neither personal hygiene products nor medicines, in approximately 2019 there was a "change" In the country, the shortage of food and medicine "decreased", the topics of conversation with acquaintances and family are: "now if you can get food, go back to Venezuela"; The official minimum wage is still a paltry 3 USD, although private companies (the few that remain) pay "bonuses" of between 50 USD to 200 USD that are obviously not part of the contract or the payroll; The people there created a fictitious dollarization, no one transacts with the local currency anymore, people accept any currency as payment, crypto, euros, dollars and Colombian pesos. For about 5 years, bitcoin has become popular as a payment method, given the hyperinflation of its local currency, from time to time they make a monetary counterclaim, change the name of the currency and remove the excess zeros and restart their dirty game, it is quite complicated to want to buy bread with a wad of 100 bills and the amount is 3,563,877 Bs a bag of bread, now imagine wanting to say the price of a house, the local currency in the last 14 years has gone from being called "Bolivar" to "Bolívar Fuerte" and now today, I am finding out that it is called "Bolívar Soberano" which is its official name since 2020. I don't even get the devaluation graphs for the last 20 years. https://www.tradingview.com/x/V72Oz2wG/
In the last 14 years, Venezuela has removed 14 zeros from its currency. In 2007 three were eliminated and the bolivar Fuerte was born. Eleven years later, five zeros were eliminated and the sovereign bolivar emerged.
Bitcoin has been the refuge of many in Venezuela, it is not "legalized" like in El Salvador, but in the same way they use it to buy houses, cars, food, there are even super markets that accept cryptocurrencies, small entrepreneurs also accept, whether for buy clothes, shoes or appliances. The shortage of gasoline and gas still continues and is declining in an oil country. Ironically, with respect to water and electricity, I have acquaintances who still live there and their way of combating the lack of these two very important elements is by installing solar panels and having a tank for water and paying for tanker trucks to supply it, it is quite expensive to live there, just to be able to survive in a semi-decent way because I'm not even talking about having luxuries. Health sector, well, don't count on public hospitals, because they don't even have cotton, private clinics are old, with old machinery, and are expensive for the average citizen.
I like to highlight for people in the Western economies that the primary beneficiaries of bitcoin are not going to be us.
The "Global South" is where it is most urgently needed, because that's where people are dealing with the most monetary chaos and state overreach.
I really appreciate the update.
reply
Correct, bitcoin is a lifeline to an economy that has devalued its currency by 700% in two years, education about crypto is vital and necessary to prevent more families from being destroyed by extreme poverty. Another aspect that I forgot to mention and I just remembered is that in Venezuela for many it has been a paradise for mining, the cost of electricity is practically zero (that is why it does not work), but people have looked for alternative solutions to obtain electricity, many people have returned, and apparently live "quietly" thanks to bitcoin.
reply
I remember reading about the big bitcoin mining operations in Venezuela a few years ago. That happens everywhere that energy is heavily subsidized.
reply
but they never seem to survive. Too much corruption.
reply
Price ceilings create shortages. Bitcoin miners were just one of the more convenient groups to scapegoat for the inevitable result of bad policy.
reply
Plus it is pretty easy to move bitcoin and make it disappear. I thought with their unlimited energy, there wouldnt be a ceiling?
I heard buying gasoline is a chore, and super expensive.
reply
Exactly. This is why we have a much harder time getting through to our people. When the time comes and times get hard it will be much easier.
reply
What happens if the USA buys into btc? You think everyone would follow?
reply
Since that would mean the dollar has collapsed, they would kinda have to.
reply
Could they do it without collapsing the dollar?
reply
I guess they could hypothetically back the dollar with bitcoin. That would indirectly put the rest of the world on a de facto bitcoin standard.
reply
Right? Its not impossible...but unlikely. But if someone major hops on that train....the USA would also have to do it. Isnt that why they are starting all the mining rigs here?
reply
I don't know much about any of that.
reply
I thought the US was trying to convince mining operations to happen in the USA?
Interesting, thanks for the updated.
How specifically are people transacting with bitcoin? Lighting wallets, which ones? On-chain transactions? Guess it depends on the amount.
reply
It depends on each person's experience and amounts, the most basic thing they do is transact with USDT on Binance, I'm talking about people who really don't know the crypto world in detail. More experienced people do move with Lightning. I really wouldn't know how to give you more detailed information because I'm not there, the little I know is the information that my family and acquaintances give me.
reply
Thanks. I'll bet if you wrote up a detailed post - or had friends and family write one - of exactly how bitcoin is being transacted in Venezuela, you'd get a lot of interest.
For instance, something like this post: Uruguay - The New Land Of The Free?.
Not that Venezuela is the land of the free, but a feet-on-the-ground, detail rich report like this gets a lot of interest. And sats!
reply
Excellent recommendation, that is a great publication, I will take the time to do a more detailed investigation. Thanks for your comment
reply
If they arent educated, they will get scammed eventually.
reply
This is what makes too much socialism in a country, I hope that Venezuela gets rid of those traitors who are in the government
reply
Amen, may all the Gods hear you
reply
But I guess the commies blame everyone but themselves, 25 years of socialistic heaven…
reply
You have to listen to their speeches on national television, they are so daring that they describe themselves as heroes and worse still, their sadism is so great that they even have toys of themselves as superheroes, imagine that you are 7 years old and they give you this shit Christmas gift at school
"super mustache." We are a damn mockery to them, and the leftists happily eat air.
reply
😂😂😂 Sorry, I know it’s not funny.
reply
🤣🤣🤣 Laugh with confidence, it's absurd shit
reply
The goal was to emulate Cuba 🇨🇺 and they succeeded
reply
That's right, my grandmother's husband was Spanish and he fled to Venezuela in the 40's or 50's, I don't remember well, and he always told us what the predictions were for Venezuela if the left remained in power, many took him for crazy and They said a phrase that I hate today: "Venezuela is not Cuba, that is not going to happen to us." My grandmother wanted to leave Venezuela back in the 2000's but my grandfather didn't want to, he told her, "you don't know what it's like to emigrate", I guess because he was very old and didn't want any more hustle and bustle in his life, he was comfortable , but it was a big mistake not to have emigrated at that time, in the end I had to wait to be of age to be able to leave. Going back to that phrase that I hate, and the argument of the people who support the left in their countries is "Argentina is not Venezuela", "Peru is not Venezuela", "Colombia is not Venezuela", "Chile is not Venezuela" The truth is that I don't know if they say it because they are in denial or they are simply ignorant idiots; I just ignore their comments, they are too opinionated to have a decent debate.
reply
Tell me if this is true:
The first thing Chavez did in 2000 was expand the Supreme Court. Next he made gun ownership illegal.
reply
In March 2004, the carrying and use of firearms was suspended for a week on the eve of a march against the violation of human rights during protests demanding a recall referendum against Chávez. Yes, it is correct that the supreme court also expanded in 2004 if I am not mistaken.
Then in 2017 "The ban on carrying weapons for Venezuelans occurs less than 24 hours after the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, announced the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, a decision that has been rejected by the opposition, which considers it a consolidation of the coup d'état by the president.
"I summon the original constituent power to achieve the peace that the Republic needs, to defeat the fascist coup and so that it is the people, with their sovereignty, who impose peace, harmony and true national dialogue," said Maduro." Information taken from a journalism page.
reply
Yeah, thank you very much for this.
reply
Thanks for the information.
reply
Thank you very much for reading me
reply
Great post!.
I'm also a venezuelan, but I left the country decades ago....I'd like to know how are the prices...how expensive is to buy food?, how much is to go to the cinema? I know the gasoline its cheap, but what about the rest of items?
Gracias!
reply
ok, the prices my family is telling me are: Gasoline 0.5 USD per liter, Movie ticket 4.5 USD, large combo of colleagues and two sodas 9 USD, buy delicatessen (ham and cheese) 20 USD for a week for two people, meat products for 15 days for 2 people approximately USD 40, Vegetables every 15 days USD 20 excluding fruits and USD 80 to buy flour, rice, pasta, coffee, sugar and some cleaning products.
Gasoline no longer has the minimum price it used to, which was only paid with coins, remember? Now, in addition to the price, there are long lines to buy, lines that can last from 6 hours to 2 days, those are the things that my mother tells me, many times I write to her to make a video call around 9am and she tells me "no "Can I daughter, I'm in the gas line, I've been here since 10pm"
My husband and I watch your videos!
reply
Thanks for the Up date.
Incredible that a Country full of oil has problem providing gasoline to their citizens...Only in Venezuela.
Thanks for following my youtube channel
reply
Thank you for sharing
reply
This is us in the future if we cant get things under control.
reply