It's a combination of factors in Venezuela. The most important is they have hyper inflating monetary system. The last numbers I checked were around 4000% from last year. The money is losing value so fast that it's basically worthless if you don't spend it immediately. Because of the money devaluing so fast no one will accept paper money either. Venezuela is the absolute perfect storm for Crypto currency to thrive in. The Government has also started endorsing Crypto. Maybe you remember when Japan last year officially came out and announced Bitcoin and Crypto currencies are indeed currencies just like any other currency. That's very important b/c of taxes reasons. Around that same time was when the markets really took off last Spring. While many people are worried about hostile actions of Governments around the against Crypto, there's much more positive Government approvals than trying to ban. I have no doubt Crypto will first take off in a developing country that has a very unstable economic system than the US where dollar is decreasing in value over time but at slow and steady rate. USD is the most stable currency in the world although its still lost 95% of its value over the last 80 years ;-) Not a good store of value like Gold or Crypto to say the least ;-)