Crypto in Latin America: Blooming in adversity
Recently the official team of Dash for Latin America was liquidated by a decision of the Core Team of the project.
Dash Latam was furthering a series of amazing initiatives to share the knowledge about the use of cryptocurrencies, specifically Dash, and the great advantages of this global crypto-economy to improve the living conditions of people in poor countries.
They were holding events, workshops, promotions, and giving constant support for users in Latin America —across 8 countries and 20 cities—. I attended some of those events and saw in awe how they succeeded to set Dash as a payment option in many shops of my city, encouraging its acceptance by the sellers.
However the Core Team concluded that those efforts and scores were meaningless and suddenly stopped the funding. In consequence, Dash Latam had to fire 80 people and, some weeks later, informed the definitive settle of the endeavour.
In the same deplorable way, Bittrex informed some weeks ago the definitive banning of its services to many countries, including Venezuela. That was a slight shock for many of us, who used those services as a preference because of their low fees and other advantages.
It's sad that those in charge of the big financial endeavours in the crypto world, use a criteria so greedy that nullify every consideration of solidarity with people that could bring many important contributions to the global acceptance and stabilization of the prices.
The teams that still fight to sustain these efforts in the middle of terrible difficulties in poor countries, are like heroic seeders that work in a desert to make it bloom.
They want a garden, they dislike those landscapes of death, so they dedicate their efforts to seed life and, step by step, they succeed. But if they have no financial autonomy, their projects are as unstable as the crypto prices.
I think that the Steem ecosystem is full of good examples of such people. Despite some decisions of the big ones —that maybe don't take into consideration the contributions of these masses of cultural creators— the sense of community in the Steem world is strong.
People save the people, and the people is the very factor the can realize the loftiest ideals of the cypherpunk and crypto movements, that brought Bitcoin to the world.
As the proverb says:
The first picture is an illustration by the author: Pencil, pen, crayon and pastel on paper.
Background image for the quote poster from Pixabay
You can share my writings on your social networks and websites; but be so kind as to inform my authorship, as well as the source of the text with a link to my blog.
~Spirajn Senpretend~
Website
Patreon
FloteApp
Minds
Steemit
Weku
Busy
DTube
Facebook SS
Twitter SS
[email protected]
If you want to support my work but this post got beyond 7 days old, please go to my most recent publication, so that your upvote could really reward my efforts.
You could also send a little tip to my wallet.
In any case, I will be grateful for your kind support.
I am surprised with the news of Dash, I am from Venezuela and here last year I heard a lot about the use of this cryptocurrency, despite the fall in prices, I did not expect them to liquidate the official Dash team for Latin America.
They were so successful!
It was amazing all the things they attained in the middle of the worst crisis. They were the perfect example of that saying that "crises always bring new opportunities"...
Yes, I think they were very successful. But I think the crisis in the region affected them too. In addition, the economy did not improve enough in the last year, so it makes some sense that this will finally happen.
Unfortunate, but understandable.
Dear @spirajn
Interesting publication and solid read. Upvote on the way (from @project.hope as well).
I wasn't aware about this program and it's sad to hear that it has been closed. Building awareness and sharing knowledge is one of the biggest gifts one can give to others.
I just read about LISK doing the same and firing quite a number of employees. I think it's all related to world economy, which is clearly slowing down and most companies will start cutting expenses, controlig costs and managing investments (in more strict manners).
I've noticed that all Venezuelans (that I know) are using some middle-man (called orinoco?) to cash out their earning on Steemit. And sometimes I was wondering - what would happen if this one particular way of selling your steem would be closed down. Do you have any other way of accessing your funds on Steemit and cashing it out?
What could you do if this would ever happen? And how unlikley this scenario us?
cc: @juanmolina, @lanzjoseg, @fucho80, @pedrobrito2004, @jadams2k18, @nachomolina - could I ask you to comment part of my comment related to orinoco?
ps.
Perhaps next time you could share this post in our project HOPE telegram channel? Chance of me seeing your post and supporting is higher.
Cheers
Piotr
Hi @crypto.piotr, I will start by citing what @spirajn says
I think that is what happens in Venezuela among us somehow we are saving ourselves, we are people of easy adaptation and those who truly struggle to survive in this country of calamities will find a way to emerge.
There are currently other exchange houses such as https://cryptolocal.exchange/
https://capybaraexchange.com/
https://orinoco.io
All of them exchange several currencies. the only way you close them is for the government to order it.
However, knowing the behavior of the criminals who govern it is possible that they do not close them since they benefit from this kind of financial activity. All swap exchanges must stop by a bank.
Of course I must recognize that anything can be expected from this communist government. that affects the population
I am very sorry to read this news regarding Dash. I understand that in the capital of Venezuela that crypto was accepted in some shops.
But I can't say the same about the city where I live.
Regards
Lanzjoseg
Thanks for the info @lanzjoseg
I was reviewing and have a tutorial to get started, that makes things easier for me, I also see that https://cryptolocal.exchange/ has a FAQ that seems pretty straightforward and good.
I noticed that https://capybaraexchange.com/ indicates that before bidding you have to ask for liquidity, but when I try to enter the Telegram address that is at the bottom of the page, it tells me the platform that the account is not there ... I don't know if I'm doing something wrong.
To know, have you used these platforms before? How have you been?
Yes, and many of the services available to exchange cryptocurrencies are P2P (like AirTM). It's very difficult to track and control such services, even more if they work from outside the country.
However they are just partially decentralized. I'm still waiting for the arising of blockchain solutions for trading currencies, completely decentralized. I know that they will appear soon; it's just a question of time.
Such decentralized services would be impossible to take down, as it is impossible to take down any worldwide blockchain.
Hi, @crypto.piotr
Well, I've never used the @orinoco service
I checked and found that I registered a few months ago, but I have never used it, so I do not know how it works, I would appreciate the colleagues who have experience to share it to learn.
I went to visit the site https://orinoco.io/ to see if I had a FAQ, but I did not find it, it has a very easy to use interface, but it lacks help for the user, I imagine it will be that questions are answered by the Discord or have another way of communication.
Now that I check, I have never changed steem or SBD to my local currency ... months ago when I changed something, it went to other cryptocurrencies and then recharged from those other wallets again to my STEEM account ... My liquidity in this blockchain the I keep at approximately 30%, it is not much, but I should start to see how I could mobilize it if necessary.
Well, @orinoco has a very simple system, and you're right, the guidance is realized in Discord. They are very active there. It is important to go there from time to time, to know if they're available, which banks they're using and things like that.
It's very easy to exchange. In the main page you select the trading pair, enter the amount and click on "Cambiar":
In the next option you select the bank account the money will be sent to, and click on "Siguiente":
Then you enter the Steem account that you will use to send the money, and click on "Confirmar":
Finally you'll see all the data you must use to send properly the money, always to @orinoco and always with the unique Memo ID of your specific bank account (every bank account receives a unique Memo ID).
There you will see buttons to fulfill the transaction at Steemit or SteemConnect, but I would advice always to simply copy the data into your Steem Keychain extension (in your browser), because that implies more security (signing every transaction locally, in your device).
Carefully control that your unique memo is correct and send the money. In next transactions you won't need to repeat this process... you can just send any amount of Steem to @orinoco with the unique Memo ID of your bank account, and the transaction will appear immediately in the waiting list.
If you're buying the internal token of Orinoco (Nectar) the transaction will be fulfilled immediately at any time. But if you're buying VES, it will be fulfilled in the working hours of the Orinoco team. You should go to Discord to stay always informed.
Wow!
Thank you for such a complete, detailed and illustrated explanation to facilitate understanding!
This goes straight to my bookmarks to have it on hand and use it later :)
You're welcome!
Yes, I guess they had their financial reasons to liquidate the project. But I would have given it a chance to survive, even more after seeing that it was a complete success, beyond any previous expectation. Perhaps I would have lowered the funding, asking for comprehension about the difficult times; and made little sacrifices in other areas, just to save one of the most successful initiatives of the worldwide project.
Well, in the end it's all a matter of criteria behind every management. There could be a wiser criteria that looks into the future all the benefits of establishing a strong web of users of the currency, in countries that urgently need such solutions.
Yes, as @lanzjoseg already said, there are a few of other services to exchange Steem against the national currency. Until now I've just used @orinoco because it allows the possibility to buy an internal stable-coin named Nectar (NTO).
It is a perfect solution for me, because I calculate the moment of the week when the Steem price is higher, and then buy some NTOs. It's like buying American dollars (because the value of NTO is attached to the USD) to protect the value of my earnings against the fluctuation of cryptocurrencies, and against the daily devaluation of VES (the national currency).
Congratulations, your post has been upvoted by @dsc-r2cornell, which is the curating account for @R2cornell's Discord Community.
Many thanks!
This post earned a total payout of 1.400$ and 1.053$ worth of author reward which was liquified using @likwid. To learn more.
@orinoco
In @orinoco It continues to be developed to make the process of change easier and users feel safe. It is also important to emphasize that the times of change are fast as are the responses through social media, thus working at the speed of the Hummingbird. We feel committed to the cryptocommunity who have given us their trust and unconditional support, which is why we continue to innovate for your benefit.
Grateful for the trust and love @spirajn Merry Christmas, successes and blessings for this new year.
Thanks for your good desires, and sorry for the late answer.
I think your services are good and really helpful for all Venezuelan steemians, so I hope all the best for Orinoco. Your success will help our success.