Inside Venezuela: No Trust in Government, Rejecting Petro and Feeding 2,000 Daily
In a Bitcoin News exclusive, Bitcoin Venezuela founder Randy Brito reveals a wealth of ideas about how cryptocurrency can be used to combat the effects of extreme hyperinflation in Venezuela right now. He takes us on an insightful journey on the ground in the South American nation, uncovering deep skepticism from Venezuelans of both the Petro crypto token and an uncorrupted future for local cryptocurrency exchanges.
[b]What is really happening in Venezuela?[/b]
Hyperinflation is hitting Venezuela hard, with consumer prices increasing 82,766% last month compared to July last year. What does this mean for the people of the country?
Randy described the scene in the streets as near chaos; workers desperately try to spend their wages as soon as they are paid on whatever they can find in the streets to store value, later trading their goods with others who have the products they need. People need to bring five bags of cash with them just to buy their weekly groceries. Yesterday, he said, with the new rates only one bank made their new ATM limits public at one million bolivars – nearly enough to buy one-third of a cup of coffee.
[b]Enter Bitcoin[/b]
As Randy sees it, cryptocurrency could provide a solution to at least some of these problems: ”Bitcoin could be a common currency denomination… it already has an international market traded against currencies. Bitcoin could create frictionless trades.”
It is also a way of getting around bank transfer limits. As of yet, however, it is difficult to find vendors or service providers willing to accept cryptocurrency payments. This is predominantly because people do not understand how the payment methods work but many more issues surround adoption.
[b]Too early for airdrops[/b]
The Bitcoin Venezuela humanitarian aid project began around two years ago, initially raising funds of around USD 200 per month in cryptocurrency. Randy is trying to increase this substantially now, as they are currently feeding over 2,000 Venezuelans a day in their soup kitchens. While he would like to send cryptocurrency directly on the ground to citizens, the current climate does not allow for that.
”People have old cheap phones because of the crime. That’s what is safe to take out on the streets,” he said, referencing the lack of proper tools people have to access cryptocurrency.
To read the full feature: https://bitcoinnews.com/inside-venezuela-no-trust-in-government-rejecting-petro-and-feeding-2000-daily/