Venezuela Witnesses Record Bitcoin Usage, Again

By Rishma Banerjee

According to reports by a crypto monitoring website, Coin Dance, Venezuela, a country which has been plagued by economic troubles for quite some time, has witnessed an all-time high bitcoin (BTC) trading activity on P2P exchange platform Localbitcoins. Venezuela, a victim of hyperinflation, in one of the very few countries across the world to actively use bitcoin as a store of value and medium of exchange to coombat the gradually worsening economic crisis brought about by a series of miscalculated decisions made by its government.

Data from Coin Dance indicate that for the week ending June 15, 2019, Venezuelans had traded more than 46 billion sovereign bolivars (VES) on P2P exchange Localbitcoins. In USD, the figure hovers around $746,000 which makes it the highest recorded volume until now. The previous high was 40.9 billion VES (approx $648,000) recorded in May 2019.

Nicolas Maduro, the controversial president of Venezuela, had launched VES in August 2018 in an attempt to simmer down the country’s rapidly deteriorating economy. This move was widely criticized by economic experts around the world, who had previously criticized the President’s decision to launch an “oil-pegged” national cryptocurrency called the Petro.

Recently, the country’s central bank, Banco Central de Venezuela, again took a misstep by issuing new banknotes of VES, in ridiculously high denominations. According to the bank, the new banknotes were issued to “make the payment system more efficient and facilitate commercial transactions.” But the initiative had not even been remotely successful and had instead delivered a stronger blow to the already crumbling VES.

However, the country’s citizens have opined that this move shows how their government has surrendered to mounting hyperinflation.

It has thus been seen that amidst such economic ruin, and massive devaluation of their fiat currency, Venezuelans are being forced to flock towards decentralized alternatives like bitcoin and DASH to ensure that their savings and holdings remain relatively stable in monetary terms.