Another good bitcoin article from Palm Beach
Bitcoin Saved My Life…
By Joe Withrow, analyst, Palm Beach Research Group
Eli’s mother was dying from cancer.
Eli is 33 years old. He owns a shoe store in Caracas, Venezuela. His mother has bone cancer.
Venezuela’s currency is the bolivar. It lost 62% of its purchasing power in February. (It lost 67% the month before that.)
That means prices for everything (food, water, and utilities) increased 62% over a month.
Eli couldn’t afford his mom’s medication.
You see, Venezuela has capital controls on traditional safe havens like the U.S. dollar (more on that in a moment). That makes it hard for Eli to buy them.
So he buys bitcoins and sells them to a friend in Colombia—which won’t accept bolivars. The friend then buys cancer treatment and medical supplies for Eli.
Said Eli…
Treating my mother’s cancer would have been very difficult without using bitcoins because my business is going bankrupt and I have a lot of debts, so bitcoins enabled me to stay afloat while our currency is collapsing.
Eli’s not the only Venezuelan using bitcoin to survive.
Arley is from the Táchira state on the border with Colombia. He said he buys drugs in Colombia with bitcoins… then resells them after legally importing them to Venezuela.
Things have gotten so bad that authorities are investigating the theft of zoo animals in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. Police believe people are stealing the animals and eating them. It’s another sign of hunger in a country struggling with chronic food shortages.
Regular readers know that Venezuela is on the verge of collapse.
Last week, my colleague, Palm Beach Letter analyst Greg Wilson, wrote about hyperinflation in Venezuela.
He said President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government had eroded 99% of the bolivar’s value. That has created a humanitarian crisis.
Today, I want to show you how Venezuelans are fighting back—using bitcoin.
A Worthless Currency
Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the world at 741%. The Venezuelan bolivar is basically worthless. You can’t even buy a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow full of them.
So it’s no surprise that Venezuelans are looking for alternative currencies. And the U.S. dollar is one of their favorites.
But the government has tight controls on currency exchanges. It restricts the number of dollars people can buy… and what they can do with them.
The government-controlled exchanges have created a black market for U.S. dollars.
In 2014, you needed 6.25 bolivars to get $1 on the black market. Today, using the black-market rate, you need 16,000 bolivars to get that same $1.
The rising cost of black-market dollars—and tight government controls on their purchase—have pushed Venezuelans into bitcoin.
Bitcoin volume has surged to record highs in Venezuela since the crisis deepened…
Venezuelans are using bitcoins to buy Amazon gift cards. They need to buy the gift cards so they can order goods and food from the online store in the U.S. and other countries. The goods are delivered by courier to Venezuela.
One Caracas-based bitcoin trader said, “Bitcoin is a way of rebelling against the system.”
Protection Against Chaos
Regular Daily readers know we love bitcoin at the Palm Beach Research Group. Personally, I’ve been mining bitcoin since it was trading at $450 over a year ago.
Bitcoin is up 856% since we recommended it in April 2016. Despite those gains, we still believe it’s a strong investment.
But bitcoin is much more than that. It’s quickly becoming the world's premier chaos hedge.
That’s why Venezuelans are turning to bitcoin. And they’re not the only ones.
In 2013, Cypriots hoarded bitcoin after the Cyprus government closed banks for a month… and confiscated 6–10% of account holders’ money to “bail in” the system.
And during Greece’s 2015 economic crisis, the government shut down banks for a month.
In both cases, Cypriots and Greeks turned to bitcoin. Bitcoin volume in Europe shot up 286% after the Cyprus bank closures. And bitcoin trades in Greece increased 79%.
As you can see, bitcoin has become a functional currency in real-world situations. That's why it's rising in value… and will keep rising.
I recommend buying a small amount of bitcoin every month. Remember, you don't need to buy a full bitcoin… Just a fraction will do.
One day, you’ll be glad you did… I promise.
Regards,
Joe Withrow,
Analyst, Palm Beach Research Group
This post received a 1.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @andyx! For more information, click here!
I'm from colombia and bitcoin is the vehicle to the progress in our countries where corrupt politics has action
I think bitcoin is taking over the currency world
even us dollar are going down now,
buy bitcoin while you can
A definite store of value in those circumstances. One of its main utilities that give it value.
nice to read the story of eli and btc it make me more believable on btc @davidp sir
Bitcoin have very useful. More people become rich because of bitcoin . Great post @davidp thankyou for sharing
Great post and story @davidp sir, i simply want to say this east or west bitcoin is the best.
Bitcoin & blockchain will change the world
Nice story @davidp sir, bitcoin is surely a life safer coin, the peoples who saves this coin in 2010 now also in good position to safe lot's of life's.
Nice work David. As always. Thanks for this information
Sounds like interesting thank you for sharing @davidp :)
bitcoin is my best and i love bitcoin because it is the boss coin david and also story is good
yea bitcoin is the always best and i love btc always sir to read this post and story of btc and eli
i hope bitcoin will save many lifes in next its the more attractive currency of whole world and no one can challenge bicoin david sir
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good post
wow its really great to read that u min bitcoin sir u r the best always and give us the newly infromation about crypto in ur daily posts
really an exciting story of eli and btc and sure the story tell us to more attach the btc always and bolivars is new for me i listen about it first time
thanx to share a intresting post and ur all posts are give some newly informations sir
This post recommendation can make you rich in the future :)
Bitcoin is absolutely amazing and it is astonishing to see how the anonymous, decentralised aspect helps so many people in countries with broken political systems.
It warms my heart to see that bitcoin is able to help people to survive and allow them to have more financial security. Not only does it stop the government inflating and manipulating money bitcoin has been somewhat stable and most of the time it only increases in value.
Joe is a smart person telling people to accumulate bitcoin since it will definitely pay off in the years to come. Thank you for sharing this moving story @davidp
Bitcoin has performed extremely well in 2017, up more than 10 to 400$ year-to-date as I write this. Even more significantly, the digital currency is becoming more widely accepted around the world. So, it may seem like a good idea to buy some bitcoin while it's still in the early stages as part of our retirement investing strategy.
That was very interesting to read :O
Apparently, for Venezuelans, bitcoin is the only way to survive.
Nice story thanks for sharing.
that is the main reason why bitcoin must become the global currency
nice story sir "" upvoted
Interesting story of Eli and Thank you @davidp for such a nice advice.