I have a guy who works for me from Venezeula who does web design/programming type work. I asked him how he wants to be paid and he said bitcoin only lol. The tech people in Venezeula are already full bitcoin economy basically. The problem is traditional banking is just not accessible to them due to wire transfer fees (think of something like western union). Also traditional online money transfer is not accessible either due to the whole requirements of "know your customer" etc. There is also a bunch of currency controls in place that the domestic banks have to comply with so it just becomes a hassle. Getting a bitcoin "bank account" is as simple as downloading a wallet app.
Another big reason he wanted to be paid in bitcoin is because you can convert bitcoin to fiat at 15-20% premium due to how many people are trying to get rid of their fiat. Though, most people who had their savings in fiat have already lost 99% of the value to inflation.
It's hard to understand from the outside. The problem for the volume is that most of the people here don't make enough money to buy btc, bcuz the exchange ratio is like 1btc= 3600 $ avg, but in our currency is 1btc = 75.000.000 bs +/-. The average Venezuelan makes 350.000 Bs monthly or somewhere around 14$ a month. Those like me who are making money out of internet earn from 200$ to 3000$ and obviously part of it can't be used to buy btc
I don't think we will see a "dollarization" of Venezeula simply because the government is corrupt (desperate for cash) and the crime rate is sky high in Venezeula now. With bitcoin you have nearly absolute protection of your money that traditional fiat (including dollars) simply does not offer.
Most people are using the dollar to store wealth not Bitcoin. Only the tech savvy internet users are using Bitcoin really. Even my cousin who I’ve told about Bitcoin, is younger than me and whatever, can’t be bothered to learn it. But both my cousins have USD bank accounts and use that. My family here just ACH transfers dollars to their account and they sell them electronically as well.
I’m surprised Bitcoin hasn’t caught on more but honestly it’s due to the steep learning curve to using Bitcoin than lack of technology/infrastructure. Most people have a smart phone and internet access to be able to use BTC. Just more retailers don’t accept it.
Thank you for sharing this. I cannot imagine what life is like in Venezuela right now. I hope we never find out here in the US, time will tell. It's probably good to invest in and familiarize ourselves with block-chain and crypto-currencies now, while everyone else is catching up. @ironshield
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Corrupt governments like Venezuela are one main cause for all people to adopt cryptocurrencies like BTC. It is so unfair to lose 99% of your savings like this.