In my last article I discussed the case of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and why the use of Bitcoin Cash is important in combating this scourge, but the country is not the only one to suffer from this problem, Venezuela is also going through terrible periods due to inflation.
In the case of Venezuela, the crisis began under the command of former president Hugo Chávez, leading the country to a socio-economic and political problem of astronomical proportions. With the drop in per capita gross domestic product that hit the country between 2015 and 2018, the crisis has been more serious since the one registered with the collapse of the Soviet Union upon dissolution, affecting Russia, Cuba and Albania.
...it should also be mentioned that the Venezuelan crisis is even stronger than the great depression that occurred in the United States in 1929, making it the worst economic crisis in the history of this South American nation.
The Great Depression, also called the overproduction crisis, was the fall of capitalism and economic liberalism, causing an economic recession where jobs were lost, food was missing a complete catastrophe.
In 2016, inflation in Venezuela was over 750%, where the economy atrophied by 18.7% prices of basic products soared and chicken cost around 1,200 sovereign bolivars, a millionaire 🐔.
It was during this period that a survey revealed that but half of the country's population had lost an average of 11 kilograms due to lack of adequate food, crime increased, where homicides had record numbers according to the Venezuelan observatory of violence.
What caused the economic crisis in Venezuela
The Bolivarian Revolution
It was the result of populist policies that began in the era of former president Hugo Chávez, and intensified in the government of current president Nicolas Maduro, which led to the sudden drop in oil in early 2015. Food shortages, corruption, Abandonment of companies and the consequent withdrawal of investment, the lack of competitive incentive and others were one of the main consequences of this Bolivarian policy, leading many people to live in the Linear of poverty.
Political tension
To further aggravate the Venezuelan crisis, the country experienced serious political tension during the May 2018 election, where current president Nicolas Maduro was re-elected, but where the election was shrouded in serious irregularities and the opposition led by Juan Guaidó considered the invalid election. It should be noted that these same irregularities were never proven and Maduro was returned to power.
Since then the country has been in constant turmoil where some countries like Brazil have considered Guaidó as the legitimate winner of the election, representing a direct attack on the electoral result in Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro took office in January 2019 and his opponent is still contesting this election, leading the country to an even more aggravated crisis.
Cryptocurrencies as a lifeline
With inflation in Venezuela, citizens in the country recurred to cryptocurrencies to try to survive and take their anxieties to heart and perhaps regain some of their freedom, after all, the bolivar is not worth anything.
Before going further into the matter, it is worth recalling that Venezuela was where the first state cryptocurrency appeared, the Petro, a centralized currency that was created to try to overcome the financial embargo decreed by former North American president Donald Trump, but it shamefully failed. In government propaganda Petro is/was anchored in the oil reserves that the country has but it has never truly shown where this stored resource is.
In addition to this particularity, Petro (anchored to cryptocurrency) differs from the majority of decentralized currencies where they all work based on the laws of mathematics. And also this currency, being state-owned, does not provide the total freedom that the citizen needs and is directly controlled by the state.
Inflation soars and decentralized use of digital currencies continues
The inflation of the Venezuelan currency reached a critical point where the country had to issue a note of 1 million bolivars, which is worth a measly $0.50, reaching a percentage of over 6500% and became out of control, leading to the dollar American was the currency of choice in the market and adopted for transactions in the market, increasing the economic balance with the use of the North American currency by about 66%.
Not only is the dollar predominantly in the US market, but also the use of cryptocurrencies soared according to the trading platform LocalBitcoins and supported by the chainalysis that ensures that Venezuelan crypto traders are one of the most active in the world when it comes to peer-to-peer transactions wrapping the dollar.
Not only traders are active in transactions but individuals are increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies, and even in the informal sector Venezuelans accept this type of payment in Caracas, Maracaibo or even Valencia. It's practically possible to buy anything these days with cryptocurrencies in Venezuela and currencies like Bitcoin Cash and Dash are among the most adhered to payments. Bitcoin Core (BTC), Ether, and EOS are also in the basket of cryptocurrencies used in the country, the BINANCE exchange has become famous in the country and is nowadays as famous as the Venezuelan Central Bank.
Although this usage continues to increase, it is noteworthy that cryptocurrencies are still used by a certain strain of the population, the middle class of the country, the internet connection remains a headache and the majority of the people still do not have full access. The crisis in Venezuela has led to more than 5 million people leaving the country trying their luck elsewhere.
Using Bitcoin Cash
The use of cryptocurrencies is a financial lifeline and many Venezuelans living abroad use this form of payment to send money home, Bitcoin Cash remains a favorite currency in this process and unlike the bolivar it has real value, even the Currency volatility itself remains an obvious and most favorable choice for saving money.
The use of Bitcoin Cash gives back the financial freedom of many Venezuelans, which unlike Petro, is decentralized, easy to use, low rates, secure and very fast in confirmations.
Examples of the use of Bitcoin Cash in Venezuela are reported daily and results are in sight, just to prove it we can take the example of Sofia who is a staunch supporter of Bitcoin Cash and helps in the awareness of the currency. The Venezuelan Bitcoin Cash House is also spreading currency adoption and is increasingly publicizing it.
To finish...
Venezuelan hyperinflation is very worrying and many people are suffering, the Government invented a 'cryptocurrency' the Petro, but it doesn't really work, it is not decentralized and is controlled by the government. Petro was never made to be trusted and the government may be using it as a means of escape, that is, using the currency to exchange into cryptocurrencies that can later be used to hide fortunes of government executives.
Meanwhile the people continue to suffer from hunger, high levels of crime and corruption is rampant.
But, step by step, the people are gaining their freedom thanks to cryptocurrencies, and the use of Bitcoin Cash the suffering can be alleviated and peer-to-peer payments are increasing in a country where even informal ones are accepting BCH. Bitcoin Cash helps fight the super inflation that affects the country and BCH is also gaining popularity and visibility in this South American country.
Bitcoin Cash works in the real world and Venezuelans are living proof of it!
P.S: an educational article.
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Wow what an amazing idea it is