> So what makes it "black market" outside of Venezuela? "Black market" is just the phrase used for situations like these; another word would be the "actual mar

> So what makes it "black market" outside of Venezuela? "Black market" is just the phrase used for situations like these; another word would be the "actual market". > Can Venezuela impose their desired rate on money markets in other countries? No. They can't even impose it on money markets within their country. > would it cost me 2-3 cents US? Or $10? You can certainly find people who'll accept $10 to give you 100 bolivars; the trick is finding someone who'll accept 100 bolivars in exchange for $10. And no, you cannot find a bank anywhere in the world that will do that. > I always thought foreign currency was an asset like any other that you could trade at rates determined by the market. It is. However like any other asset, a seller can offer it at a discount to particular groups. If I own a Mercedes dealership, and I decide to sell a couple of new, top end Mercedes to my friends for $5k each, that doesn't mean that Mercedes now cost $5k; it means I have given a couple of my friends an extremely valuable gift. Similarly, some friends of the Venezuelan government can purchase strictly limited numbers dollars from the Venezuelan government for a fraction of their actual cost. That's a crude but effective way to bribe friends of the government, but it doesn't change the actual cost of the dollars. (And note that the amounts on sale have to be limited, because the government has to pay market rates to replace them.)