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Venezuela Breaks Bitcoin Trading Records with 500M Bolivars per Week

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
mrtksn 8y ago
That appears to be about 2000USD a week. A volume of two iPhones. edit: O.K. Apparently, that's not VEF but VES, so it should be about 8K iPhones or a volume of about 8 Million USD.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- milesdyson_phd 8y ago
  someone saw a big number and thought it would make a great headline..
- wyldfire 8y ago
  1143 BTC != 2000 USD From [1]: > They changed the color of the bank notes and increased their denomination. Then they said they would lop off three zeros. And when that didn’t seem enough, they announced they would cut off two more. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/americas/inflation-venezuela-currency.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/americas/inflation-...
  - mrtksn 8y ago
    500,000,000 Bolivars == 2012USD https://ibb.co/cDcbCp https://ibb.co/cDcbCp
    - wyldfire 8y ago
      The amount cited is 500,000,000 VES, not 500,000,000 VEF. From [1]: > The bolívar soberano (... ISO 4217 code: VES) is the main currency of Venezuela since 20 August 2018. Since that date, it has been due to replace the bolívar fuerte (strong bolívar, sign: Bs.F., ISO 4217 code: VEF) after a transition period. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_bol%C3%ADvar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_bol%C3%ADvar
      - mrtksn 8y ago
        noted.
- lucozade 8y ago
  I don't think so. The size in BTC is 1143 (according to the article) so this is probably in the new bolivars. Still not sure whether a record in such an inflationary environment means very much but it's a non-trivial amount of BTC.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
Kagerjay 8y ago
I was having a conversation yesterday with someone from Venezuela. The new Soverign Bolivar is a weak desperate attempt at the Venezeulan government to combat runaway inflation with its normal currency, the Bolivar. Its inflation is just as bad as Zimbabawe, although devaluation isn't occuring due to moneyprinting, but rather low oil prices in 2015, which the Venezula economy mostly relied on. Its cheaper to use Bolivars as toilet paper than actual toiletpaper most likely. Venezula is currently making an attempt at introducing a cryptocurrency of its own, but without the technical infrastructure or trust to back it. I have been told that US dollars are treated as the formalized currency over there. But its illegal to trade US dollars to bollivards and can only be done in the black market, getting caught lands you in jail. Resorting to cryptocurrency/black markets makes more sense, as transactions are more secure and less volatile. IIRC mostly everyone still has access to smartphones/computers and potentially VPN's so trading makes more sense. Potentially as well local P2P wallet trading as well I have known friend's families who have had lost everything due to government takeovers on their small businesses when Chavez originally took over. Maduro isn't doing the country any favors either
- Jeff_Brown 8y ago
  Hyperinflation cannot, although inflation can, be the result of a change in commodity prices. Commodity prices are (to much less than an order of magnitude) constant worldwide, and Venezuela is far from the only economy overwhelmingly dependent on oil, but those others are not seeing triple-digit inflation rates. Hyperinflation is the result of printing money.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

That appears to be about 2000USD a week. A volume of two iPhones. edit: O.K. Apparently, that's not VEF but VES, so it should be about 8K iPhones or a volume of about 8 Million USD.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
milesdyson_phd 8y ago
someone saw a big number and thought it would make a great headline..
wyldfire 8y ago
1143 BTC != 2000 USD From [1]: > They changed the color of the bank notes and increased their denomination. Then they said they would lop off three zeros. And when that didn’t seem enough, they announced they would cut off two more. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/americas/inflation-venezuela-currency.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/americas/inflation-...
- mrtksn 8y ago
  500,000,000 Bolivars == 2012USD https://ibb.co/cDcbCp https://ibb.co/cDcbCp
  - wyldfire 8y ago
    The amount cited is 500,000,000 VES, not 500,000,000 VEF. From [1]: > The bolívar soberano (... ISO 4217 code: VES) is the main currency of Venezuela since 20 August 2018. Since that date, it has been due to replace the bolívar fuerte (strong bolívar, sign: Bs.F., ISO 4217 code: VEF) after a transition period. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_bol%C3%ADvar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_bol%C3%ADvar
    - mrtksn 8y ago
      noted.
lucozade 8y ago
I don't think so. The size in BTC is 1143 (according to the article) so this is probably in the new bolivars. Still not sure whether a record in such an inflationary environment means very much but it's a non-trivial amount of BTC.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

Kagerjay 8y ago

I was having a conversation yesterday with someone from Venezuela. The new Soverign Bolivar is a weak desperate attempt at the Venezeulan government to combat runaway inflation with its normal currency, the Bolivar. Its inflation is just as bad as Zimbabawe, although devaluation isn't occuring due to moneyprinting, but rather low oil prices in 2015, which the Venezula economy mostly relied on. Its cheaper to use Bolivars as toilet paper than actual toiletpaper most likely. Venezula is currently making an attempt at introducing a cryptocurrency of its own, but without the technical infrastructure or trust to back it. I have been told that US dollars are treated as the formalized currency over there. But its illegal to trade US dollars to bollivards and can only be done in the black market, getting caught lands you in jail. Resorting to cryptocurrency/black markets makes more sense, as transactions are more secure and less volatile. IIRC mostly everyone still has access to smartphones/computers and potentially VPN's so trading makes more sense. Potentially as well local P2P wallet trading as well I have known friend's families who have had lost everything due to government takeovers on their small businesses when Chavez originally took over. Maduro isn't doing the country any favors either

Jeff_Brown 8y ago
Hyperinflation cannot, although inflation can, be the result of a change in commodity prices. Commodity prices are (to much less than an order of magnitude) constant worldwide, and Venezuela is far from the only economy overwhelmingly dependent on oil, but those others are not seeing triple-digit inflation rates. Hyperinflation is the result of printing money.