Bitcoin Selling Like Hot-Cakes in Venezuela, Transaction Volumes at Record-High

According to the data released by a local publication of Venezuela named ‘VeneBloc’ there has been a mad rush of crypto enthusiasts from the country for buying Bitcoins with transaction volumes reaching a record high for the month of April up and above $1 million in a single day.

Under the current economic chaos with the sky-rocketed inflation rate, Venezuelans are finding safe havens by investing in digital currencies. Individuals and businesses are considering exchanging Bolivars for digital currencies in order to buy daily essential goods and commodities.

The Venezuelan government has enforced strict foreign exchange controls since 2003 which has given rise to other block market forex platforms in the country. In such a case, businesses and individuals are left with no option but to comply with such operators regardless of their rates.

Venezuelans are often seen buying alt coins in exchange for Bolivar through online P2P services using a Finland-based exchange called LocalBitcoins which allows users to transact digital currencies on their own terms. There is no official statistics on the total number of cryptocurrency users in Venezuela, however, some local-based brokerage report that around 90,000 people traded digital currencies by the end of 2017.

Under the crippling state of its economy, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched its own state-owned cryptocurrency called Petro back in February 2018. The major reason behind the launch of Petro was to overcome the mounting sanctions from the U.S which has left its economy into the doldrums. With every passing day, the economic condition of Venezuela is getting more and more fragile as the value of Bolivar is sinking against the U.S Dollar. Petro, however, is said to be backed by some of the country’s natural reserves like gas, oil and diamond.

In order to put further pressure on Venezuela, U.S President Donald Trump ordered an outright ban of Petro in the U.S crypto marketplace. While on the other hand, Petro has received huge appreciation from Russia and was recently awarded by the Russian Association of Crypto Currency and Blockchain (RACCB) for its "outstanding contribution to the development of the blockchain industry."

Some analysts say that Russia could have played a crucial role in the launch of Petro and helped Venezuela in this project. However, the Russian finance minister has snubbed off such allegations calling them to be baseless.