It has become a tool to send remittances, protect wages from inflation and help businesses manage cash flow in a quickly depreciating currency, according to interviews with crypto users and experts.Ĭryptocurrency in Latin America got renewed attention in June after El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender. “Now I don’t have to worry about whether the cell signal dropped in Venezuela, or if cell service drops here.”Īs hyperinflation and US sanctions disrupt Venezuela’s economy, cryptocurrency is emerging as a way to provide services handled elsewhere by the traditional banking system. “When the power is out in Venezuela, when Internet service is down, it has a huge impact on how long it takes to send a remittance to one’s family,” said Toro, who quit working as a university security guard because his monthly salary could not even pay for a day’s groceries. And he need not buy traditional money orders in person. Valiu uses pesos to buy cryptocurrency that it then sells on LocalBitcoins, a global peer-to-peer site for trading tokens in local currencies.įor Toro, the platform is more reliable than informal money changers, the main channel for Venezuelan migrants to send money home. When the power is out in Venezuela, when Internet service is down, it has a huge impact on how long it takes to send a remittance
In Venezuela’s economy, mired by hyperinflation and hemmed in by sanctions, the operation is not so straightforward. Toro, who emigrated to Colombia in 2019, uses an app called Valiu to receive Colombian pesos from working on Bogota’s streets and deposit the corresponding bolivars into a Venezuelan bank account.
#Petro cryptocurrency ticker driver
Venezuelan food delivery driver Pablo Toro has no stake in cryptocurrency or blockchain, but indirectly uses digital tokens every time he sends money to his family.
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