P2P Dash And Bitcoin Transactions Skyrocket In Venezuela

P2P dash and bitcoin transactions soared in Venezuela after the country’s inflation rate reached 130,000% in 2018 as we previously read in the altcoin news.

For the past few years, the economy in Venezuela was rocked by economic and political instability and has even led to shortages of medicine and food, blackouts, riots and massive hyperinflation that rivals that of the Zimbabwe dollar back in the 1990s. Venezuela had the highest inflation rate of 2018 when it reached its peak of 130,060% and in May the country’s central bank publicly published economic data for the first time since 2015 which shows that the inflation rate in 2016 was 274% and 863% in 2017 but then reached 130,060% in 2018. The hyperinflation in Venezuela is so bad at the moment and most of the citizens have to spend all of their money immediately because if they hold it for too long, in the next few days the currency will continue to lose value against the rising price on daily basis.

The majority of the people in the country do not trust the national currency and in the past, the people who were unable to spend their income on the spot were trying to find gold or buy US dollars as a hedge against inflation. Both of the options carry so many risks as organized crime and price gouges are always prepared to take advantage of people who hold physical currency. The cryptocurrencies are easier to gold which is why they have become a safer option embrace by the growing number of Venezuelans. This is one of the reasons why P2P dash and bitcoin transactions increased since they are both popular mediums of exchange and store of value currencies. A study from the Ledger Journal investigated the role that the number one cryptocurrency played in countries that have economic uncertainty and contributing analyst Jackie Johnson noted for the latest cryptocurrency news:

‘’In countries where residents are under pressure from economic mismanagement, Bitcoin trading becomes critical. Two factors drive Bitcoin trading: one, there is pressure to purchase Bitcoin using local currency before it loses even more value; and two, there is a need to redeem for the local currency either past purchases or purchases made outside the country by friends/family, enabling residents to cope with rising prices. This results in an increase in Bitcoin trading in the local currency.’’