wry Posted December 19, 2018 #1 Posted December 19, 2018 Despite the drop in price this year, I've been a big believer in the Bitcoin project. One of the things I think it can be really helpful for is people in developing countries that are often poorly served by financial services firms or outright abused by their government. Nothing illustrates this as well as Venezuela that is looking at a hyper inflation situation. Up until now, I would have thought Bitcoin could really help the people of Venezuela or Argentina or Zimbabwe. However this news story today was a bit discouraging. It seems that what little mainstream adoption that is happening is largely focused on coin distributions (everyone likes free money!) or coin ambassadors, e.g. DASH sponsors a lot of people to go around and talk up DASH. I'm not sure if the issue is that many citizens are too impoverished to care about cryptocurrencies, if you have no assets you can't protect your assets with Bitcoin, or there just isn't sufficient technical explanation or support for end user adoption and sophistication. Apparently the main use of Bitcoin is by the middle class to get their assets OUT of Venezuela. One aspect of the article that I didn't know is that DASH is actually a profit making venture. I'm not sure if that's good, since it has an incentive to build adoption like it has in Venezuela or a bad thing since it's not decentralized and a bit in opposition to Satoshi's core vision. Anyway, if you have any experience or insights I'd love to hear them! Thanks! Link to Article: https://www.coindesk.com/venezuela-isnt-the-crypto-use-case-you-want-it-to-be
Rantly Posted December 19, 2018 #2 Posted December 19, 2018 well cryptos price is going up now i guess, thats good news right? xd
bmg Posted January 10, 2019 #3 Posted January 10, 2019 Wow I was really hoping that out would help out there economy so yes wry that is a little discouraging but there is still hope that things will get better.
wry Posted January 27, 2019 Author #4 Posted January 27, 2019 There was another recent news story that talked about broad adoption in Venezuela. Apparently Bitcoin ATMs are booming in Central America and Venezuela especially in response to the ongoing economic meltdown there. Note the awesome picture at the top of the page that shows lines for the Bitcoin ATMs and no one at the regular bank ones! It's not just Bitcoin, apparently Dash and Flash are big thanks to the outreach efforts. This just shows how cryptocurrency really can help people. Link: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atm-crypto-venezuela-tokens
bmg Posted January 27, 2019 #5 Posted January 27, 2019 That's so great to hear. I was reading a colum similar to this a few days ago on a blog. This is so cool to see crypto helping countries get back on there feet and boost there economy.
HumberRolls Posted January 31, 2019 #6 Posted January 31, 2019 hahaha not even with this can help the economic crisis that is happening Venezuela especially the president
wry Posted May 2, 2019 Author #7 Posted May 2, 2019 This appeared today and it seemed like an interesting perspective on this challenge. The author seems to think Bitcoin can't fix Venezuela but it almost seems like she is building up an impossible goal for Bitcoin and then saying the obvious that Bitcoin can't fix so many problems. All Bitcoin can solve is being a decent store of value for citizens, I don't think it has much advantage over the USD either, BUT it has to be easier to get Bitcoin into Venezuela than USD. I guess I just kept looking for the false promise the author seems to suggest Bitcoin proponents offer and it just wasn't very clear, though obviously her views are heartfelt. Anyway, I love all these types of article as I really think Bitcon can HELP citizens in countries with hyperinflation. Link: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-cant-fix-venezuela-i-should-know
bmg Posted May 2, 2019 #8 Posted May 2, 2019 We all know that bitcoin isnt going to magically fix everything over night but even if it can help in the slightest then its a good thing i think for some countries.
wry Posted May 10, 2019 Author #9 Posted May 10, 2019 While it was not as detailed as I hoped, this article specifically discusses the challenges of crypto adoption in Venezuela. Basically the problem is that no one who sells what Venezuelans needs, e.g. bread, takes bitcoin. While it helps a few in the upper class, it can't seem to help poorer people. Anyway, very interesting! Link: https://www.coindesk.com/whats-holding-back-bitcoin-in-venezuela-this-group-is-investigating
williamshennie9 Posted May 11, 2019 #10 Posted May 11, 2019 6 hours ago, wry said: While it was not as detailed as I hoped, this article specifically discusses the challenges of crypto adoption in Venezuela. Basically the problem is that no one who sells what Venezuelans needs, e.g. bread, takes bitcoin. While it helps a few in the upper class, it can't seem to help poorer people. Anyway, very interesting! Link: https://www.coindesk.com/whats-holding-back-bitcoin-in-venezuela-this-group-is-investigating I think a big problem with crypto adoption in a lot of poorer economies is that many of the lower class do not always have access to computers, internet etc. nd therefore it becomes difficult to use crypto. I think as countries improve access to people, so will we see a rise in the amount of poorer people using bitcoin
675675 Posted September 27, 2019 #11 Posted September 27, 2019 Bitcoin appears even in poor countries. Perhaps this is good for the Venezuelan economy.
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