A Reddit crypto fan residing in Venezuela shared BTC trading stats of residents of the nation. Despite the plummet in the price of Bitcoin, Venezuelans traded more Bitcoin last week than the week before.
The data was extracted from the Local Bitcoins exchange, and a total of 33 BTC were traded in the last seven days. Before the week between May 8th – May 14th, Venezuelans used the same exchange to trade a sum of 25 BTC.
Aside from the volume traded on Local bitcoins, exchanges like Binance and AirTM also house a significant volume of crypto assets owned by Venezuelans. These exchanges have been rapidly growing due to the ease of converting cash to crypto and vice versa.
This increase in the trading volume of the nation is significant given that the nation’s minimum wage is minute, and the country has battled with inflation for several years.
Venezuela has a minimum wage of $24 and an average wage of $28. Additionally, a unit of the country’s local currency (Bolivares) is equivalent to $0.18. This value was achieved after the government removed six zeros from Bolivares.
Can Crypto Help Venezuela Combat Inflation?
Just a week ago, 1 Bs equaled $0.21. However, the nation’s low GDP has led to a rapid inflation rate. More citizens of the country may now turn to cryptocurrencies, to protect the value of their money.
In 2021, the inflation rate was a whopping 700% per annum. Still, this was not as high as 2018, which had a record 2,000,000% inflation rate.
Aside from trading, mining crypto is also lucrative in Venezuela. The cost of electricity is cheap and almost negligible, and miners of smaller coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are thriving in the country.
Statistically, cryptocurrencies are a better store of value for citizens of Venezuela than their legal tender. We can expect more citizens of the nation to turn to saving and investing in crypto in the coming years.
