Is It Possible That Bitcoin Finds Its Practical Use Case As A Currency In Latin America - Part 1

Latin America is the new space for Bitcoin. Explore the financial conditions in countries like Argentina and Venezuela. The discussion continues in two more posts.

Why Is Cryptocurrency Winning Markets In Latin America?

It wasn’t by surprise that Eduardo Gomez started with Bitcoin in 2012, even though he didn’t quite understand what he was getting himself into nor how it would change his life. The struggling computer science student back in his home country of Venezuela signed up to manually process thousands of captchas at a time receiving Bitcoin in return. Eduardo became intrigued little by little as he saw bitrapreneurs pop up all around him as savvy hackers were setting up mining operations taking advantage of the country’s subsidized though irregular electricity. While in the meantime he started reading more, writing more, and pretty soon he was a recognized authority on all things crypto. 

Following this eventually, he would be hired by a company that was allowing people to purchase all things on Amazon using Bitcoin, as when Venezuela became unlivable Eduardo’s company was finally helping him and the support team to relocate to Argentina where in a moment of euphoria, Eduardo wrote ultimately:

Eduardo found a way to opt-out of the government’s mass imposed misery even though Venezuela crumbled around him with worries about his family and friends as he’s grateful to have had a choice unlike the Silicon Valley-based techno libertarians and utopians claiming Bitcoin will save them from inevitable tyrannical government thereby meddling as Eduardo feels Bitcoin did save him from the tyrannical government meddling believing that ultimately it can do the same for the other Latin Americans as well.

How Is Cryptocurrency Influencing The Day-To-Day Life? 

It is important to notice that since its triumphant arrival to mainstream polite conversation, Bitcoin comes with its underlying technology blockchain as the promise to revolutionize everything from commerce to voting. Whereas the blockchain appears to be fulfilling its promise, many still wonder if Bitcoin will ever get around to acting as a viable currency rather than just a store of value or speculative asset. 

It can be credited with spawning a new industry of cryptocurrency while Bitcoin in 2018 still seems to be a way away from purchasing ice-cream or hourly parking with Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for that matter. In case the Bitcoin becomes a viable means of exchange, Latin America is sure to appear to be the currency’s first point of entry on its journey toward ubiquity. Whereas there is indeed the region’s long history of economic mismanagement making Bitcoin adoption as much a necessity as a luxury. 

It is noticed that when in case you arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas, for example, you’ll see an official exchange rate listed above the currency exchange kiosks as you might be tempted to cash in your US dollars whereby for whatever the local currency happens to be that month. 

Sometimes even before you leave the airport, someone possibly a taxi driver may approach you offering a completely different and far more beneficial exchange rate though the government purports to control the exchange rate across the country of 30million people struggling to control the exchange rate inside the airport. 

Similarly, when you are dining in Buenos Aires, you must offer to pay in US dollars and happy to know that you’ll receive a favorable exchange rate for your Benjamin where however once you pull a bill from the pocket, it is sure that you may find yourself in a seemingly nonsensical discussion with the waiter about the quality of the bill and how the slightly bent edges mean a lower rate than the one initially offered.

To state finally, in case you arrive in Quito, Ecuador as a tourist, you are sure to be delighted to see that the country has no currency in circulation as the country has used the greenback since the financial crisis in 1999 destroyed the banking system as also the country’s currency. The country is an act of desperation switched to the US dollar.

The Cryptocurrency Defines The Final Investment Area. 

It may turn to discomfort after you ask a taxi driver to break a $ 20 bill where you’ll see him fidget nervously and probably ask you for exact change. Whereas few things are harder in the Andean capital than breaking a $20, never having the right mix of bills coms as one of the downsides of not controlling the money supply.

These encounters for an average tourist can be befuddling as economists have viewed these incidents as both sad and bemusing as all of the worst-case currency management scenarios with first-year economics students studying the textbooks seem to come to life in countries that are fed by the Amazon River and its tributaries like a twisted Narnia for economists.

While it is definitely for the local population of the aforementioned countries, managing currencies has always turned common people into artisanal forex traders even though annoying, volatile currencies are around for as long as anyone remembers people adjust their behavior to survive. In case you want to buy an apartment in Buenos Aires, it would be expected that you arrive with the payment in US dollars in cash as the best to invest is in a good briefcase. 

Concluding The Discussion  

With crypto entering its peak or it is decent depending on who you ask, Latin America still offers a perfect testing ground for the technology’s practical application as specifically Argentines and Venezuelans appear to be the test group for the use of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to unstable and unreliable national currencies. There is still more in the next posts. 

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