Although bitcoin’s price maintained some stability, the value of bitcoin went from VES 97.93 million to VES 166.59 million because of hyperinflation in Venezuela.
In recent weeks, the volume of bitcoin exchange in Venezuela through the peer to peer (P2P) platform LocalBitcoins has reached its lowest levels in all 2019.
The graphics that indicate the data can be identified through Coin Dance, the bitcoin market tracking portal to exchange bitcoins (BTC).
This page registered that during this week, taken from August 24th to August 31st, users have traded through the platform up to a total of 465 BTC.
The previous week, the total amount exchanged was up to 466 BTC, whilst during the week of August 10th, Venezuelan users exchanged 491 BTC, that is, about 26 more bitcoins.
Before these three weeks, only twice the total volume did not reach 500 BTC in LocalBitcoins, as shown in the graph of Coin Dance.
In fact, the lowest volume for Venezuela in the whole year was recorded in the last week of July. That week, users of the platform barely moved 433 bitcoins during that period of time.
The most recent trend has been falling. During February of this year, a week was registered with an exchange of 2,487 BTC through the LocalBitcoins site. The sum of the last August weeks only reaches 2,417 traded bitcoins.
Between February 9th, when the historical maximum of 2,487 BTC exchanged occurred, and the last week, the weekly volume decreased 81.3 %.
Bolivar Depreciation against Bitcoin
Just as the exchange rate of the Sovereign Bolivar national currency (VES) with respect to the US dollar (USD) has fallen, the VES has also maintained a drop rate compared to bitcoin.
Recently, the price of bitcoin compared to the VES increased 94 %. That happened even though the bitcoin price maintained some stability during that period, that is, it did not increase.
However, hyperinflation in Venezuela consumes its national currency, the bolivar, at a sustained rate compared to those of other currencies, such as the dollar and even digital currencies such as BTC.
The value of bitcoin went from VES 97.93 million to VES 166.59 million. This represents an appreciation of 1600 % on the price of BTC in VES.
Currently, 1 VES is not enough to buy 1 satoshi, the minimum fraction of bitcoin. Based on the current average price shown on the Yadio portal, VES 2.24 is required to purchase that minimum fraction.
Advances in Bitcoin Adoption
Despite the decrease in the volume of bitcoin exchanges, in recent weeks there have been advances in the adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payments in Venezuela.
First, one of the country’s largest retail stores, Traki, announced the installation of cryptocurrency outlets in its stores, through an alliance with Pundi X.
Previously, they already received payments in cryptocurrencies with the processor of the Venezuelan Company Cryptobuyer.
Then, the Farmarket pharmacy chain joined the adoption of physical cryptocurrency outlets, with the installation of XPay devices in some of its branches in Caracas city.
The objective of these actions approved so far by the government of Nicolás Maduro would be to encourage the use of petro, the national cryptocurrency, as well as other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
By María Rodríguez
