<story><title>Venezuelans turn to Bitcoins to bypass currency controls</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-venezuela-bitcoin-idUSKCN0HX11O20141008</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>climber_mac</author><text>I am from Venezuela.&lt;p&gt;In case you are wondering how terrible the Venezuelan economy is right now, think about this: Our biggest denomination bill (100 Bolivares) is not enough to buy $1 USD [1]; in january 2013 you could buy $14 USD for the same amount. Also think about the fact that Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world [2].&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not even going to try to explain the currency exchange and control mechanisms (CADIVI and SICAD), they are basically operating like a lottery to select people who will be allowed to buy dollars at the official government rate. Everyone turns to the black market, but the demand is extremely high, and the supply barely exists.&lt;p&gt;Bitcoin won&amp;#x27;t solve our problems because no one will want to sell for Bolivares. The bolivar has been devaluated twice in the past two years, which has decreased it&amp;#x27;s value by more than 50% when compared to 2013.&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https://dolartoday.com/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;dolartoday.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_countries_by_proven_oil...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Venezuelans turn to Bitcoins to bypass currency controls</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-venezuela-bitcoin-idUSKCN0HX11O20141008</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cjensen</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s interesting, but I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure a physical dollar bill is more useful. A physical dollar can be used to make purchase stuff locally without a computer, and is easily accepted for a sale. In the example given in the article, the only reason the first guy in the article uses bitcoins is to buy an Amazon gift certificate (denominated in dollars) to buy stuff mail order.&lt;p&gt;The only real lesson to be had from the Venezuela situation is that far-left governments suck at basic economics and math. There is no lesson to be had about bitcoins in &lt;i&gt;this&lt;/i&gt; situation.</text></comment>