As many of you are already aware, the people of Venezuela are suffering from one of the worst hyperinflations of the decade, their national currency, the bolivar, has lost over 1000x its value in 3 years dragging down the country's monthly minimum wage to $4,30. Its annual inflation rate is expected to surpass 2300 % next year. The citizens have been struggling for a long time to afford food at their dinner table and many are relying on Bitcoin mining and trading as a way to avoid starvation.
Here on Steem we also have many Venezuelans and the post rewards they are able to earn here have surely been a blessing to many. Compared to recent Bitcoin transaction costs which themselves could provide food for days to its people, Steem has offered no transaction costs to their Venezuelan users. Its only a matter of time until more Venezuelans start accepting Steem and Steem backed Dollars as a payment method to remove all unnecessary fees converting to BTC or transacting with it.
The president of Venzuela, Nicolás Maduro announced on Sunday that his country plans to create a national cryptocurrency called "the Petro". It will be backed by oil, gold, gas and diamond reserves. Quote from the President:
I want to announce that Venezuela is going to implement a new cryptocurrency system based on oil reserves, in order to advance in the area of monetary sovereignty. This will allow us to move towards new forms of international financing for the economic and social development of the country.
Video of the announcement in Spanish:
Many dislike the idea due to doubts that Venezuela can't "pull off" the launch of a cryptocurrency and stating that the president has no credibility.
If this will happen or not is too early to tell, but I don't think it will hurt trying it out as long as the currency remains open-source and public as most blockchain technologies. Even if it never were to happen it will at least introduce more people to cryptocurrencies in general and anyone is welcomed to use and benefit from Bitcoin or a more cheaper currency to use, Steem.
What are your thoughts about this? Do we have any Venezuelans who can input some more info on this or share their thoughts about it?
