Western democracy wants bitcoin. Venezuela needs it.
I woke up this Monday morning like any other, ready to work on my crypto startups, when I received a message from my client in Venezuela. Without light there is no electricity. And without electricity there is no bitcoin.
Venezuela first came on my radar when the then undisputed President Maduro launched the Petro cryptocurrency; a dubious project purporting to be a decentralised ledger technology pegged to a centralised supply of oil reserves (297 billion barrels). The idea in my mind associated with the countless other ICO scams around that time and I remained focused on my own projects at hand. So I ploughed on without giving any more thought to the Petro. I even missed out on this hilarious press conference which looks like Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights.
Hold on, trying to figure out how to premine the shit out of this thing
Work eventually led me to re-launch Bitcart, a startup I began in 2014 as a service for people to live off bitcoin by serving as a gateway to Amazon. When suddenly the trend moved to Venezuela. Overnight my volume in Venezuela became 10–15% of all my global business. Now this is interesting, I thought to myself. Genuine people needing an alternative monetary system in the midst of economic chaos. Suddenly I had an interest to become fixated with the global events unwinding in Latin America. Flash backs from a history of genocide and mass corruption at the hands of centralised authority and power dynamics between the likes of the Cartel de los soles, a contrast to the stories from a long time ago of a Venezuelan nation much richer than my own.
10 January, 2019 - another day goes by where I gain a new Venezuelan customer. Google Translate is now bookmarked on my work device and set to Spanish. I have a direct feed to the voices on the ground. Businessmen, merchants, internet geeks and average people who have all quit their jobs to earn a living with bitcoin on the internet. The 9 o'clock news appears in the background with images of President Maduro's inauguration. The media were having a field day because the Irish nationalist party Sinn Feinn had attended the celebration as one of few European supporters. It seems as though everyday since the news programme have featured Maduro, who is serving his 6th consecutive year of Presidency facing accusations of crimes against humanity and election fraud by the international community. The narrative consistent with each passing comment in the mass media - The moral crusade of the Swift network sanctioning Venezuela is winning. While all I can see is the promotion of poverty led by superhero USA at the peril of yet another corrupt politician.
Trust me, I wear blue and white stars on my face.
In a Post-Truth world one must look beyond the political rhetorical at something much deeper to know right from wrong which has been hiding in plain sight, and that's the human collateral damage from the incessant desire for power of our supposed leaders. Trump and Maduro have that much in common I'm sure.
Night turns to morning in the capital of Caracas in it's natural state. My Venezuelan client has regained power on his phone and carries on his Monday working as usual from his phone. In the time it has taken me to write this blog post, less than 1 hour, he has earned around $5 of bitcoin, the equivalent to a month salary for the average Venezuelan. Not a big gain but enough for him and his family to survive. At least for some there's bitcoin.
As with any problem, there are always solutions. Shout out to grudles for posting this tutorial back in February on how to make offline bitcoin transactions. You can purchase all this stuff on Amazon with bitcoin through bitcart.io
"Completely Offline Bitcoin Transactions"
https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flink.medium.com%2FC26zoH5CYU
If you would like to donate directly to Venezuelan's then check out this campaign I found online:
I wouldn't share anyone's public key without their consent, and even then probably not in these circumstances, but if there happens to be any Venezuelan's reading you are welcome to do so yourself in the comments section.
Hola amigos de venezuela bienvenidos a Bitcart el lugar donde puedes comprar y vender tus tarjetas amazon por bitcoin. También puedes vender tus tarjetas de regalo amazon y recibir Bitcoin. Aceptamos tarjetas amazon.com co.uk .fr .de
