Venezuela has set a new Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume record owing to the amount of the foremost cryptocurrency traded by its citizens in spite of the ongoing political unrest in the nation.
It is no longer news that the past few months have proved pretty hectic for the country, first triggered by U.S. sanctions, hyperinflation, economic downturn and the current political uprising in which its ousted President Nicholas Maduro has refused to step down for newly elected and U.S. recognized Juan Guaido. This unrest has led to the rising number of citizens leaving the country while residents turn to cryptocurrencies for economic fortitude.
President Maduro had in response to U.S. trade sanctions launched a state owned cryptocurrency – Petro for which he received huge criticism from analysts and economic figures. However, the newly elected Juan Guaido has in his own stance disavowed Petro and proven support for Bitcoin.
Sequel to this, according to data from Coin Dance which tracks crypto volumes on P2P trading platforms, the past week showed the busiest trading record in Venezuela’s history; a trend which points to the growing interest of its citizens to secure wealth, assets and value through Bitcoin (BTC).
Statistics show a total of about 17.1 Billion Venezuelan Bolivar (1972 BTC) exchanged via trading activity; a new all-time high from that set the week before February 2nd, 2019.
This activity did not go unnoticed by the government authorities with the ousted Maduro-led government re-enacting stiffer regulations against other cryptocurrencies including orders to confisticate mining equipment in a bid to promote his favoured cryptocurrency – Petro. The move is however inadequate as withholding Peer-to-Peer services on global platforms is all but impossible.
See previous Venezuelan stories: https://btc.ng/altcoin/venezuelas-crypto-romance-continues/
https://btc.ng/bitcoin-usage/new-venezuelan-president-endorses-bitcoin-disavows-petro/
