What does Venezuela have to do with record bitcoin values?

It is not the main factor, but the problems derived from the economic crisis in Venezuela and the subsidy of the government to an essential service are also behind the rise of the value of the criptomoney.

Specialized in bitcoin.

"The increase since November could be due to the demonetization of India followed by Venezuela's capital controls and rumors of similar actions in other countries," he explains.

And Kevin Charles, general manager of Surbitcoin, points out that more and more Venezuelans are betting on the virtual currency.

"Undoubtedly the situation in Venezuela echoes internationally about the benefits of bitcoin and there is some increasingly interesting demand for the cryptonnet," he tells BBC Mundo.

Surbitcoin is considered Venezuela's first bitcoin market.

More Miners

Although there is no official data and is still a minority practice, the crisis in Venezuela and its consequences - devaluation of the bolivar, inflation, scarcity - is leading to more and more miners, as is known to bCompare seekers, that somehow Way are the modern gold seekers.

"In Venezuela there is a very large and mature community in the area of ​​the criptomonedas, which has allowed Venezuelans with capitals who listen to their friends talk about the subject to venture to invest in mining equipment," adds the manager of Surbitcoin, web Which acts as an intermediary.

Cheap energy

Venezuela, unlike many other countries, presents great competitive advantages for the miners, especially "the cheap of the energy", explains Charles.

And is that to achieve bitcoins requires a powerful computer that consumes in its operations a lot of energy.

It has always been considered a new one, but it is more a virtual piece than a classic coin or banknote.

Like any currency, its value is determined by how many people are willing to trade it.

The so-called mining process to achieve bitcoin involves a powerful computer capable of solving mathematical problems with solutions of up to 64 digits.

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Each problem solved assumes that a block of bitcoins is processed. In addition, the miner is rewarded with new bitcoins. That's an incentive to put the processing power of computers at the service of problem solving.

To compensate for the growing power of processor chips in computers, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure that there is a continuous flow of new bitcoins produced each day.

There are currently about 15 million bitcoins and it is estimated that the value of bitcoins around the world exceeds US $ 16 billion.

To receive them, the user needs an address consisting of between 24 and 37 letters and numbers that acts as a virtual mailbox.

As there is no record of addresses, people can operate anonymously when making a transaction. These addresses are stored in so-called wallets, used to manage the savings in bitcoins.

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They work as private bank accounts, with the disadvantage that if the data is lost, virtual coins are also lost.

Chester believes that the low price of electricity can make Venezuela "eventually become a bitcoin center" for how cheap mining is.

But there are more. "That is what the economic situation that the country is going through and you have the result: an interesting possibility of making a profit," adds Charles.

"The inflation in Venezuela is so high that the bitcoin protects you from that inflation, compared to China, Venezuela is much more attractive," said Chester, founder of Bitwage.

What to do with bitcoins

Once the bitcoins have been achieved, they can be exchanged for bolivars for day-to-day life in Venezuela or for dollars, which are used for example to buy basic products that are scarce in Venezuela.

In addition, the parallel dollar market, the most used for the change in the country, makes the acquisition of bitcoins and then dollars, highly demanded by the devaluation of the bolivar, especially profitable.

"The activity of the criptomonedas mining has been in constant growth," Charles tells BBC Mundo.

On the black market, one dollar currently buys more than 3,000 bolivars.

That is what makes one of Venezuela's first miners and enthusiastic bitcoin, which contradicts the impact of the activity in the country at the current high price.

"The Venezuelan market is extremely small compared to the rest of the world," he told BBC Mundo, who prefers to remain anonymous.

According to analysts, in 2017 bitcoin could surpass the historic milestone of US $ 1,216.7 reached in 2013.

Chester asserts that bitcoin operates more as a commodity than as a currency, meaning that it is a refuge value, like gold.

"But the transaction is easier. With gold you do not buy anything online," says the founder.
Compare.Of Bitwage.

And that is an advantage for Venezuelans, who with the bitcoin generate profits, protect them and use them to get products abroad that are not on the shelves in the country.

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