Bitcoin Around the World - Venezuela: Bitcoin Won’t Fix Venezuela with Javier Bastardo
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
Date: Thursday, 13th February
Project: Cointelegraph
Role: Journalist
Venezuela is many years into a political and economic crisis. Rooted in the Hugo Chavez presidency and continued by Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela is a mafia dictatorship wearing the cloak of socialism.
Years of economic mismanagement and corruption has led to financial disaster in Venezuelan, comparatively worse than the Great Depression, Zimbabwe's 2008–2009 hyperinflation crisis and the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Hyperinflation led to significant growth in poverty, starvation and mass migration, with millions leaving the country. With the collapse of the currency, many Bitcoiners, including myself, asked whether Bitcoin could help. Could Bitcoin reduce the impact of hyperinflation? Could locals mine Bitcoin at low energy costs to earn an income? I visited Venezuela to find out.
In this interview, I talk to Javier Bastardo, a journalist for Cointelegraph, based in Caracas, Venezuela. We discuss Venezuela's political and economic situation, hyperinflation and the reality of Bitcoin adoption in the country.
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Connect with Javier:
- On Twitter
Mentioned in the interview:
- Venezuelan presidential crisis
- Crisis in Venezuela
- Venezuela crisis: How the political situation escalated
- Venezuelan Migrants Are Using Bitcoin for Remittances
- Venezuela Smashes Weekly Bitcoin Trading Record
- Bitcoin Trading Volumes In Venezuela Continue To Climb
- Venezuela, Argentina Set New Weekly P2P Bitcoin Trading Volume Records
- $300 Million Worth of Bitcoin Traded in Venezuela
- Bitcoin Trading in Venezuela Hits All-Time High
Other relevant WBD podcasts:
- WBD193: Bitcoin Around the World - Colombia: Bitcoin, Regulation and Ties to Venezuela with Mauricio Tovar Gutierrez & Alejandro Beltran Torrado
- WBD179: Bitcoin Youth Programme in El Salvador with Michael Peterson
- WBD108: A Bitcoin Reality Check in Venezuela with Jill Carlson, Alejandro Machado & Jamaal Montasser
- WBD071: Update on the Venezuelan Political Crisis
- WBD019: How Venezuelans are Using Bitcoin to Counter the Effects of Hyperinflation with Alejandro Machado
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