I realize this can be difficult when a topic is close to home, but it's an effort we all have to make on the topics that we feel strongest about.
As for OP, had no other options to call me a "maduro bot", when Im clearly stating that localbitcoins is exactly the place where all the maduro corrupt officials clean their drug/stolen money. haha.
Let me remind you that, the venezuelan corrupt goverment LOVES crypto, because it allows them to clean their stolen money. Thats why they are even mining it themselves [1] with free power and stolen bitcoin mining machines [2]
And to finish, you can literally find the westerunion guidelines on how to send money to venezuela [3] where it clearly states that you can receive remittances in any office of "zoom cambios" in venezuelan territory.
[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuelan-army-starts-mining...
[2] https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuela-seizes-315-bitcoin-mining...
[3] https://www.westernunion.com/ve/en/send-money.html#:~:text=Y....
This is the argument. I dont need to address anything. BTW, not that it matters but I dont hold bitcoins , I am not a trader and I dont have any association with localbitcoins, I even agreed with the points presented in the article (check my post history) now check OP's.
Before hand, I would like people to know that the current VES:USD rates are the following:
- Official rate: 1.107.198,58 per each USD [1]
- Unofficial rate: 1.027.812,89 per each USD [2]
So now, The way that remittances work in Venezuela is pretty simple, let’s say a person A, wants to send 100$ to his grandma in Venezuela, and Person B has Venezuelan Bolivars.
Person A gets in contact with person B (or viceversa), they agree on a rate based on the 2 rates i said before, person A sends the 100$ usd to person B and person B sends the Venezuelan Bolivars equivalent to person A grandmother. There is always a factor trust on said trade/ remittance where someone has to send the money 1st.
Now, this exchange for the USD side is USUALLY made using Zelle (in the case of USD remittances) but its also done a lot in actual cash USD, it can also be done in any other method such as Paypal, AirTM, Cashapp, Venmo, etc.. it could even be in hello kitty coins if person A and B agrees. It doesnt really matter.. As for the venezuelan bolivars parts, its always done in venezuelan banks.
What the poster here says in point (1) its wrong, you can use W.U, MoneyGram to send money to Venezuela, it uses the official exchange rate, thus, you don't have to go to colombia to send money to venezuela, remitances using those services are working online (they deposit to your bank), there is also fully operational exchanges like zoom casa de cambio, that will take remitances from different companies worldwide. [3]
So this is my point. As I say, venezuelans do not need bitcoin, they could trade even hello kitty online coins or whatever any other method that allows them to send some value worth. Directly, they just use Zelle or cash, some others use paypal or whatever they want.
So, bitcoin doesn't really benefits Venezuelans, the only thing that benefits venezuelans is the localbitcoins escrow service, but this is not because its cripto or because its bitcoin, it's just because noone else offers an escrow service to sucessfully exchange currency, that's pretty much it. Venezuelans just lack some place to properly exchange money it doesnt need bitcoin
In fact, if you go ahead and check localbitcoin prices for exchange between VES:USD, the rate is always worse, you can check this site that tracks the rate on real time [https://dolardeverdad.com/]
Adding to this, there is another layer to this, it's the fact that it's really hard for Venezuelans to convert bitcoin into USD, not only because we are not welcome on sites like coinbase.com
Now, you wonder right now, how come there is a lot of bitcoin being bought in venezuela's localbitcoin market, now I will answer you, it's plain and simple money laundering, that's it, there is drug dealers, corrupt goverment officials and a bunch of shady people who has TONS of venezuelans bolivars and they want to get them turned into something else. Using my example before, the person B would be the corrupt/drug dealer and the person A would be you trying to send money to your grandma
So no, don't come with the "bitcoin is saving venezuela" speech, it', Bitcoin its a workaround for corruption and dirty venezuelan money to find its way into USD.
[1] http://www.bcv.org.ve/
[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/CJbfgj3FLft/
[3] https://www.zoomcasadecambio.com/