Where Minimum Wage is $5, Venezuelans Traded 621 BTC ($5.3M) Last Week

Last week, about 621 Bitcoin (BTC) was traded in Venezuela up from 614 BTC on LocalBitcoin, a leading peer to peer Bitcoin marketplace, although a large number of residents are reportedly earning $5 as minimum wage.

According to a Reddit source, citing data from LocalBitcoin API, Coindance, one BTC is currently priced at 643,000,000 Bolivares (Bs.), which possibly emanated from the economic crisis in the country, leading to the collapse of the country’s local currency.

“Minimum wage (which is earned by a big chunk of the population, not like other countries) is 250,000 Bs. wage (less than 3 USD) + 200,000 Bs. food bonus (less than $3) PER MONTH. Increased from 150,000 Bs. and 150,000 Bs.,” per the source.

The exchange rate today is around 75,000 Bs. for one US dollar. (Official rate is almost the same, 74,600 Bs.), and the highest banknote is 50,000 Bs. Per the Redditor, “You need to use debit and credit, bank transfer, cryptos and USD to pay anything.”

Notwithstanding the affected currency, many people in the country are very much engaged in Bitcoin. Venezuelans make around 2400 BTC per month now, the source revealed.

However, the people driving the figures wide are said to be [cryptocurrency] miners, freelancers in the country who get paid in cryptos, and Venezuelans living outside the country, who send money to their families, including their government.

High BTC Trade in Venezuela  Doesn’t Indicate Actual Growth

While this development might come as a surprise to many, a few others don’t think the numbers of Bitcoins traded in Venezuela last week and subsequent weeks suggest any significant growth for the leading cryptocurrency, in terms of currency differences. It’s just about the same growth pace.

“From a Venezuelan perspective, Bitcoin is rising, rising, rising — yet from a US perspective, it’s been flat. Even so, usage growth is surprisingly low in both places,” another Redditor commented. 

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