I agree with most of the points raised by the author but as a Venezuelan Bitcoin is a godsend. If you live abroad and want to send remittances to your friends and family it can be pretty easy in a normal country , with wire transfers,western union and so on. If your family lives in Venezuela your options are extremely more limited.
These are some of the options Venezuelans have had to use:
1. Ask the money to be sent to Colombia with WU and then travel hundreds of kms to get what usually amounts to a few hundred dollars at most.
2. Use Zelle, send dollars in the US, and receive Bolivares in Venezuela. But for that you need to have an US bank account, and find a person you can trust also with an US bank account and plenty of highly volatile Bolivares in Venezuela willing to make the exchange.
3. Use paypal, same as above with way higher commissions and the risk that paypal (and the other person) will fuck you.
4. Buy Amazon gift cards and use the same schema above, be exposed to scams and high commisions fees.
Trading bitcoins in say localbitcoins.com, you have a very liquid market and somewhat secure transactions (Bitcoins are not liberated until you check the money is in the Venezuela account). There are risks of course, especially because of BTC volatility but at least is a fast,convenient,widespread option. I wish something like that, only more stable and with less of that Tulip-craze whiff BTC has.
These are some of the options Venezuelans have had to use:
1. Ask the money to be sent to Colombia with WU and then travel hundreds of kms to get what usually amounts to a few hundred dollars at most.
2. Use Zelle, send dollars in the US, and receive Bolivares in Venezuela. But for that you need to have an US bank account, and find a person you can trust also with an US bank account and plenty of highly volatile Bolivares in Venezuela willing to make the exchange.
3. Use paypal, same as above with way higher commissions and the risk that paypal (and the other person) will fuck you.
4. Buy Amazon gift cards and use the same schema above, be exposed to scams and high commisions fees.
Trading bitcoins in say localbitcoins.com, you have a very liquid market and somewhat secure transactions (Bitcoins are not liberated until you check the money is in the Venezuela account). There are risks of course, especially because of BTC volatility but at least is a fast,convenient,widespread option. I wish something like that, only more stable and with less of that Tulip-craze whiff BTC has.