Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by matt_wulfeck 2993 days ago
This article is exactly 100% correct, but only if you replace the word "bitcoin" with "USD" throughout the entire thing.
2 comments

The article states:

"According to a recent report by The Economist, Venezuela is the cheapest region on earth to mine bitcoin, because of its cheap electricity and the worthless Bolivar."

How does that relate to USD? There are hundreds of stable currencies that could replace the Bolivar but due to extremely cheap electricity, Bitcoin is in a unique position to help Venezuelans.

USD is most popular
Right, but it's the functional uniqueness of Bitcoin that allows Venezuelans to acquire the USD. They aren't getting it directly.
I’m not educated on Venezuela’s situation, but the article claims that bitcoin is providing a way to circumvent Venezuela’s laws against trading currencies. If that’s correct, then the article seems to be correct: Bitcoin is providing a valuable albeit illegal way to exchange bolivar for USD.