April 13, 2021
Since the Maduro regime launched the petro, its attempt at a national cryptocurrency, Venezuela’s open and public cryptocurrency ecosystem has been underestimated. For individuals living in a 2,600 percent inflation economy with authoritarian monetary policies like in Venezuela, cryptocurrencies built on public blockchains offer a variety of solutions. These benefits include preserving the value of Venezuelans’ money while protecting it from their government and offering solutions to send humanitarian aid more efficiently and securely.
Q1: How do these currencies work? How do they differ from private cryptocurrency and traditional currency?
A1: Open and public cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptographic algorithms to record and secure information that is stored on a distributed ledger, a network of computers that is known as a blockchain. Open and public cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are not issued, controlled, or maintained by any central authority. In countries such as Venezuela, this is a vital feature which shields the digital currency from manipulation, government interference, duplication, or double spending.