According to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-18/bolivar-to-bitcoin-market-hits-record-1-million-per-day) bitcoin transactions via LocalBitcoins reached a record daily volume of $1 million on April 17.

Check out the chart below and read on to find out why.

<center> https://s17.postimg.cc/nt070m7wf/vz1.png </center> 

The Venezuelan government is a mess. Many are not happy with President Maduro and his socialist regime. Some say it’s closer to a dictatorship.

That stems from events this past [May]( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/30/venezuela-president-nicolas-maduro-national-assembly) when the Venezuelan Supreme Court took over the National Assembly, Venezuela’s version of Congress.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court is pro-Maduro while the National Assembly was anti-Maduro.

That’s led to lots of protests and demonstrations.

At the same time the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, is in free fall. The stated rated at the beginning of the year was 9.9875 bolivars per dollar. Now it’s up to 50,000 bolivars per dollar. The black market rate is over 650,000 bolivars per dollar. That means a $5 sandwich that use to cost 50 bolivars now costs over 3.2 million bolivars. 

The result is unrest, food shortages, increased crime, a lack of basic necessities, etc. So it’s no surprise people are unhappy.

That’s why Venezuelan’s are turning to bitcoin. Unlike the bolivar it is holding its value. 

Many are bitcoin mining as electricity is nearly free in the socialist country.

There’s many stories of folks getting food and medicine using bitcoin and generally just surviving with it.

Of course Maduro and the government are trying to [crack down](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/10/bitcoin-mining-is-big-business-in-venezuela-but-the-government-wants-to-shut-it-down/?utm_term=.df704c05eff2) on bitcoin mining. And he’s pushing his new Petro cryptocurrency as well.

Despite the efforts bitcoin remains the popular choice. Check out the chart below.

<center> https://s17.postimg.cc/wb9n4zgzz/vz2.png </center>

How this turns out no one knows for sure. But one thing is for sure, Venezuelans will continue to turn to bitcoin to escape its government.

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