Bolivar

People whose local financial systems are failing through no fault of their own are increasingly turning to bitcoin and driving prices to new highs.

According to data from Coin Dance, the exchange rate between bolívars and bitcoin is now more than five times what it was at the beginning of 2019.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently revealed that the nation’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, will be used as a unit of account by the state oil company PDVSA. The government is also developing a new salary system that will allow employees to receive their wages in petro funds over fiat.