“I don’t own bolívars, Venezuela’s official currency. I keep all of my money in bitcoin. Keeping it in bolívars would be financial suicide.”

“In times of hyperinflation, everyone is constantly getting poorer, including a lawyer’s clients. My brother had to turn to cryptocurrencies to get paid since he couldn’t use PayPal due to exchange controls here allowing Venezuelan banks to use only local currency.”

“You could say that cryptocurrencies have saved our family.”

“I can’t change too many bitcoins at once, though. The government doesn’t monitor cryptocurrency transactions (yet), but it does monitor transactions in bolívars — and any worth about $50 or more will automatically freeze your account until you can explain to your bank where the funds come from.”