Yeah, this is yet another reason why bitcoin isn't proving to be very useful to Venezuelan citizens during their crisis--no electricity means no way to pay for anything via electronic means.  And yeah, I'm sure bitcoin mining is taking a huge hit there as well.

My state got hit with severe blackouts in 2011, right around Halloween, and my town was completely out of power for over 3 days.  It was horrible--very cold, and there was no way to charge my cellphone or buy food.  Luckily the water was still flowing.  It must be absolutely devastating for Venezuela, where they're dealing with all sorts of other deprivation on top of not having electricity.  The only positive is that it isn't freezing cold like it was for my area back in 2011.

Anyway, as an aside....this is why everyone ought to keep at least a little amount of cash on their person.  You never know when the power is going to go out, and food/water/supplies run out quicker than you think.  If you're relying on even a debit or credit card, good luck trying to use that when stores no longer have power.  The first store that opened in my area while the power was out was a Walgreens pharmacy, and they were only taking cash.  It was such a relief to buy some food and a bottle of Coca-Cola, but I only was able to do that because I had some cash on me.

Since then I've also started keeping batteries, food, money, and a wind-up/solar radio with cellphone charger in my house for just such occasions.  I'm not a hardcore prepper, but experience has taught me that I'll probably see another serious power outage in my lifetime.

Oh yeah--I wish I'd heard of bitcoin back in 2011 during that power cut.  I would have been rolling in money right now.