We have adopted USD as auxiliar currency, that is a fact and it is the reason we have been able to slow down the inflation here.
On the other hand, I must say that cryptocurrency, even though it has not taken over completely the economy of my country it has indeed gain a big amount of adoption, mainly because we have been mistreated by services like Paypal for years, and the fact it makes easier to conceal our savings from bad people or even send money anywhere.
Nowadays, here even the most common USD wallets offer crypto options so even if people do not much about Bitcoin or crypto they have at least been exposed to it to some degree.
In my city for example, there is a candy shop which accepts BTC, a department shop which also does so and stablecoins are being used much as payment method. Caracas (our capital city) is a place where one could live on crypto.
Any questions about how crypto is doing here, I am glad to respond.
It's nice to hear from somebody who has really experienced things first hand.
So, indeed, there is crypto adoption in Venezuela although not as wide as crypto publications might seem to portray. In other words, fiat still rules the country, although not anymore the local Venezuelan Bolivar.
By the way, how do these shops accepting Bitcoin, like the candy and the department shops that you mentioned, manage the fluctuating Bitcoin fees? Is the Lightning Network being used there already?
Just like El Salvador, LN must be used also in Venezuela and the rest in South America.
Venezuela has an option now with crypto's existence, unlike El Salvador who has no option back then but to only adopt USD. Now 3rd world or developing countries have the option to use BTC to go around economic sanctions. IMF always has to do with sanctions so if they publish things like this, it's not going to be surprising. OP didn't add the link to the source I kept searching for it but none.