Quote from: Puppet on February 16, 2015, 09:45:22 AM

Quote from: kenshin23 on February 16, 2015, 05:51:48 AM

Sure, the reason for that is that we currently have 3 official and 1 unofficial exchange rates for our currency (and very strict currency controls and limitations in place), which makes inflation skyrocket, as we only have "access" to the worst exchange rate (black market). So, we keep looking for alternatives to safeguard our income, one of which is bitcoin (and fiat currency in general, other than our own.)

I can further explain this in detail if needed; suffice to say that a card such as this one would be highly welcome.

Not sure how you think a visa card is going to alleviate these problems. The card is denominated in US$, and each time you make a local purchase or withdraw money at an ATM, its the official exchange rate that will be applied. Im fairly sure you wont be able to withdraw US$ at an ATM there, nor can you make payments in $, it will all be in Bolivares at the official exchange rate.

A card like this might be handy if you want to make (internet) purchases abroad, but I suppose you'll have import taxes that make that about as pointless? or am I missing something ?

That's basically the point: Venezuelans get an allowance (what we call a "cupo") of $3000 a year to be spent on trips and/or internet purchases. If you want to buy something through eBay, Amazon, etc., you get a maximum of $300 out of those $3000. However, that's only if you didn't decide to spend it all on a trip or if it's not enough (as is the case when purchasing something over $300 through the internet) in which case, you're then forced to buy other people's allowances at the black market's (now sort of legal) exchange rate. So, it's much better to purchase, for example a laptop at $500 with 2 "cupos" at VEF 12/$ (official exchange rate), than to buy it locally at more than VEF 190/$ (black market).

So, a card like this one is -provided you can buy bitcoins in Bolivares or mine them, like I do- a way to avoid or alleviate all that.

kenshin23

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