Venezuela's current economic situation reveals an interesting phenomenon—cryptocurrencies are becoming everyday payment tools for ordinary people.

Last year, Venezuela's local currency, the Bolívar, experienced a staggering devaluation. At the beginning of the year, 1 USD could only be exchanged for 52.02 Bolívares, but by the end of the year, it skyrocketed to 301.37, a devaluation of over 480%. This rapid depreciation completely shattered people's confidence in the local currency.

What happens when you go shopping or buy groceries? In convenience stores in downtown Caracas, if you use Bolívares to buy a bottle of mineral water, the clerk will mostly refuse and instead point to USDT or a QR code of a major exchange on the cash register. From food procurement and daily consumption to personal savings, Venezuelans have spontaneously built a financial network that completely bypasses traditional financial systems.

More importantly, after the official withdrawal of the Petro in 2024, this trend has accelerated. Without official backing of a crypto asset, the public has become even more determined to choose stablecoins like USD. What was once an asset held only by speculators has now become a payment tool for market vendors—this shift is somewhat magical but also incredibly real.

Why has it come to this? Looking back at history, during Hugo Chávez's rule in the 2000s, Venezuela profited immensely from high oil prices. But the government did not handle this good fortune well; instead, it engaged in unchecked spending, excessive market intervention, and continuous money printing. The more welfare programs piled up, the larger the deficit became, and eventually inflation ran out of control like a wild horse, impossible to tame.