According to a recent data report from Coin Dance, a platform which monitors and tracks volumes on P2P Bitcoin exchanges such as Localbitcoins, Paxful and Bisq, a huge amount of fiat to crypto exchange took place in South America in the past week, ending on 6th April.
Venezuela Leads
Of all the South American countries which the crypto exchanging took place in, Venezuela leads with a huge margin. Coin Dance reported that a total of 26.4 billion sovereign bolivars (VES) exchanged through the platform during this week.
This high record of VES to Bitcoin exchange in the country is reported as a result of the country’s current economic problems and the present political unrest affect it. This is not the country’s first time of recording high-level volume crypto trading compared to other South American countries.
The citizens of the country have on several occasion expressed their faith in cryptocurrency especially DASH and Bitcoin, over the country’s official currency, the VES or its
highly-controversial state-backed crypto the Petro.
According to a Caracas-based consultant:
“Many Venezuelans are using Bitcoin to convert their bolivars, which are being permanently devalued by hyperinflation, to keep something of value,”
In a recent tweet, Eduardo Gómez, head of support at Bitcoin marketplace Purse.io and who is a Venezuelan national, said Localbitcoins is one of the few companies which have “saved his life on multiple occasions”.
Localbitcoins Usage Surges in Troubled Economies
Globally there has been an increase in the use of the P2P platform. This surge in usage is however more noticeable in countries under sanctions or economic woes. For example, Argentina and Colombia have seen an increase in Bitcoin interest as its own economic difficulties continue. According to Coin Dance’s data, Argentinians put more pesos through Localbitcoins than ever before. A total of 10.7 million ARS ($243,000) reportedly changed hands in the past week.