Venezuela is not the typical country where the national currency is enough to make everyday or emergency purchases. On the contrary. The thing is that everything becomes more expensive daily due to constant inflation and an exchange rate that, at this point, seems unbeatable.
Making a market, for example, is a challenge. For those who handle only bolivars, is literally facing a daily price increasesince these are indexed to the dollar rate, arbitrated by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).
The value of the US currency expressed in the local currency has increased by 282% so far this yearas seen in the graph below. It is no small thing, since Venezuelan inflation has an important component in the dollar exchange rate.
That is where alternatives such as USDT stand out, the stable cryptocurrency linked to the US dollar issued by the company Tether Limited. The adoption of this currency has grown significantly in Venezuela before the absence of the physical dollar and, of course, the persistent economic crisis.
CriptoNoticias has widely reported the rising use of USDT in Venezuela. Applications, alliances and new alternatives to use this stablecoin have been developed in the last year. This, as a novel way to confront inflation and be included in the digital economy.
USDT, which is not the same as the dollar, is usually traded in Venezuela in the peer-to-peer (P2P) markets of exchanges such as Binance, Bybit or Bitfinex. The price of this cryptocurrency on these platforms is almost 50% higher than the official rate of the North American currency. That is, while the BCV rates the dollar at 199.10 bolivars, in Binance P2P, 1 USDT is traded at more than 290 bolivars.
It is, in effect, a savings for those who use USDT. If we add to that the use of Cashea, which is the largest credit and debt platform in Venezuela, we have the formula that allows us to protect ourselves from the inflationary phenomenon.
We test the formula
I confirmed that the USDT + Cashea formula is, indeed, ideal for dealing with Venezuelan inflation.
Although I must clarify from now on, this applies only to those who are regular users of the largest stablecoin in the world in Venezuela and, in turn, are part of the credit ecosystem of the Venezuelan startup that, by the way, process more than 300 million dollars monthly.
I started by trading 100 USDT on Binance. Entering the P2P market, I had a surprise. The rate was 293 bolivars per USDT for sale. I came out a winner. The 100 USDT became 29,300 bolivars. 55% more than 100 dollars exchanged at the BCV rate, which would have been only 18,900 bolivars.
I turned on Ramonamy motorcycle, and I left. I went to a well-known supermarket in Caracas that had enablemake payments through Cashea. Just what I needed to fill shelves in my house and guarantee food for my family for several weeks. “It’s what a man does!” echoed in my mind as I He was heading to the site, remembering—among laughter and satisfaction—that famous episode of the Fresh Prince of Rap.
Of course, before I made the typical shopping list. I can’t go out without her. It is necessary to have control over what I will acquire. And, yes, although I had 55% in favor of using USDT, the expenses must be thought about. That’s how my dad taught me.
Once there, the journey began. I took a shopping cart and started: pasta, rice, grains, cookies, sauces, cleaning and toiletries, in addition to the “dry”, as we call meat in Venezuela.
Indeed, I put everything I needed for the weeks to come in that cart.. It was interesting to see that, around me, couples and families were in the same boat. It is a harmonious environment that only those of us who market can experience.
“To pay,” I said, and ensuring that everything was in order, I went to the cash register. The litmus test. I took things out of the cart, the cashier checked out, and a market worker bagged them. A perfectly uniform system that paralyzed with a faint voice: “It’s 44,691.51 bolivars, sir, or 244 dollars. How are you going to pay?
There I took out the secret letter: “Cashea, please.” Immediately, the cashier activated the systems and enabled me to cancel the large amount that, although it seemed like too much, It was only enough to purchase a little more than 50 different products.
The rest was history. I paid through that platform, paying with Cashea’s daily line, which allows me to pay 40% as an initial payment and the remaining (60%) in a single installment payable in 14 days.
Thus, I paid 97.6 dollars (in BCV exchange, that is, 18,440 bolivars) and the remainder that remained in my account for the exchange of 100 USDT (10,860 bolivars, equivalent to USD 57 official), I used them to partially pay the debt acquired with Casheaof USD 146.40 (27,669 bolivars at the BCV exchange rate).
I was left with a debt of 16,800 bolivars which, in official dollars, was equivalent to almost USD 90. But in USDT, it was just 57 USDT.
Why is the USDT + Cashea formula anti-inflationary?
Simple: USDT allowed me, on the one hand, to protect myself from the growing inflation in Venezuela by having 50% more purchasing power. And on the other hand, Cashea let me go into debt for up to two weeks to pay, easing the cost of living by acquiring basic necessities.
In other words, using USDT and Cashea in Venezuela helps deal with inflation because they fulfill complementary functions: since USDT is anchored to the dollar, it allows the value of money to be protected against the devaluation of the bolivar. That helps maintain more stable purchasing power. While Cashea offers the possibility of buying on credit without interest, which is advantageous in an inflationary environment, since products are purchased at current prices and paid later with money that is worth less.
Together, use USDT to save and Cashea to finance purchases It is a practical way to mitigate the effects of inflation and better manage resources.
Economist Aarón Olmos, specialized in cryptocurrencies, better explains to CriptoNoticias why the formula is suitable to fight Venezuelan inflation.
According to Olmos, any option that allows a Venezuelan to expand their purchasing power, pay in interest-free installments and protect the surplus in an asset that is not affected by inflation, “is welcome in a country that is running out of options through banking and through traditional mechanisms.”
“Cashea offers a service that Venezuelans did not know they needed so much and that banks are currently not in a position to offer,” he explains, while pointing out that “many Venezuelans can already store and use USDT, even as a means of payment.”
Olmos comments that, because in the Caribbean country there is a high legal reserve, of 73%, and an active interest rate of 60% per year, an important conspiracy can be established between these platforms and the options they provide.
However, he warns: “getting into debt is not bad, but getting into debt without having the ability to pay, because your income is increasingly lower, is complicated. And getting into debt in dollars, when perhaps you can’t produce them, you can’t get them in the way you perhaps spent them, becomes more complicated.
Hence this formula be applied only by those who do not use bolivarsfor whom these tools “are increasingly appreciated,” in Olmos’ opinion.
“And it is not surprising that the number of users and other applications that are also on the market are increasing more and more, which have appeared as healthy competition and have also created important spaces,” he concludes.