Oliveros comments on the lower availability of foreign currency and cryptocurrencies from the State.
The rate mismatch became the biggest business challenge in Venezuela, according to the economist.
Venezuelan economist Asdrúbal Oliveros commented that the country’s exchange market is going through an “especially critical” phase for companies, which is characterized by difficulties in managing operations in foreign currency.
According to explainedthe gap between the official rate and the unofficial exchange rate has become a complex obstacle to manage.
In the Caribbean country, the exchange system operates under control defined by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV). The official dollar rate, published daily by the BCV, was quoted on December 1, 2025 at 247.40 bolivars (VES). This reference is mainly used for government transactions, priority imports and state subsidies.
While the issuing entity establishes its quotes for the dollar and the rest of the foreign currencies, a percentage of the companies have had to resort to the unofficial market to obtain foreign currency, according to Oliveros. However, in this market the price of the dollar is higher.
Oliveros pointed out that many companies are forced to pay an additional premium over the unofficial exchange rate to close corporate operations, which increases their costs and ends up being passed on to final prices. This dynamic, he stated, is deteriorating the operational capacity of the private sector and generating new inflationary pressures.
According to the economist, a determining factor is added to this situation: the drop in the supply of foreign currency and cryptocurrencies from the State. In the last four weeks, he explained, this availability “has become significantly complicated,” leaving the unofficial market as the only effective way to obtain liquidity.
The specialist warns that operating in this environment implies taking on greater challenges, since Companies are obliged to invoice at the rate of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) —well below the value that is handled in the unofficial market—.
This gap between both quotes has become “the biggest challenge for business management in the country,” said Oliveros. He added that many organizations do not have strategies to address this gap, which increases pressure on their cost structures and compromises their sustainability in the short term.
The truth is that while this is happening, the adoption of cryptocurrencies has deepened in Venezuela as the economy faces its own structural limits.
After years of inflation, banking restrictions and international sanctions, USDT has emerged as a tool to manage operational obstacles and maintain more stable payment flows.
Several public institutions, as reported by CriptoNoticias, have turned to the stable currency to facilitate operations with private companies and even for certain payments linked to the oil industry, which has contributed to injecting digital currencies into the domestic economy.