Exchange Ethereum in Venezuela
The popularity of Ethereum in Venezuela, combined with the nation's continued hyperinflation, has made Ethereum an excellent option for saving and investing for thousands of Venezuelans. The ease of Ethereum mining and the low price of graphics cards in the country has caused the number of Venezuelan miners to grow rapidly since the genesis block in 2013.
How do you exchange Ethereum in Venezuela?
Before LocalCryptos came along, Venezuelans had to convert their Ether to Bitcoin and then exchange Bitcoin for bolivars using LocalBitcoins. In that tedious process, ETH owners lost both time and money. Money had to be spent on commissions for conversions between the cryptocurrencies, fees to transfer Bitcoin, and unfavorable prices on LocalBitcoins. In addition, valuable time was lost that could adversely affect traders due to the volatility in Bitcoin prices, increasing costs yet again.
After the launch of LocalCryptos in October 2017, known as LocalEthereum at the time, merchants in Venezuela could change their precious ETH quickly and economically. In only a few months, Venezuela became the most popular country in the number of trades on the platform, and the country has maintained its first-place ranking to date. Although the volume of ETH traded weekly is only a small fraction of what is exchanged at LocalBitcoins, the proportion is expected to change as Ethereum's popularity increases globally.
Foreign exchange controls established in the country since 2003 have progressively limited the ability of Venezuelans to acquire stable money, while punishing participants in the black exchange market. With the exacerbation of a financial crisis in the country, the size of foreign exchange in informal markets has also decreased.
Why is peer-to-peer trading so popular in Venezuela?
The emergence of cryptocurrencies and peer-to-peer marketplaces like LocalCryptos offers the possibility for merchants to acquire Ether not only as an investment, but as a way to access the increasingly limited supply of dollars and euros. However those are not the only reasons that Venezuelans use ETH.
Due to the terrible financial situation that plagues Venezuela, millions of citizens have had to leave the country in search for better life opportunities. Many people are forced to leave family members behind, and must send them remittances for their support.
Given this, LocalCryptos also represents an option for the Venezuelan diaspora to send remittances much more economically, privately, and at a better rate than the alternatives offered by the Venezuelan government.
How do you trade ETH in Venezuela?
1. Check the list of ads
See below for the list of offers in Venezuela. You can filter the list by payment method and location. The most popular payment method in Venezuela is a bank transfer via popular banks including Banesco, Mercantil, Movil or BDV. You can find a wider range of traders by using an international payment method such as Skrill or PayPal.
2. Choose an ad to buy or sell ETH
Pick an ad from the list, enter the amount you want to trade (in ETH or Bs.S), then write a short message to the trader. Once you click “Open Trade”, the ETH/VES exchange rate is locked in.
3. Begin the transaction
After the ETH is sent by the seller to the escrow contract, the buyer pays bolívares externally according to the chosen payment method. Messages exchanged about payment details are protected by encryption.
Once the buyer verifies the payment of VES, the ETH is autonomously released to the buyer.