Bitcoin Sees Biggest Trade Volume in Venezuela as Dash Branded ‘Snake Oil’

Bitcoin trading volumes in stricken Venezuela spiked again last week as one local commentator called claims Dash is making inroads in the country “snake oil.”

GóMez: ‘No One Uses Dash’ for Payments

Figures from P2P trading platform Localbitcoins gathered by monitoring site Coin Dance show a total of 898 BTC and 877 BTC changed hands for the weeks ending September 22 and 29 respectively.

Commenting on the figures, Purse.io head of support Eduardo Gómez described the transformation over the past fortnight as “huge.”

Gómez, who has become increasingly well known for his observations about Venezuela’s bitcoin (BTC) 00 habits, also rejected reports that altcoin Dash had become a similar go-to currency replacement anywhere in South America.

Asked about his “thoughts” on Dash, the alleged local proliferation of which has recently appeared in cryptocurrency media, Gómez responded:

“Snake oil. Nobody uses it for payments down here.”

Snake oil. Nobody uses it for payments down here.

— Eduardo (@Codiox) October 3, 2018

Bitcoin Keeps Growing

In late August, days after Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s currency reforms took effect to create the country’s new and highly-controversial Sovereign Bolivar, Dash Core Group CEO Ryan Taylor told Business Insider it was now the altcoin’s “second-biggest market.”

“We are seeing tens of thousands of wallet downloads from the country each month,” he told the publication.

“Earlier this year, Venezuela became our No. 2 market, even ahead of China and Russia, which are, of course, huge into cryptocurrency right now.”

In bitcoin terms meanwhile, the data one month after the currency reforms took effect marked the biggest ever seven-day trade volumes by Venezuelans, outpacing even April’s spike of 805 BTC.

Suspicions had been on the rise over both the new bolivar and its ties of Venezuela’s dubious state-sponsored cryptocurrency Petro. As Bitcoinist reported, the token’s pseudo-backing by oil reserves appeared meaningless from the outset, the state oil company PDVSA being unable to pay off its own $45 billion debts — far more than Petro’s $5.9 billion market cap.

What do you think about Venezuela’s Bitcoin and Dash trading? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Coin Dance, Shutterstock, Twitter/@codiox/@vince102tw.