Bitcoin usage and adoption seems to be on the rise in certain countries around the world, although that was only a matter of time according to some industry experts. Venezuela is an interesting country to keep an eye on from a Bitcoin perspective, as government officials seem to be cracking down on digital currency. However, even the arrests of several Bitcoin miners cannot sway the mind of consumers looking to venture into the Bitcoin world, and SurBitcoin is reaping the benefits from this mind shift.
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SurBitcoin Benefits from Bitcoin Turmoil
Turbulent times are ahead for Venezuela by the look of things, as law enforcement agencies arrested two individuals involved in Bitcoin mining about a week ago. Even though the digital currency is not illegal in the country, the local government has never been keen on the concept of Bitcoin, as they see it as a threat to the local monetary system.
But that is not all, as local state-sponsored media – called VTV – has issued a stern warning about Bitcoin once again, claiming how this is not a reliable form of money as there is no government support or inherent value of digital currency. To some people, this may sound very similar to what Russian government officials have been telling the people for quite some time now.
All of these actions are leading to a lot of questions being raised by the Bitcoin community in Venezuela, and some people are worried about whether or not they should get out of digital currency. After all, nobody wants to be arrested for their involvement in digital currency, even though such actions by governments are frowned upon by Bitcoin enthusiasts and industry experts all over the world.
As is the case with any turmoil, there are select few who can benefit from all of this negative attention on Bitcoin. SurBitcoin, the largest digital currency exchange in Venezuela, is seeing a strong influx of new users registering on the platform and converting between local currency and Bitcoin.
However, a customer base growing to twice its original size brings some logistics problems for SurBitcoin. First of all, the company’s bank had closed their account due to a suspiciously high volume of transactions going in and out every day. This created an order backlog, although things seem to be going back to normal as we speak.
Secondly, one of the SurBitcoin employees has been reprimanded by government officials. As this person was so spooked by this move, he asked to be released from the company, and that request was granted by Surbitcoin. Moreover, the statements by VTV have put the Bitcoin exchange platform into a negative spotlight as of late, even though there is no official law to prohibit them from offering their service.
There are lots of people in Venezuelan government who cannot be bothered to learn more Bitcoin and it how it works. SurBitcoin sees very little use in opening a dialog right now, as the government made its stance quite clear through the article published by VTV. Even though Surbitcoin is open to talking to the media and the government about Bitcoin, no one has reached out to them so far.
Source: Diario Bitcoin
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