Venezuelans are searching for "Bitcoin" crazily, and Google index has risen 400% in a single week

The decision by the Venezuelan government to abolish the country's largest denomination banknote has caused a serious deterioration in the country's economy. However, after the Venezuelan authorities failed to issue a new version of the banknote, they were forced to declare the previously abolished 100bs banknote legal tender again.

As AP reporter Hannah Dreier reports, people in the country are currently struggling to get cash to fund their daily lives.

Due to the lack of cash, a large number of Venezuelan people are suffering from famine. During the Christmas holidays, some Venezuelan people died tragically due to lack of food, medicine or other necessities. Hundreds of people were arrested and even executed for violently protesting the government's unrealistic decision to abolish banknotes.

Such incidents can also occur when a central entity or authority has absolute control over its monetary system and the flow of money in a country. Financial transactions and banking systems become unreliable if trust issues are involved, such as the recent disaster in Venezuela.

Due to the lack of a decentralized currency, most people have to accept the government's monopoly on money. However, Bitcoin is slowly changing this by giving people the ability to control their own money, giving them financial freedom.

On the other side, some economists and analysts, including former Stanford, Harvard and Berkeley professor Vivek Wadhwa, believe that decentralization and anonymity will ultimately lead to Bitcoin’s downfall. In a recent article in the Washington Post titled “Rest in Peace, Bitcoin, It’s Time to Move On,” Wadhwa wrote:

“Bitcoin is inherently deeply flawed.”

It describes the problem of unregulated digital currency.

However, in 2016, Bitcoin outperformed all currencies and assets. As of press time, the exchange rate of Bitcoin to RMB has risen to 1:6829 . Professor Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner who previously criticized Bitcoin, was also ridiculed for this.

What Bitcoin offers is a powerful alternative monetary system that provides hope for financial freedom to the people of Venezuela by giving them a store of value that cannot be controlled, monopolized or manipulated by the authorities.

As Bitcoin prices rise, Google searches surge 400%

Finally, Venezuelans are showing a lot of interest in emerging technologies and stores of value like Bitcoin, in fact, over the past week, Google searches for the keyword “bitcoin” in Venezuela have increased by 400% . Some Venezuelans have begun to try Bitcoin mining, hoping to use the mined Bitcoins to purchase goods on platforms like Amazon (through Bitcoin apps like Purse.io).

The rising demand for Bitcoin among Venezuelans could also make digital stores of value like Bitcoin a replacement for their national currency, which has lost value in the minds of Venezuelans. Venezuelans are trying to get as much as possible of dollars, gold, and Bitcoin to ensure they can continue to support their daily lives.