Venezuelans, Cryptos and Hive - An Explainer
DISCLAIMER: MY INTENTION WITH THIS POST IS TO PROVIDE CONTEXT TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT HAVE MADE VENEZUELANS GET INVOLVED WITH CRYPTOS AND HIGHLIGHT THE CONTRIBUTION WE MAKE TO THIS PLATFORM, BASED ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN IDEOLOGICAL OR POLITICAL CONTROVERSIES AND I ENCOURAGE READERS TO AVOID THEM.
Hey, folks! As many of you may have noticed already, there are a LOT of Venezuelans in this platform. In fact, we're the largest Spanish-speaking community on Hive and likely the crypto-world as a whole, with presence in every blockchain-based project you can think of. There's also a growing amount of people in the country who own miners for various coins, and cryptos are already extensively embedded in our social fabric, to the point that even our elders have a general idea of what Bitcoin and Ethereum are, and some have their own digital assets and use them regularly.
I decided to write this explainer inspired by @azircon, who said in a comment two weeks ago that, since Venezuelans can't buy HIVE due to our country's situation, our presence in the platform is a financial drain on the token, and our departure would be a net gain. Honestly, that opinion is profoundly short-sighted to me, and reveals two things: 1) The ethos and value of Hive as a social media and content creation platform, and how it benefits from the work of authors and curators in strained environments, isn't necessarily clear to users who live in more stable contexts and are mostly interested in the token itself; and 2) the Venezuelan situation, which is mirrored to a degree in other countries in the world, such as Nigeria, Cambodia or the Philippines, is a mystery to anyone who hasn't had direct experience with it. I've had to study the Venezuelan process for years as a regular citizen, a human rights volunteer, a social worker and a researcher and translator for news outlets, and I'll attempt to summarize those perspectives here so that you have a better idea of why we've adopted cryptos in general and Hive in particular in such numbers, hoping that it may also shed some light on the motivations and goals of other people living in severely restricted environments who see in this platform an opportunity for growth.
Most readers are probably aware of the fact that, for the past two decades, we've been under a criminal dictatorship that has completely ruined our country. Last year I talked about how this regime has used violence to quell dissent, but now I'll talk a bit about how it toppled our economy while bleeding our resources dry, totaling public services, reducing democratic institutions to rubble (even to its own detriment) and forcing millions into self-imposed exile, all of which made us all hop on the crypto wagon pretty early on.
Death of the Oil Industry
Venezuela has been producing oil for over 100 years. Significant well-drilling began in 1910, but the real boom started in the 1960s, reaching a peak in the 1970s and then slowly declining due to mismanagement and corruption. In 2002-2003, the executives of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the national oil company, launched a crippling general strike that not only accelerated the decline but also gave late President Hugo Chávez, then triumphantly returning from a failed coup, the leverage to fully take over the company and use its resources for over a decade to boost his social policies at the expense of development, maintenance and production. As chavista cronies became increasingly wealthy, the country languished and the oil industry itself suffered greatly. Chávez also gave away an unknown amount of oil to ideological allies, mainly Cuba and other Caribbean nations, Iran, Russia and China, a tradition that was continued by his successor Nicolás Maduro until operational dysfunction and understaffing made it nearly impossible. The result was the complete collapse of the industry and therefore the country's main revenue. The current global understanding about this downfall is that U.S. sanctions are solely to blame for it, a narrative that's been touted by the regime and its partners out of convenience, but as you can see, it doesn't even come close to the truth.
Widespread Destruction
In parallel to his antics with the oil industry, Chávez began implementing a policy of systematic expropriations and nationalizations of land and businesses, and filling the executive boards of major companies and the leadership of public institutions with loyalists, thus pushing international ventures out, razing agriculture and national production to the ground and causing profound damage to the country's basic services, infrastructure and economy. By 2014 the shortages of every essential staple were so intense that many products had to be rationed and security forces were stationed in supermarkets and shops to guard the ridiculously long lines of people trying to buy what little they could. Inflation, which was already serious when Chávez rose to power, became exponential and the bolivar, our national tender, has seen so many depreciations that it's now impossible to have a reference of what things used to cost two years ago. The regime calls them "reconversions" and has mockingly renamed the currency "strong" and "sovereign" as if they were improvements.
We've been officially in economic recession for about eight years, and in hyperinflation for the past four. Electricity, water supply, cooking gas, healthcare and public transport are in such state of disrepair that even Caracas, the center of power and long kept protected from the avatars suffered elsewhere in the country, is now well acquainted with the compounded crises. In addition to all of this, due to intense levels of partisanship and corruption in public administration, there are no constitutionally elected powers in Venezuela. I'm sure many readers from other battered nations can identify at least partially with this picture.
Enter Cryptos
When your currency's worth nothing and you can't make ends meet regardless of how many long hours you dedicate to your job (if you manage to find one,) even the riskiest, craziest ideas may sound quite appealing. Additionally, since a lot of people here have to commute for hours between their workplaces and homes in stressfully inefficient conditions, any activity that provides an income without requiring us to leave our homes is a boon.
Cryptos are now globally mainstream and yet, most of humanity hasn't adopted them yet, afraid of their volatility and discouraged by stories of scams and theft, but Venezuela has been a flourishing crypto-powerhouse for nearly a decade due to the serious deterioration of the quality of life and the regime's involvement with international crime syndicates and business tycoons who have avidly seized the opportunity to increase their wealth in a critical, unregulated environment. Since electricity's been almost free here for a very long time, mining is so profitable that even I have my own machine at home (pictured above), and chavistas have contributed enormously to the popularization of digital assets in the past three years by promoting a joint Russian-Chinese-Venezuelan scheme called Petro, a fake cryptocurrency that was propagandized as a way for common citizens to take ownership of the country's oil reserves and whose symbol was even designed to look like the ruble, Russia's national tender. Although this coin is crap and isn't traded in any respectable exchange, it helped make cryptos part of the street talk and stripped them off their mystery.
This is why so many Venezuelans have joined and will continue to join this platform and, while it's true that most of us can't readily purchase HIVE, I don't think that's actually draining the token of its value but the opposite. As I understand it, the main reason HIVE is attractive is its associated blogging model; financially speaking there are lots of better coins to invest on, but here we have an opportunity to create and curate quality content, to share our experiences and connect with people across the world in increasingly stronger networks, that's what makes this project worth it. I speak for myself and others when I say that I'm extremely grateful for being here and, personally, I plan to continue expanding and deepening my involvement in the development of this resource.
I hope that this explainer can be useful to people in developed countries, whom I encourage to review their perspective about how this platform works and their approach toward content creators from my nation and others in similar circumstances. I leave you with a short list of Venezuelan bloggers whose content in various topics you may find engaging:
Mindfulness and Mental Health
@pavanjr
@miriannalis
@danielapevs
Gardening and herbalism
@fanyokami
@sirenahippie
@cesarj21
Cooking and natural remedies
@marianis
@fmbs25
@chaodietas
Yoga and Fitness
@omarrojas
@lizbetcontreras
@karmadorje
Art and creativity
@medussart
@josemoises
@roveana
Spirituality and esotericism
@tarot911
@alejandramonzon
@tibaire
@pavanjr
@miriannalis
@danielapevs
Gardening and herbalism
@fanyokami
@sirenahippie
@cesarj21
Cooking and natural remedies
@marianis
@fmbs25
@chaodietas
Yoga and Fitness
@omarrojas
@lizbetcontreras
@karmadorje
Art and creativity
@medussart
@josemoises
@roveana
Spirituality and esotericism
@tarot911
@alejandramonzon
@tibaire
@antoniojoseha needs to be mentioned too. He became an early part of my Hive journey. I have to say that we can distinguish between those who put effort into it, despite their situation and those who don't. And that counts for every nationality.
Thanks for mentioning him! I encourage any other readers to do the same, it's a beautiful way to show appreciation and we need that to build functional, strong networks. Absolutely agree, the effort, the discipline and the passion can be felt, and so can their absence regardless of nationality.
Your support and inspired debate are always appreciated, Anna!
Send you some big hugs 🤗! you are the one who put a lot of effort and love in your posts.
encantada de estar acá nunca imagine la magnitud de mi trabajo estoy comprometida totalmente con el corazón acá, de verdad mis lagrimas salen mientras escribo ya que hive me a brindado un crecimiento tanto en lo personal como en lo económico estoy agradecida con la comunidad mas hermosa la cuales @naturalmedicine y con cada uno de sus administradores y curadores , le quiero enviar un saludo lleno de cariño a mi amigo @justinparke.
Tu contenido es muy bueno, particularmente el formato. Cuídate de los traductores automáticos, hacen muy buen trabajo pero se bloquean con los modismos regionales y el slang de acá. Me ha sorprendido mucho la cantidad de infusiones y bebidas que sabes preparar, jajaja. Gracias por tu comentario!
gracias por la corrección no sabia eso muchas gracias por siempre estar pendiente de hacer mejor a cada uno de nosotros @drrune
Thanks @marianis for thinking of me and your kind words. Your posts have a lot of heart and soul, and you bring much value to our community.
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Very heartfelt post. I loved every word of it. With a saying, you can explain what we can feel as Venezuelans: From the fallen tree everyone makes firewood.
I understand the positions of the people who may have written the post you make reference to, but I think we can't point fingers at a community, in this case Venezuelans.
There are many of us Venezuelans who are in #hive doing things well, creating content from our experiences and trying to connect with people from the rest of the world.
As much as possible I do not connect with possibly discriminatory or perhaps xenophobic messages, so no matter what they say, I not only as a Venezuelan, but as a citizen of the world, I will continue to create content, I will continue to express myself, saying what I think and I like to do.
I am sure there are only a few who express themselves that way, but they still make noise. So for those who may read this comment, I want to say, ideologies, religions and nationalities separate us, but deep down we are all the same: human beings.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Muy sentido tu post. Me encantó cada palabra. Con un refrán, se puede explicar lo que podemos sentir como venezolanos: Del árbol caído todos hacen leña.
Entiendo las posiciones de las personas que pudieron haber escrito el post al cual haces referencia, pero creo que no podemos señalar a una comunidad, en este caso los venezolanos.
Somos muchos los venezolanos que estamos en #hive haciendo las cosas bien hechas, creando contenido desde nuestras experiencias y tratando de conectar con personas del resto del mundo.
En lo posible no me conecto con los mensajes posiblemente discriminatorios o quizá xenofobicos, así que no importa lo que digan, yo no solo como venezolana, sino como ciudadana del mundo, seguiré creando contenido, seguiré expresándome, diciendo lo que pienso y me gusta hacer.
Estoy segura que son unos pocos los que se expresan de esa manera, pero igual hacen ruido. Así que para quien pueda leer este comentario, les quiero decir, las ideologías, religiones y nacionalidades nos separan, pero en el fondo todos somos iguales: seres humanos.
Como le decía a mis hermanas más temprano: los detractores no son más numerosos, sólo más ruidosos. Ese comentario me causó gran ruido y supe que tenía que responder. Me inspiró a escribir este post que me costó bastante y del cual me siento orgulloso, y además recibí de parte del usuario un consejo muy valioso que he aplicado para mi beneficio, aunque él no lo haya dado a sabiendas.
Ese es el espíritu necesario! Superamos al chavismo, nada en este mundo puede detenernos, ofendernos ni tumbarnos más que eso, jajajaja. Un abrazo, bendiciones y muchas gracias por comentar!
Oh I thought mining was banned in Venezuela...
Really interesting, I hope I get to say this about Nigeria sometime soon...
I can relate with your story a lot, Nigeria is either at this point or getting very close to it, but worst of all, electricity in Nigeria is horrible, else mining could have made a lot of sense.
It is easy for people who are not in this situations to think users from 3rd world countries come on hive to leech off it at a glance, and quite understandably so, Hive is not a platform for charity as some people treat it. But for those who recognize the value and potential, myself in particular, I’m here building my stake everyday, connecting, learning,.... of course I spend hive when I need to, but spending it is not my focus, growing it is,...And as more people recognize Hive as an opportunity to build something that will be worthwhile in future, they put their all to it by creating quality content that has the potential to influence/inspire others that will also do the same, they accumulate the tokens and grow their holdings, which helps to further decentralize the network as it expands.
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It kinda was at the beggining but that's the government's doueble speech, soon after all that issue they even created a ministery for crypto and stuff...
😂😂really!!!! After Nigeria also banned banks from facilitating crypto transactions, now they are considering implementing CBDC....undecided lots
I'm moved by these words, thank you very much! And I'm certain that Nigeria is heading for a great expansion, the process has already started, I've felt it in all the content I've read from there. I feel brotherhood between our peoples, and that's what this platform's for at its core.
There are a bunch of things that are "banned" in Venezuela, but in practice nothing is. Regime cronies did use to send security forces (or they sent themselves, normal here) to "confiscate" machines from certain citizens, but it's never been widespread or organized. Chavistas may be cruel, but they're seriously incompetent, hahaha.
Lol Nigerian govt and Venezuelan govt should marry each other and leave us the heck alone
Lolol!
Great post @drrune, it's a detailed explanation of our political and economic situation and the importance that cryptocurrencies have taken in our country for quite some time.
Honored for the mention, thank you very much for that attention 🙏🏻.
As always, thank you for being one of those shining examples of quality from our country! Blessings!
No podrías estar más claro, la situación del país ha traido desgracia, pero hay que estar consciente que también hemos sacado cosas buenas. En este caso, el manejo y el trabajo con criptos. Muchos de nosotros vivimos de esto y es muy motivador darme cuenta como poco a poco hemos aprendido a sobrellevar la crisis gracias a HIVE y otras criptos. En cuanto el valor de HIVE, no nos damos de debates, solo porque la idea principal de los venezolanos en su mayoría aquí, es crear contenido, trabajar en las comunidades y obtener recompensa por ello, para poder seguir invirtiendo más trabajo y seguir contribuyendo a este mundo HIVE.
Personalmente estoy muy agradecido de esta plataforma, porque aprendí muchísimo, independientemente de las ganancias que puedo sacar aquí, me gusta la idea de crear contenido y ganar por eso. Y con orgullo haber alcanzado muchas metas propuestas. Conocí gente maravillosa que me han ayudado a crecer, no solo en la plataforma, sino también a nivel personal, y tú lo sabes. Gracias a Hive pude aprender a crear mejor, a desarrollar mi creatividad. Además de eso, tocando el tema de el dinero, con HIVE pude comprar tlf y un módem de WiFi, herramientas que necesito para seguir creando contenido.
Y gracias por la mención Javier. Bendiciones! ♥
Esto es algo que es prácticamente imposible de entender para alguien que no vive acá o en contextos afines en otras partes del mundo, la restricción tecnológica y operativa a la que nos hemos enfrentado por años. Yo también creo que la mayoría de los que estamos creciendo con esta plataforma, reinvertiremos opulentamente en ella cuando hayamos alcanzado suficiente holgura. Esto está siendo muy hermoso, bro, y seguirá creciendo. Bendiciones elevadísimas!
PD: Por cierto, curioso que hablaste de todo en pasado, como si no estuviésemos aún viviéndolo o pensases en continuar. Todo bien, espero? Un abrazo!
Mal redacción, aún lo sigo viviendo hermano. Todo está muy bien. ♥
An article loaded with many details that are the result of more than 30 years of social and political events that have brought Venezuela to very low levels of living conditions. Thank you very much for the mention @drrune, it is an honor to have my work recognized. I am in Hive because it is a window to express myself by creating content, but at the same time to learn from others who every day deliver their knowledge with commitment. HIVE is a great human chain that goes far beyond monitization. I believe in HIVE and I will continue to do my bit to make it grow as do many Venezuelans who make life on this platform, greetings.
Wow, such a beautiful comment, thank you, Isabel! I feel we're building something beautiful for ourselves and the world here, I've felt it since I arrived, and everything I've seen thus far only bolsters my intuition. Let's keep on rocking!
Of course @drrune to infinity and beyond!
Thanks for your support @ drrune
We really appreciate it
My pleasure! Thanks for the comment!
I saw this post via @riverflows reblog, and I have to confess
1/ I have only become more aware of the dire situation in Venezuela since joining
SteemHive and2/ I am often amazed by the vast number of Venezuelans on Hive and their reach
Like all communities and countries, when the numbers are large, the 'bad' side of things magnifies, so when you only have a small % of something that is 'bad', the absolute number can be high, and it's this pool of people which give the Venezuelan community a negative or less desirable impression on Hive. And that is unfortunate, because every other Venezuelan, then gets dragged into that same pool.
I have personally seen many new joiners from the Venezuelan community all writing their first post using the same tags, all tagging the whales. That makes me cringe, and I am sure I'm not the only one to feel that way. First impressions counts, and if people are here just to chase whale votes, by throwing out mediocre content because of their personal circumstance, then that is a sad reality for Hive. Nothing anyone can do much about it because there are whales who are willing to take part and be chased.
That said, this situation is not unique to the Venezuela community on Hive, but again it goes back to volume and absolute numbers, hence the focus on a particular community.
Finally, I'd like to add, for every whale chaser, I'm sure there are plenty of good content creators out there, and it seems that you have started off with a good list.
I like to add... this post alone is tagging me for the last hour is every single edit. The only thing it does is to annoy me ;)
Secondly, what is financial about this post to post in Leofinance?
Yes, sorry about the notifications, but I often re-read my posts to correct typos and stuff I missed before posting, I think it's a good habit.
Speaking of which, I wanted to thank you for the advice you gave me about repetitiveness, I've been introducing more variety in my presentation and format since then, you've helped me improve.
As to why this post is in LeoFinance, I encourage you to read it in full without prejudice, and I hope that we can have some really constructive debate about it. Thank you for commenting!
It amazes me too. When I curate Spanish content, I often try to find as many posts from other nationalities as possible, but it's overwhelmingly Venezuelan, it's a bit frustrating because I don't want it to seem like favoritism, but there's no real escape from it.
As for the posts and the tags, yeah, it's totally cringe-worthy to me as well, hahaha. There are many reasons for it, though:
Most people here don't own a computer and lots don't even have smartphones, not only because they can't afford them, but also because of fear. Criminal and police violence has had a profound impact on our collective psyche and anything too flashy or expensive is a potential security risk for most citizens.
Internet is either non-existent or really unstable and poor in most of the territory, due to all of the issues I mentioned in the post and others that I may discuss in further contributions.
For the above reasons, the majority of the users who join this platform have little to no experience in blogging or content creation, and a lot don't even have basic experience with internet, let alone blockchain.
As you say, all of this happens with a lot of nationalities. All I can do is offer advice to people who have these issues, and encourage them to improve.
Thank you so much for this comment! I'm humbled by the engagement. 🙏
I think I may need to write a response to this. Of course I want you here! You have been one of the best surprises in my Hive experience and I know a bunch of others who add a lot to the community but I want to start a conversation about how to keep the token price up despite the difficult situations that some people are in and the attractiveness of cashing out.
That's certainly a conversation that we could do with having. A currency needs to be able to have a use case, but how do you keep the value up without an asset to peg it to? I'm also curious as to what happens in 2035 when the production stops. Presumably that means no more reward pool, so how do you earn Hive through blogging then?
It's going to stop? And there I was with the impression that it was just going to slow to a tiny trickle, as I tend to have an aversion to cryptos with a hard cap ^_^;
You're correct.
Oh yay, thanks for letting me know :)
It's not fully going to stop, it will halt at 0.5% yearly inflation compared to the currently ~7%. Meaning if there are 1b hive coins out there only 5 million new Hive will be created yearly along with HBD.
Now that makes more sense. Thank you for clarifying.
Aren't we all living on Mars by then, anyway?
Just kidding. 20 years sounds like ages to me but interesting to learn this. I had no idea.
I'm too old to want to be moving that far. 😆 Halfway across the world was enough.
Haha, I get it! And you're not that old :>)
Please do, bro. Out of all the people I've met in this platform, you and @vincentnijman are the ones whose perspectives I appreciate the most, I'm glad we met and I'd love to see what you think about this topic.
I think the issue with the value is about rate of expansion vs. rate of production. Essentially, the more people hold HIVE, the more territory HIVE occupies, but the thinner the shallower the penetration is. This will improve as time goes by, but right now, I think it's generally a good thing even if it's a bit frustrating that the price remains frozen, it means the HIVE tree has a lot of branches that are only now bearing fruits and seeds.
There is a much bigger conversation I want to have about this but the summery is:
It’s really about the quality of users and the ability to attract new users of similar quality OR investors who use their stake for deflation and curation. We need both and the problem is that too many of one may scare away the other, but this is solved when enough people are dedicated to the platform. So I think those who cash out are as welcome as they are dedicated to contributing to the platform, whether it be by the quality of relationships they build or the effort they put into content creation or outreach. There are many ways to contribute!
The price will always go up or down based on how much people are willing to buy or sell it for, so if people want to sell I recommend they don’t accept low prices unless they have no choice.
Also the best way to handle the amount of people trying to live on their hive earnings are to increase the ways which people can use hive. It would be much better balanced if more people offered their goods and services for hive. It’s not easy when there is limited usership but hopefully once people start meeting up again it’ll get easier.
This platform is only starting! And there will be other projects to pursue as well.
¡¡¡Excelente Post, realmente dejaste todo muy claro y fuiste muy preciso, y ojala muchos puedan entender lo que significa sobrevivir en Venezuela con la economía como la tenemos hoy en día.
Muchísimas gracias! Bueno, entender requiere la experiencia en carne propia. Allí tenemos al mismo tiempo una responsabilidad y una ventaja, pues comprendemos intuitivamente cosas que es importante que el mundo entero sepa manejar, sólo pueden aprenderlas de nosotros y de lugares con crisis afines.
Quiero felicitarte por tu contenido, es muy directo y honesto, además de importante!
Great, dear little bro.
I think you were able to clearly explain how our contexts impact the way we grasp and "shape" unexpected opportunities, creating value where others only see the more obvious connections, simply because they don't have the limitations other people have to deal with.
It is understandable that these misunderstandings occur, because no one can be sensitive to what they don't know, but it's a responsibility to try to understand when someone reminds us that the reality of our world is less uniform than we would like and has more layers than an onion.
Thank you for peeling off some of those layers 😘
Ahhh, such a wonderful way of putting it, sis! <3. Yes, understanding is still too much to ask, but willingness to listen is within everyone's reach. Love you!
It seems like we could learn a lot from Venezuela on how crypto can begin more mainstream. It's a real excitement in action, but can it work without the dire situations which have arisen?
It's quite the conundrum with regards the hive currency. I guess there's a fine balance between demand for the currency, to increase its value, and the need for it to be useable.
I think it can work, but one of the things that has to change is the level and approach of discourse. Right now, cryptos are mostly seen as digital banknotes, there's really no mainstream talk about the projects being built on Ethereum, for instance, it's all a very niche thing. Hive, NFTs and crypto-games can and are popularizing it, making it more palatable. We have the potential of massively informing the public about what's really going on behind the marketcaps, which will certainly prove profitable for all projects involved in the long run.
As I told @selfhelp4trolls earlier, right now HIVE is being adopted at a rate higher than the price can recover, but those trends will reverse at some point and then return, in waves. I have full confidence on this platforms potential.
Thank you for your comment!
I really liked this post. thanks a lot for the mention.
I find particularly curious how people from other countries are not aware yet of our situation, there have been a lot of initiatives where many users have talked about the economic and politic problems we are going through...
In this year that hive has been working, I've seen many users raise from the bottom, gathering all their HP earned with sweat to invest them in this platform, so no one can say we're not contributing to it.
And that's what it's great about HIVE. You really don't have the obligation of investing with your money.
I think that if it weren't for us, Hive wouldn't be this popular
It's really difficult to understand this, and impossible without experiencing it. Things that are obvious for us are completely outlandish to others, there's nothing normal about the crisis we've had to face.
I think you're quite right on about the popularity, and I do encourage you to write about that, it's an awesome theme to explore, even if it's quite different to your usual content. Just a suggestion, though. Thank you so much for your comment!
Thanks for the concise recent history of Venezuela. It's only by reading posts on Hive that I have become aware of it as I don't tend to follow 'The News' in any form. Same for the situation in Myanmar. I prefer local resident's stories to what is told in the main stream media and so I am very grateful that local people post on Hive.
As to the rights and wrongs of people buying/selling the Hive token I don't really understand the economics of it and there are obviously conflicting views. But, it seems to me, if it helps people feed their families then that's a good thing. And if my upvotes contribute to that I'm very happy.
Having said that we all create arbitrary "rules" whether we're aware of them or not and it's great that we're free to do so.
The only thing preventing me giving this post a 100% upvote for instance is that all the recommended Hivians appear to be Venezuelan which seems a bit tribalist to me. That's not to say it's wrong and I probably wouldn't have noticed had it not been for the subject matter of this post. 😂
I think this was a great response to a comment that many people would have gotten very defensive/aggressive about so forget what I just said . . . 100% vote incoming. 😂
!LUV
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Hahahahaha, absolutely love your comment, thank you so much for the appreciation and support! And yes, I can speak for myself, Hive is my only source income right now and it's working out wonderfully for me. Others report the same, this is helping up not just cope, but actually grow!
.this is helping up not just cope, but actually grow!
Glad to hear it!
!LUV
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@drrune, you were given LUV from @gillianpearce. Info: https://peakd.com/@luvshares or check wallet: https://hive-engine.com
@drrune, you were given LUV from @gillianpearce. Info: https://peakd.com/@luvshares or check wallet: https://hive-engine.com
Very insightful! Thanks for sharing this and being one of the driving, positive, forces behind this community on Hive. Keep up the good work, amigo!
Muchísimas gracias, Vincent! It's an honor to be here and to connect with the experiences of so many the world over.
Bravo, I moderate in the Ladies of Hive community and we have many Venezuelan Ladies that share their first hand experiences living there. I will find their experiences valuable, resourceful, creative and encouraging when the same corrupt and ill-concieved economic polices destroy my Country.
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I pray that you never have to see this happen to your country, then. Thank you for commenting.
Excelente análisis @drrune, mejor explicado y más resumido, dudo que pueda conseguirse un análisis del gran deterioro económico de nuestra nación. Es sencillo para quienes no han vivido nuestra realidad sólo ver lo aparente, lo superficial, sin ahondar en las causas por las cuales los venezolanos no podemos comprar y capitalizar Hive; como también, el no ver los aportes que hacemos a la plataforma, pues hasta donde sé no se trata sólo de una actividad económica, sino una actividad creativa, la generación de contenido de calidad, que sea útil no sólo para quienes hacemos vida en el ecosistema, sino para el resto de la humanidad. Esa creo que es la principal premisa de los que nos mantenemos activos en Hive. Gracias por la mención. Saludos y bendiciones en todo lugar, tiempo y dimensión.
Excellent analysis @drrune, better explained and more summarized, I doubt that an analysis of the great economic deterioration of our nation can be achieved. It is easy for those who have not lived our reality only to see the apparent, the superficial, without delving into the reasons why Venezuelans cannot buy and capitalize on Hive; as well as not seeing the contributions we make to the platform, because as far as I know it is not only an economic activity, but a creative activity, the generation of quality content, which is useful not only for those of us who make life in the ecosystem, but for the rest of humanity. I think that is the main premise of those of us who are active in Hive. Thanks for the mention. Greetings and blessings in all places, times and dimensions.
Muchísimas gracias por tu comentario! Sí, es comprensible también que gente de otras latitudes tenga problemas para empatizar con esta clase de situaciones, son cosas que sólo se pueden apreciar luego de experiencias personales. Es allí que nuestra presencia en esta y otras plataformas mundiales es vital, pues tenemos conocimiento que otros necesitan ahora y necesitarán aún más luego. Adiwa por tus bendiciones, se te retornan centuplicadas!
What a great insight into the situation there and how it affects your daily life, and how crypto comes into the equation. There are definitely some Venezuelan parallels that I've witnessed firsthand in Cambodia, Albania and now Suriname. Because the crisis in Venezuela has been going on for so long, many folks forget how prosperous Venezuela once was.
I think a saving grace is that Venezuelans are well-educated and resourceful, so you've all handled this crisis on a civilian level much better than many other countries would have. That being said, going from being one of the wealthiest Latin American nations to one of the most troubled ones in such a short time is a hell of a rollercoaster ride.
Of course you know we are facing a major crisis here in Suriname at the moment, although I think the trajectory is a bit different than Venezuela, we lack an economy of scale here, barely having 500,000 citizens, a smaller population than many Venezuelan favelas. Shortages and hyperinflation with the local currency can happen so fast and unpredictably due to the small economic footprint of this place. We are totally reliant upon shipping containers here, and that is really scary during this time.
I hate to admit I wish things would get a little worse so that we could live a better life. I think locals here are on the verge of having mass interest in crypto, especially now that it seems the EUROS and US Dollars are all gone, and we are left with a hyperinflated local currency that has little value and that no one wants to hold large amounts of.
For now the mentality is just not there yet, and I think locals still look to things like the gold industry and helping Latin American nations to smuggle cocaine from our ports.
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It's horrible, that moment of stagnation where things aren't going well, but still aren't as bad as to allow serious transformation. We had many of those moments in our country under this regime, and although they're finally on their last days, it's not readily obvious when or how they'll leave their trenches.
One of the things that I thank this period for is that it showed us just how fake our prior stability was. I'll talk about that in other posts, but essentially, we lived in a myth of a wealthy country and then came chavismo to show us the truth behind that mask. Now that the process is nearly over, we have an opportunity to truly make our country bloom and it's happening already. May you see that in Suriname as well soon! Thank you for the awesome comment!
Muchísimas gracias, aprecio mucho estas oportunidades donde mencionan en estos posts de presentación😍
Crudo pero cierto! La situación, la moneda, la gente... de nuestro país y la de muchos otros también, se han desangrado muchísimo mas que el valor de cualquier cripto en el mercado actual. Pero bueee que se hace, ya me estoy acostumbrando a ver toda esa clase de charlatanerías, de acciones que no tienen ni una pizca de empatìa, ni de madurez en medio de crisis mundiales, de guerras y demás. Creo que se ha vuelto tendencia querer tapar el sol con un dedo y lo digo porque me parece super ridículo cada vez que veo que "Los Venezolanos" son los culpables de las desgracias del mundo entero jajaja okey, quémenme en la hoguera puessss!!. Pero como "el Veneco" es resiliente y siempre saca de todo el lado positivo por un lado los culparán, pero por otro los amarán por ejemplo cuando es hora de promocionar a hive por twitter,pues llamemos a los destripadores de hive XD.
Otro dato curioso, ciertamente los venezolanos tal vez no sean los que más invierten sus "churupos" en hive (probablemente porque no la conocen) pero por favor, nuestro país es uno de los países que mas usa criptos en el mundo desde hace mucho justamente por la crisis, hasta lo podrían googlear pero esa info les haría desangrar el corazón. Pero si alguien quisiera invertir, comprar hive no necesariamente sería algo dificil,simplemente esos "posibles" inversionistas no tienen el conocimiento. Como dicen por ahí "El conocimiento es poder"...Aquí es donde posiblemente está la causa por la que esos usuarios llegan,tumban los mangos,arrancan el culantro de raiz del vecino y se van (algunos hasta frustrados); las comunidades, las personas que los invitan a la plataforma no los alimentan primero con ese valioso juguito y lamentablemente es muy común ver que les venden la idea que hive será como un trabajo de tiempo completo con sueldo fijo y no como una red social etc etc,entonces ahi empieza ese círculo vicioso de querer cazar ballenas, de compararse con otros creadores, etc, lo he visto mucho y para ser sincera a veces me dan ganas de darle unos ramalazos jajaja. La mayoría de los que comienzan en la plataforma muchas veces no tienen un amplio conocimiento sobre criptomonedas o tal vez ninguno (aqui obviamente no entran esos usuarios que entran a la plataforma con toda la intención de farmear pero a verrrrr, no me dirán que son todos venezolanos)...
Aunque mi caso fue algo extraño,recuerdo que cuando comencé en steemit, mi conocimiento era como a medias, yo realmente no le daba mucha importancia a este tema de las criptos,sin embargo siempre fui curiosa y no soy del tipo de persona que va a esperar por otro para que me enseñe algo y aunque sabía que mis posts tendrían una supuesta recompensa, esa "ignorancia" mía y mi actitud de "me importa un pepino" yo solo quiero que mi blog se vea bonito...pues considero que me dio buenos frutos o al menos me sentí asi desde un principio y luego aqui en hive. Prácticamente mi escuela o tal vez mi motivación para aprender y seguir en el mundo de las cripto fue hive, asi que no todos somos iguales y pues claro que cobro una parte de mis publicaciones y a veces hago power down porque supuestamente "i am the owner",Yo nunca me imaginé que podría ayudar a mis familiares gracias a mi blog,con más razón siempre regreso porque le tengo cariño y me encanta escribir testamentos (porque yo no suelo hablar), aparte me sirvió de terapia porque yo odiaba las redes sociales, era como un troll. También sé cuan importante es no drenar y destripar todo nuestro HP, si lo sabré yo,que me dio una tristeza cuando me fui de steemit y tuve que hacer por primera vez ese procedimiento, recuerdo que lo detuve varias veces si no me equivoco aunque era una miseria lo que tenía ahi, creo que eran como 200 y tanto pero eso era muy valioso para mi. Y pues aunque suene gracioso o ridículo pero yo seguiré con mi actitud de "me importa un pepino" no dreno todo mi hp ni me voy al 100% porque sigo con mi vanidad bloggera y si algún dia esto se desvanece o me desvanezco yo, pues siempre llevaré mi blog en un lugar especial... Y yo mejor me voy de aqui porque esto se salió de control y no es un post, lo lamento otra vez Mr.Runístico :s
Gracias por mencionarme en esa linda lista de creadores ♥ Bendiciones para ti!
Senda descarga, jajajaja. La verdad yo comprendo de dónde surge ese prejuicio, es imposible saber de qué va el asunto de este país sin haberlo experimentado, mucho más expedito es lanzar juicios de valor desde la ignorancia. La gente que vive en contextos más suaves está convencida, como nosotros lo estuvimos en algún momento, de que ésto no puede pasarle a sus países, pero le está pasando y le va a pasar a todos.
En eso, me parece, es que es más valioso enfocarse: en la información que podemos darle a otros. Nuestra posición es de hecho muy favorable desde varias perspectivas, porque ya pasamos y dejamos atrás un proceso que muy pocos en este mundo han vivido en esta era, y que les tocará vivir. Un abrazo y bendiciones para ti también!