Venezuela: A case study for Bitcoin’s ‘safe haven’ argument

As Venezuela’s beleaguered economy falls deeper into trouble, interest in Bitcoin rises, says Anibal Garrido, who teaches crypto-trading at the University of Carabobo, Venezuela, and offers courses on his website. 

But does the data support the notion that crypto acts as a “safe haven” in times of strife: the idea that Bitcoin is beneficial for troubled economies because it’s uncorrelated with major events that could tank an economy, like war or economic sanctions, and doesn’t depend on third parties, such as banks, to operate? 

When it comes to Venezuela, Garrido says yes. “Venezuela has one of the most distorted economies on the globe, showing inflation variations up to three digits in a month,” Garrido told Decrypt in an interview, citing data produced by the country’s central bank.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that consumer prices in Venezuela will inflate by 500,000 percent, and Garrido said that the amount of money the Central Bank of Venezuela…