Venezuelan freelancers such as graphic designers, coders, musicians and writers, are surviving the worst economic crisis by earning bitcoins.



Due to the worsened economic recession in Venezuela, the country had the highest inflation rate in the world that peaked at 275% in 2015, and IMF predicted that it will reach 720% by the end of 2016.



Many freelancers who work remotely by telecommuting are embracing the digital currency as it allows them to safely store their money, even with its highly volatile price. Bitcoin operations in the country are majorly done by bitcoin exchange Surbitcoin, which uses BlikTrade’s platform to match-make orders. Apart from this, people also resort to LocalBitcoins and P2P transactions.



Freelancer programmer Felix Weiss said, "Bitcoin can now show people that they don't have to fight the old system. The solution is to stop using central bank issued paper bills and start using free, open source money: bitcoin."



Other than bitcoin, Colony is an Ethereum blockchain-based startup which allows people to build decentralized online companies. Through this, workers will be paid in Nectar, a token that can represent ownership and allows convertibility into ether, The Merkle reported.



The usual wages in Venezuela are incredibly low with the monthly minimum wage around $30. Citizens who are not buying bitcoins have to depend on PayPal, Neteller or Payza to receive payments. A report by Bitcoin Market Potential Index said that Venezuela stands second among top 10 countries with the highest relative potential for bitcoin adoption.



Bitcoin enthusiast and researcher, Nick Szabo explains that bitcoin is one of the substitute currencies capable of addressing the urgent needs of a country under serious financial crisis, like Venezuela, Bravenewcoin.com reported. He stated, “To have value as a medium of exchange, bitcoin must be taken up by a community of people who already frequently trade with each other, and who have a strong need to use it in these trades.”