TL;DR: Letters from Venezuela is an exclusive CoinSpice series, documenting the South American nation’s last stand among sanctions, political unrest, international condemnation and concern, economic collapse, and the spectre of cryptocurrency possibly demonstrating its main use case. This installment, we examine the Live Aid Venezuela concert and its impact, a new set of government internet blocks, a critical view of airdrops, using the official remittance platform, and why the Petro is making less news of late.

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Live Aid Venezuela Raises $2.5 Million

Last week, Virgin founder Richard Branson helped organize a Live Aid concert designed to raise money, food, and medicine for the people of Venezuela. The concert was held near the Colombian border, and it was a success. More than 370,000 people united to hear their favorite artists, and thousands of viewers connected online.

The concert raised 2.5 million dollars for the cause, money that will be used for the good of Venezuelans, according to an article published by The New Herald. Sadly, Branson did not include cryptocurrencies as a payment method in the donation campaign. Venezuela is a country where cryptocurrencies are more important and relevant every day.

Live Aid and Border Clashes Result in More Internet Blocks

A set of clashes between government forces at various levels resulted in the deaths of 4 people at the Colombian border while trying to pass humanitarian aid from a convoy of trucks. As an answer to tensions, a heavier set of internet blocks to social media platforms like YouTube, Bing, Google, and Periscope mean Venezuelans are ever-more in the dark regarding events happening at that time.

Confirmed: YouTube, VIVOplay, Bing and Google services restricted in #Venezuela from 19:00 PM UTC (15:00 PM VET) as Guaidó greeted with presidential reception in Bogotá, Colombia to attend Lima group meeting live on air; incident ongoing pic.twitter.com/K9pUdnqUjs — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) February 24, 2019

According to Netblocks, an internet censorship observer, there were several cutouts during key moments of international TV transmissions showing when humanitarian aid was being burned inside trucks trying to enter the country. When opposition leader and presidential-claimant Juan Guaidó was giving a speech, for example, service was also disconnected.

Venezuelan press and TV stations are heavily censored, of course, and the government can act against them if they broadcast events like the one at the border. That is why internet and alternative media is so important for Venezuelans. Twitter was the sole target of an internet block on February 27.

Confirmed: For the first time during the crisis, #Twitter has been blocked in #Venezuela as of 12:50pm UTC (8:50am VET); incident duration 40 minutes; reason unknown #KeepItOnhttps://t.co/0GoBnkQJlb pic.twitter.com/ZKsHBvmoLw — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) February 27, 2019

A Look at Cryptocurrency Remittances

The government implemented a system to allow cryptocurrency remittances. The platform already approved by SUNACRIP is now a reality. The PATRIA (motherland) remittance platform seeks to monopolize this service by offering the one and only legal way of sending cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuelans. The expat CEO of Ledn (a bitcoin-backed lender) now living in Canada, recently tweeted his experiences with the official remittance system.

The disconnect: SUNACRIP, Venezuela's newest cartel (aka Maduro regulator) is charging an 11.8% fee on all Bitcoin/crypto remittances converted. It is also quoting a bid price BELOW the localbitcoins rate As incompetent as they are evil. cc: @nic__carter @alegw @PeterMcCormack pic.twitter.com/kXY5whKXe5 — Mauricio (@cryptonomista) February 25, 2019

It collects a pretty hefty fee for any cryptocurrency exchange: 11.80% of each transaction goes to the government. The system also collects the cryptocurrency and acts as an intermediary, putting the corresponding fiat equivalent into a bank account in the name of the person who receives the remittance, bypassing crypto wallets altogether. There are obvious privacy concerns in such an arrangement, especially in light of a government starved for funds. Remittances are one of the last financial lifelines for people looking to improve living conditions.

Cryptocurrency Airdrops Under Enemy Fire

A new class of criticism has risen over the idea cryptocurrencies are not really important for Venezuelans. This is the train of thought in an article by LongHash called No, Venezuela Is Not Becoming a Bitcoin Nation. It states, “The problem is that the Venezuelans able to receive crypto are generally not the ones in most urgent need in help. Cryptocurrency remains unknown to the vast majority of Venezuelans.”

However, facts speak louder than words, and the rebuttal came swiftly in an article published by The New York Times where Carlos Hernandez explains how Bitcoin saved his life and the lives of his family. He stressed, “You could say that cryptocurrencies have saved our family. I now cover our household’s expenses on my own.”

Hernandez is not a wealthy person, he lives off his work, and stores his savings in Bitcoin to protect himself from the raging inflation he mentions in the article. This is clearly a use case that justifies cryptocurrencies in Venezuela.

I just donated $1000 in BTC to AirdropVenezuela. Who else wants to help Venezuelans abandon fiat and escape tyranny? Donate and watch @cryptograffiti livestream from Colombian border town https://t.co/SkX7G8M8Jn @theairtm @shapeshift_io #Venezuela #bitcoin #liberty — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) February 26, 2019

The Petro Used to Launder Money

The official government cryptocurrency, the Petro, has been out of the news lately, forgotten maybe because of the political turmoil and the everyday problems Venezuelans are facing. Recently, an exchange launched a preliminary investigation that points to some troubling developments. The legal representative of the Latin American Money Spa authored the report. It spans more than 100 pages, studying the Petro in an integral way, and concluded money raised by the supposed ICO could have been provided from the government in order to launder money obtained in other ways.

This could explain why the government pushed Petro adoption so hard, making it necessary to pay for critical services like passports. The study calls for a deeper audit of the Petro blockchain and the accounts related to the ICO.

Read earlier Letters from Venezuela to get informed about what is happening in the country.

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