Antulio Rosales, assistant professor in the Department of Social Science, Business and Society at York University: “Venezuelans have long been acquainted with the use of cryptocurrencies. In the early 2010s, when it was still relatively easy and inexpensive to mine Bitcoin from home with one or two ASIC terminals, cryptocurrency became an alternative for tech-savvy Venezuelans facing hyperinflation and currency controls. Venezuela’s long-lasting rentier practices, together with an unprecedented economic crisis that shrank its gross domestic product by more than 80 percent in seven years, encouraged the emergence and spread of a cryptocurrency ecosystem. More recently, the Venezuelan government, facing sectoral sanctions from the United States, allowed the use of U.S. dollars for retail payments and savings. Nevertheless, this ad hoc dollarization coexists with international restrictions imposed on Venezuela. For this reason, from 2019…”