The reason I came all the way to Venezuela was not to do business.
To be honest, why would anyone want to do business in a country whose economy is on the verge of bankruptcy?
The purpose of the visit was to secure a place to use the acorn coin and to experiment a bit. If it hadn’t been for Jesse’s request in the first place, he wouldn’t have come all the way to South America.
I’m sure it must have been… … .
Hyperinflation, huge overseas remittance fees, flood of counterfeit money.
Surprisingly, cryptocurrency was a means to solve Venezuela’s current problems.
After learning this, the simple spirit of experimentation has risen to the level of ‘I really don’t know if it will succeed?’
Simon, who suggested the distribution of cryptocurrency here, even suggested an additional carrot.
-If you step out to spread virtual currency services, we will distribute priority rights to Venezuela’s oil development projects.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves.
Although they cannot afford to drill for crude oil right now, they could reap huge profits when the economy normalizes and infrastructure is restored.
“The problem is that we have to revive the economy first to dig up oil or not, but that doesn’t seem easy.”
Yesterday I readily agreed, but after one night’s sleep, my worries are pouring out.
Venezuela’s future was pitch black, not only economically, but also politically and diplomatically. The very idea of normalizing all of this and digging up oil was too reckless.
‘Did I make it too big? No, having a place to use acorn coins is a benefit to me anyway.’
No matter what happened to the Venezuelan economy, I was fine with helping the Romero family in moderation and profiting from it.
smart.
Almost simultaneously with the knock, the door opens wide.
“Woohyuk! Woke up?”
Jesse strides into the room. Then it stops in front of me and starts spinning.
“how is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the clothes. I wore it in a Venezuelan style, do you think it suits you?”
Even if it’s Venezuelan style, it looked like that to me. So, I give my honest opinion.
“You look like someone from a beauty pageant.”
“how did you know? This is a dress that is often worn in beauty pageants. Have you ever seen a Venezuelan beauty pageant?”
“uh… … Did you see some on the news?”
As I found out later, Venezuela was a very famous country for beauty pageants.
There is even a saying that if you win the Venezuelan tournament, you win the world championship. Do I need to explain further?
“Let’s go out quickly. hurry. hurry.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll show you around Venezuela. Yesterday, there was a blackout, so you couldn’t go anywhere.”
Jessie seems to be in a good mood, jumping and dragging me out the door.
Looking at her behavior, it seems like she’s just going out for a drink, but the driver and bodyguards followed us like yesterday.
“Where do you want to go first, Woohyuk?”
Jesse’s eyes light up again. I noticed that I was looking forward to what famous place I would talk about.
Sorry to her, but I wasn’t interested in Venezuela, so I didn’t know any place names.
“well. I don’t know.”
Jessie seemed slightly disappointed, but soon smiled again and led me.
“Leave today’s sightseeing to this beautiful guide.”
“You can do whatever you want.”
The first place we arrived was a market in the eastern part of Caracas.
The appearance of bargaining and selling goods on the stalls was not much different from that of Korean markets. Then, passing by a hardware store, he sees a strange sight.
“What is that?”
When I was buying things at a hardware store, I was calculating the value of an item by weight, not the face value of the bill.
“That’s an old book that was changed a few years ago. The government’s surprise redenomination made the existing currency worthless.”
“No, they said they’re going to redenomination again this year?”
“Perhaps?”
So far, I have only used the phrase that money becomes a piece of toilet paper as a metaphor, but I never thought I would see it in reality.
‘If the new bill is issued, the current currency will be traded in that way.’
After that, I went around the market, but most of the stores flew only flies, and at least the stores selling groceries were visited by people.
However, the groceries sold at the grocery store are all of poor quality.
Vegetables and fruits were soft or rotten, and the meat smelled of vinegar that made my nose numb.
Then, a store with a long line of poison comes into sight.
“What are they selling, and the line is that long?”
“It is a state-run store. Would you like to go in?”
To be honest, I didn’t even think about going in, but for some reason it seemed that Jessi wanted to go in.
Inside the store was an ordinary mart. What is different from Korean supermarkets is that there are almost no items on the shelves.
“Here, food and daily necessities are sold at prices set by the government. So it’s very cheap… … As you can see, the lines are long, and there is a limit to how much each person can buy.”
“Are you buying only sugar because of the purchase limit?”
“It’s because sugar is expensive. It’s good to go out and exchange it for barter.”
It was then. An angry voice is heard from inside the store.
“Give it up! I came first!”
“What are you talking about? I came a long time ago! Can’t you let this go sooner?”
Two women were fighting over a can of powdered milk. At first, he only tried to snatch the milk powder bottle, but he even grabbed and shook his hair as if he didn’t want to.
Then, when a bigger woman takes the powdered milk, the stolen woman sits down and sobs.
“I can’t do without that powdered milk… … . please. I’m begging you. the child is starving I’ve been feeding only sugar water for ten days.”
“I need milk powder too. Find another store.”
“I’ve already been to more than ten places. Please share a little.”
The conversation was in Spanish, but I could guess what it was about.
Seeing a woman crying sadly because she couldn’t buy powdered milk for her baby makes her want to help soar.
Jesse blocks me from reaching her.
“Woohyuk, you know that’s not possible.”
“still… … .”
I couldn’t speak any more. Jesse was biting his lip. Tears are already welling up in your eyes.
This is her motherland. You will be more sorry than me. You will be sadder than me.
“I don’t have time for this here. let’s hurry. There are still many places to show.”
* * *
Afterwards, Jessie showed a bank guarded by armed soldiers, a hospital without electricity, and a gas station full of abandoned cars because there was no gas.
“excuse me… … proposal? Why are you showing me only these places?”
“Are these the only places?”
“You’re only showing bad places on purpose.”
“Would it have been the same if I had gone to a different place? The hotel area where foreigners stay would be better, but you didn’t come here to see it.”
Come to think of it, we kept wandering around the market.
That meant that everything I had seen so far was not exaggerated, but a daily scene in Venezuela.
“How can people live in a city like this? If it were me, I would have emigrated to another country.”
“Men have already gone abroad to make money. Women, children and the elderly are forced to stay and earn a living.”
“This is the reason why you need a virtual currency service that reduces transfer fees.”
“that’s right. So my fourth brother believes cryptocurrency is the key to saving Venezuela.”
When I first heard that word, I thought it was a mouthful. However, after seeing the reality, it was not an exaggeration at all.
“But I don’t agree with you.”
“why?”
“The key to saving Venezuela is not cryptocurrency… … .”
Her fingertips point to my face.
“me?”
“huh. The real key is Woohyuk.”
“What nonsense.”
“Think carefully. Even if you use cryptocurrency, it’s just a temporary measure. If the economy is to recover, Venezuela will… … It has to go back to how it was before.”
“Back in the day when oil was pumped out?”
Jessie nods loud enough to make her head fly.
“that’s right. That’s why I coerced my brother into giving him oil development business rights. Otherwise, I threatened to not bring them, and they surrendered meekly.”
Somehow, as an outsider, he said that he was giving me a carrot that was too big.
“Where do you look at me to give you such great authority?”
“It was because I believed in Woohyuk.”
“I am not someone who can solve a crisis like Superman. These matters should be left to a more professional person.”
“Venezuela has become this way because it was left to that proud expert.”
Jessie stretches her arms out and stretches them out. Then he crouches down in front of me and stares straight into my face.
“I’ve seen a lot of people called geniuses in my life, right? So is our fourth brother, and Soyoung and Nella are really smart too. But Woo-hyeok has something they don’t have.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“What do they say about this in Korea… … Oh, right. Did you say wisdom?”
insight.
It means an eye for the future. But I’m just using what I’ve seen and what I’ve seen.
So in Venezuela where there is no information, it won’t be very helpful.
‘Still, I’ve made it this far, but I can’t get out.’
From noble mtl dot com
Let’s go through the memories we have. Maybe here’s a way to get Venezuela out of the quagmire.
* * *
Some time ago, a Venezuelan bank started introducing an unusual machine.
Watts Pay ATM.
It was literally a machine that linked to Watts Pay to withdraw cash.
The difference from existing ATMs was that the account was not a general account, but a virtual currency account linked to Acorn Coin.
At first, people were reluctant to use this unfamiliar device.
However, soon after, word spread that it was good, mainly from opposition supporters, and now it has become so popular that people line up at ATMs to withdraw money.
Because the fee was drastically reduced by the virtual currency remittance method, the public enthusiastically cheered for Watts Pay.
However, there were also people who were having trouble because of Watts Fay.
It was the Venezuelan government that was collecting dollars for remittance fees and exchange fees.
“Compared to last month, the tax collected for remittance fees decreased by 16%. This is all because the number of people sending money in virtual currency has increased.”
“Isn’t the bill on the imposition of fees already in progress in the National Assembly for virtual currency remittances?”
“It was defeated with fierce opposition from the opposition party.”
“You can’t sit still just because the opposition party opposes it. If the taxes are not collected, we are bankrupt!”
In the presidential office, ministers are in the middle of a meeting about virtual currency remittance.
They’ve been talking about the same topic for over 30 minutes already, but there’s hardly any sign of progress.
Opposition from the opposition party is also against, but everyone was feeling the burden of pushing the bill strongly because they were conscious of the upcoming general election.
Then, belatedly, a man appears in the office.
“What are you doing in meetings all day?”
Mac Maduro, the current president of Venezuela.
“I haven’t decided how to regulate virtual currency… … .”
“Cryptocurrency? what is that?”
“It is a cyber currency that has no physical object. It is said that there is almost no fee because it is transferred without going through a bank.”
“No, what about taxes if you don’t go through the bank?”
“As a result, the tax collected for remittance fees has decreased by 16%.”
Only then does the president knock on the desk to see if he has grasped the situation.
“That’s not right! You dare not pay taxes? Ban virtualization or whatever!”
“There are too many people using cryptocurrency remittance services for that. If you do it wrong, a riot may break out.”
“A riot for barely paying a few commissions? tell me not to be funny And the people who use them say they support the opposition party?”
“That’s right.”
“Good. I don’t know about other people, but I have to pay taxes on those children.”
Ministers later offered alternatives, such as imposing a fee, but the president pushed ahead with the original decision.
“I don’t need anything. Cryptocurrency is banned in this country from now on. Got it?”