AirdropVenezuela.org Results
Data from the distribution of $300k in Cryptocurrency to 60K ID-verified residents of Venezuela.
Venezuela has a chaotic and isolated economy, plagued by hyperinflation, food shortages, international sanctions, economic refugees, and currency and capital controls . The banks in Venezuela are no longer used for remittance, payments, or donations from outside Venezuela due to government-rigged exchange rates. The national currency is a world-renowned failure, an unreliable IOU that citizens spend/exchange as soon as they can because it fails to store value, i.e. retain its purchasing power relative to the price of goods and services.
Since 2015, hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses in Venezuela have used Airtm’s USD-denominated e-wallet and P2P agent network to preserve wealth, i.e. save in dollars, receive payments for online work, and make cross-border payments . As one of the last remaining reliable and free-market financial services active in Venezuela, Airtm’s leadership team was inspired to help Venezuelans in dire need by connecting them with generous individuals, businesses and organizations in the cryptocurrency community.
AirdropVeneuzela.org launched in 2019 to increase awareness of Venezuela’s economic crisis, raise funds to distribute to the neediest Venezuelans, and educate Venezuelans about the benefits of globally-connected, permissionless, and decentralized, digital money. Cryptocurrency is an essential part of Airtm’s unique blockchain-and-bank-connected dollar wallet — our network of 20,000 P2P agents would not function without bitcoin and other border-hopping onchain assets.
We’re proud to share the results of Airdrop Venezuela, having raised over $300,000 USD-equivalent in 14 cryptocurrencies and distributed as a basket of 4 cryptocurrencies to 60,829 ID-verified Venezuelans via Airtm’s e-wallet. For cryptocurrencies whose total donations were less than $10,000 equivalent, we converted to AirUSD and distributed those funds pro-rata, including them in the funds distributed.
The majority of these funds came from the generosity and compassion of cryptocurrency communities and organizations, including (in order of value of total donation): Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin.com (affiliated with BCH), Zcash and the Zcash Foundation, Bitcoin (which has no equivalent centralized support infrastructure as the other cryptocurrencies donated), Dai and MakerDAO Foundation. Hundreds of businesses and individuals around the globe donated BCH, ZEC, BTC, DAI, as well as ten other cryptocurrencies throughout 2019. $31,000 in AirUSD was also donated.
AirdropVenezuela was a hook for international coverage of the desperate humanitarian and economic crisis in Venezuelan, via NPR and Forbes, among many others outlets. The Airtm Team members personally helped distribute cryptocurrency and educate Venezuelans in Cúcuta, Colombia, a city on the Colombia/Venezuela border where cryptocurrency has experienced rising adoption as a medium of exchange.
In March 2019 we raised bitcoin donations with the help of Cripto Conserje and world-famous bitcoin artist Cryptograffiti to build a local center providing essentials to Venezuelan refugees migrating through the border town and educating them about the benefits of bitcoin.
It was an amazing experience working with local organizations and hearing the stories of Venezuelan families fleeing the economic catastrophe caused by hyperinflation due to the debasement of the Bolivar by the Venezuelan central bank.
Together we raised $17,000 USD-equivalent in bitcoin. These funds, as well as additional BTC raised from AirdropVenezuela, will go toward the first humanitarian center in the world built by Bitcoin. Construction of the center will be completed in partnership with the South American Initiative — the second largest NGO operating in Venezuela.
We hope this bitcoin-focused cultural/charitable collaboration will be the first of many where Airtm can have a direct and AirTeam-involved impact on the lives of people whose national banks and money have failed them.
AirdropVenezuela.org Results
We were unsure what to expect when we launched AirdropVenezuela, both from the donors we hoped would send their cryptocurrency in as donations and from the Venezulas who received the cryptocurrency in their Airtm account. But we knew that even minor success could have a major impact on the lives of the Venezuelans who received the donations.
Since we started distributing funds in November 2019, out of the 60,829 ID-verified recipients, the majority of AirdropVenezuela (57%) have engaged with the funds received, while 26.5% have not interacted with their Airtm wallet at all since verifying their identity to register as a AirdropVenezuela recipient. 16.5% have accessed their account, but not otherwise interacted with the value received.
Out of the 57% engaged users, their unique transaction type distribution was spread fairly evenly among selling their received cryptocurrency for USD, withdrawing funds, and adding more funds to their wallet. There was also a small cohort of these users that engaged in buying more cryptocurrency (2%) or sending cryptocurrency (3.6%) to other Airtm users.
Out of the 30.3% of withdrawals made by AirdropVenezuela recipients, 67.2% were withdrawn as Venezuelan bolivars via Airtm’s P2P agent network, while other notable currencies for P2P withdrawals include USD, Bitcoin and Colombian Pesos. 1564 donation recipients withdrew to external Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets, 4.6% of total withdrawals (BTC: 1184, ETH: 380).
Out of the sends made by AirdropVenezuela recipients, 71.1% were to other Venezuela users while international sends were made to Airtm account holders in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile and the United States.
Funds in Airtm accounts that are inactive for 180 days, currently amounting to approximately $100,000 USD-equivalent, will be redistributed to ID-verified Venezuelan Airtm account holders who were not included in the initial AirdropVenezuela distribution and the bitcoin-funded humanitarian center described above.
Although the AirdropVenezuela campaign has ended, we believe there is enormous opportunity for cryptocurrency to play a role facilitating direct donations to Venezuelans, as well as other individuals throughout Latin America who need financial aid, greater access to income-generating opportunities, and a simple ability to protect their savings from devaluation.
We believe that we have only scratched the surface of what is possible and encourage other individuals and organizations to help. As we build out our services at Airtm, we’re excited to see how we can help connect those in need with reliable money and related financial services, as well as the opportunity to earn money as an agent in the Airtm peer network.
Abrazos,
Josh Kliot
Airtm Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
