Don’t invest in or trade Venezuelan government crypto tokens
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I think it’s time we get a lot smarter about how we talk about Venezuela in the crypto community. Most people have been aware of the fact that the corrupt and autocratic Venezuelan government isn’t suddenly turning over a new leaf just because it made a play towards crypto.
If Bitcoin, and by extension the entire universe of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies, is meant to free people from the tyranny of centralized bad actors, we shouldn’t get one iota (no pun intended) of satisfaction from seeing a nation make a state-sponsored foray into the space. There have been some tweets expressing excitement or an odd disbelief that a nation is releasing its own coin, and it’s understandable for people that belonged to a community that was on the fringes of the mainstream until 2017.
That said, the circumstances have changed. This is complete perversion of crypto’s ideals. Venezuelans are not going to see their food shortage go away, they won’t see their dependence on the petroleum industry lessened, and they won’t be removed from the ranks of the unbanked as a result of their government pumping out more coins.
No, this is just about the worst thing that could happen to crypto’s good name. The government of Venezuela, fresh off its first ICO of a coin called the Petro, has decided it’s going to go for two. In the shadiest of cases, ICOs are uses as quickie IPOs or venture capital rounds: none of the red tape and tediousness of traditional fundraising, all of the capital return for the issuer.
Rogue governments like Venezuela will get more aggressive in using crypto to flout sanctions and generate capital that kleptocrats will use to finance their misdeeds. There’s a book called The Dictator’s Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith that, if you’re so inclined, will help you understand the psychology and motivating factors of a leader like Nicolas Maduro. Access to money, which can then be distributed to a ruling coalition, is what keeps autocratic leaders in power. That money isn’t going to the Venezuelan economy or its people who desperately need aid.
Make sure you don’t help Maduro by financing his schemes.
You can read the full article here, courtesy of Bitcoinist.
- Telegram is double dipping on its ICO and this is starting to look a bit weird — (The Verge)
- Robinhood begins crypto trading and you should be excited — (Bloomberg)
- MIT makes a strong statement in favor of utility tokens — (MIT Technology Review)
