Venezuelan Bolivar Trading Volumes on LocalBitcoins Hits New Record High

The volume of Venezuelan bolivars traded against Bitcoin (BTC) on the LocalBitcoins platform another all-time high last week amid rampant hyperinflation in the country.

According to Bitcoin statistics website Coin Dance, bolivar volumes on peer-to-peer exchange LocalBitcoins exceeded 209 billion during the week ending Dec. 14.

The new all-time high comes after a sharp volume spike in the preceding week ending Dec. 7. According to Coin Dance, bolivar volumes have been gradually breaking new records in December, surpassing the previous all-time high of 205 billion bolivars.

Weekly LocalBitcoins Volume in Venezuela (Venezuelan Bolivar). Source: Coin Dance

Trading volumes in Bitcoin are low

The data from Coin Dance apparently provides more evidence of the continuing devaluation of the Venezuelan bolivar as the actual amount of Bitcoin traded last week was far from record-breaking.

After seeing an all-time high of 2,000 BTC in February 2019, Bitcoin volumes continued to decrease with the yearly low reaching 433 BTC in July, according to Coin Dance. During the week ending Dec. 14, Venezuelans traded 637 BTC, worth around 205 billion bolivars or $4.4 million at press time, according to Coin360.

Weekly volumes of Venezuelan bolivar on LocalBitcoins. Source: Coin Dance

Venezuela keeps promoting its oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro

The new all-time high of bolivar volumes on LocalBitcoins comes amid a new wave of governmental promotion of the Petro (PTR), the national oil-pegged cryptocurrency of Venezuela.

According to a recent announcement by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the local government will pay half a Petro to Venezuelan retirees and public workers as a Christmas bonus this week. As reported in mid-November, Venezuela cut the backing of the Petro from the initially planned 5 billion barrels of crude oil to just 30 million barrels.