Bitcoin trading skyrockets in Venezuela following the banking shutdown

Despite the recent crypto price crash that came as a consequence of oversale due to the fears of coronavirus, Bitcoin trading seems to still be on the rise in some areas of the world. Venezuelans, in particular, started turning to BTC and P2P trading of this coin after the country ordered a banking shut down due to the nationwide quarantine.

The country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, announced a country-wide quarantine on March 17th. The move was taken to slow down the spreading of coronavirus that was already reported in most countries around the world.

So far, Venezuela has around 33 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, and its administration hopes that the emergency measures might prevent rapid spreading, and in return — overwhelming the country’s health system.

At the same time, the country’s entire banking system was halted indefinitely, as part of the quarantine. The move sparked the increase in P2P crypto trading, as the country’s citizens decided to turn to Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, the weekly volume between BTC and bolivar at LocalBitcoins started surging again after a three-week drop, returning to $3.4 million. These levels were not seen for about two weeks before the country entered quarantine.

While the world’s first reaction to coronavirus spreading was massive panic oversale, the problems that the traditional banking sector is experiencing did help drive crypto adoption.

LocalBitcoins volume did not only surge in Venezuela, but it also went up by more than 30% in Peru, while it surged by 15% in Colombia in the past seven days. Both countries decided to close their borders over the last several days, joining the ever-growing list of countries that did so in order to slow down the virus.

Venezuelans still ignoring Petro

While Bitcoin adoption seems to be surging, the virus threat seems to have dampened the country’s efforts to force adoption of its national cryptocurrency, Petro. Petro, a coin backed by the country’s oil reserves, was created on president Maduro’s orders, and launched in February 2018. Ever since then, Maduro has been coming up with major initiatives to drive Petro adoption, although with little success.

The latest such effort took place in January 2020, when Maduro announced the launch of Petro-powered casino, which saw launch one week after the president decreed that airline fuel sales will also be charged in Petro. But, as mentioned, the country never warmed up to the coin, and instead, it started turning to Bitcoin in the time of crisis.