Since its inception, Bitcoin has been a fan favorite and has gained widespread publicity, as a result, its increasing price surge over the years.
From the first-ever block that was mined to the latest block, Bitcoin has increasingly given out rewards that have exceeded what most investments would bring. Presently, Bitcoin trades at around the $9,200 mark as it has witnessed major decline from the previous $10,000 mark.
Generally, Bitcoin was first created as a peer to peer payment system according to the white paper released by the presumed father of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Almost 11 years down the line since Bitcoins creation, we have witnessed major adoption all over the world.
Presently, major firms in developed and developing countries have started to accept payments for transactions via Bitcoin. This is brought into fruition by exchange platforms as they have been the major driving force behind the adoption of Bitcoin as a result of setting up physical and virtual branches in countries across the globe.
Venezuela debuts Bitcoin payment options for passport fees
In light of the adoption of Bitcoin, reports emanating out of Venezuela is that the government has now decided to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for passport applications. Normally, in every country, there are fees that an individual is supposed to pay if he wants to apply for passport or its renewal. With this news, it means that Venezuela has gone ahead of other countries to start accepting BTC as a means of payment for passport procurement.
Confirming the news on Twitter, a self-claimed, Investor and Miner (@BTCLovera) said,
"I have just verified it personally and it is totally true. #Venezuela, the immigration service, is accepting bitcoin for payments. Renew passport or request an extension."
As a result of the fact that the feature isn't available to Venezuelans living in the country, the majority of them have kicked against it. Criticizing the move, a Twitter user said, "But... But, bitcoin is slow and has no use case!". On the other side, a high profile influencer, Bitcoin Educator, Developer and Entrepreneur Jimmy Song embraced what's coming in Venezuela. He tweetd;
"Venezuelan government is using BTCPayServer to accept Bitcoin for passport application payments. The same software is being used by hrf to accept donations to subvert governments like Venezuela. If this doesn't show that #Bitcoin is the money of enemies, I don't know what does"
Countries use Bitcoin as a means to reduce the impact of US sanctions
This is not the first time a country would be hoping to use crypto to their own benefit as in the previous years, countries under the US sanctions are using crypto to bail out themselves. Countries like Iran, Russia, and China have enjoyed major benefits of digital assets even with US sanctions looming. Below is a list of countries under the US sanctions and how crypto and Bitcoin has helped them.
Iran
Since the last two years, the United States of America sanctions on Iran have been very effective and it has shrunk the economy of the Asian country by 10-20%. Presently, Iran is using Bitcoin as a tool to better its economy as it has plans to increase it's mining operations across the country with a Blockchain backed digital currency on the way in the nearest future.
China
Due to the ever-present US-China trade war, there have been growing concerns about how the US sanctions will affect the economy of the country. American president Donald Trump has promised to use the sanctions to frustrate China, a move that is already in play. China has the ever-growing presence of Bitcoin and crypto assets to better their economy and they are aiming to be the first country to launch its CBDC with a pilot test already underway.
Russia
As a result of US sanctions on Russia, the country has been making moves to replace the US dollar with Bitcoin as its reserve currency to limit the impact of the sanctions. According to an economist in the country, the country is looking to invest heavily in Bitcoin and dump the US dollar. Even though the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin has said he is skeptical about Bitcoin, he is an ardent believer in the Blockchain technology. The president has echoed that he hopes Russia look the way of the technology to create their own CBDC.
In conclusion, most countries are adopting Bitcoin either as a payment option or as a hedge in times of trouble because Bitcoin has delivered massive profits over the years. Bitcoin adoption is further growing widespread as a result of the increase of exchanges who are venturing into countries around the globe.
