https://amp.businessinsider.com/venezuela-bitcoin-use-popularity-restriction... [partial quote follows] Opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016.Venezuela's economy has seen its currency, the bolivar, plummet as inflation has spiraled into the triple digits, causing people there to struggle to meet their daily needs.In response, some Venezuelans have chosen to cross international borders to stock up on needed supplies, as others turn to a black market where goods are often sold in US dollars.Another alternative that has gained traction is bitcoin, a cryptocurrency whose value wobbles frequently and which can be used for clandestine purchases, both licit and illicit.Bitcoin has been embraced in Venezuela as the economy has faltered over the last few years, providing both a way of buying essential goods and resisting the unpopular government of President Nicolas Maduro.The number of users has surged from 450 in 2014 to 85,000 in 2016, according to Venezuelan bitcoin trading exchange Surbitcoin."Bitcoin is a way of rebelling against the system," Caracas-based software developer John Villar told Reuters in October 2014, not long after he started using the cryptocurrency for online purchases.Bitcoin had dropped 70% between November 2013 and October 2014, but Venezuela's own currency had dropped 60% against the US dollar on the black market in the country over roughly the same period."Even though bitcoin is volatile, it's still safer than the national currency," Kevin Charles, then a recent economics graduate, told Reuters. (Many Venezuelans still converted their bitcoin immediately into dollars, however.)"In Venezuela, we have a gold fever: a bitcoin fever!" a bitcoin miner - someone who uses a complex computer setup to create bitcoins using elaborate algorithms - said to Reuters in October 2014. [end partial quote]              Jim Bell