Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/01/one-us-dollar-costs-175000-ve.html
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That’s an expensive empanada.
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I’d go into the wheelbarrow importing business there but Maduro would take too big a bite to make it profitable.
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They’re worth more as crafts:
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I have a christmas gag gift war with my little brother.
This Christmas he is going to become a millionaire. Mwahahahaha
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That is some nice looking money. All modern and such. I’d Pay $10 for that pile right there.
A 100 trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe is worth more than a $100 US on Ebay right now. When it was actual currency, it was only worth $0.50 US.
My buddy just moved from Venezuela. I asked him if he kept any money when he left, but he said he tipped the movers the last of his cash when he left. He said it felt weird to hand them big stacks of cash as a tip.
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Well, I’m Venezuelan and I live in Venezuela: 175.000 Bs. is the controlled government rate, nobody can buy US dollars at that rate (nobody but Venezuelan gov’s buddies) the real rate is close to 3.700.000 Bs. you can check it by yourself googling for “dolar paralelo Venezuela” or follow @MonitorDolarVe in twitter (or any of the dozens of accounts that report on the black market value of the US Dollar and Euro in Venezuela) and for the Value of the Bitcoin is 27.624.267.867.24 Bs. you can check it in www.bitven.com or the localbitcoin page for Venezuela.
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I’m guessing that shipping to the US is a pain, otherwise there’s a niche for selling it as a gag gift on Ebay. I mean, I can’t imagine how that pile doesn’t cost more than a buck just to print.
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ETA - oh wait, I re-read your statement. Your double negatives confused me. I agree it costs more than a buck to print out that pile…
Pretty sure it costs more than a buck for a big pile like that… it has lots of the anti-counterfeit features it looks like. Even if one just made mock ups of that it would cost more than a buck for the pile…
Now you got me wondering…
OK for US money it costs 5.6 cents to print a $1 bill and ~11 cents to print the fancier bills. Assuming they got a similar deal printing their money, 10 bills would equal a buck to print.
Any clue how I can buy Venezuelan cash outside the country?
I would love to fill a suitcase with money for someone as a Christmas present.
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I have a bunch of German stamps from that time and you can see how they went from 20 DM for a stamp to thousands to MILLIONS to HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS to mail a letter in just 1923 alone. They ended up printing blank faces that would later have the denomination printed on top. Or some times over printing old stamps with new prices.
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I have some of the really old bolivar bills from my childhood, back when the exchange ratio was closer to 1 USD to 2 or 3 bolivares. I can dig them up and post them in the BBS later today
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The irony is that the alternative of just using a debit or credit card isn’t a great idea either. It’s known that criminals will tote around a point of sale card reader and force people to swipe their cards against their will if they manage to corner them. Doesn’t happen all the time but it does occur.
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That use happens a lot, it is called “secuestro express” there is a movie about it. They took you on the streets at gunpoint, then take to you an ATM and make you empty your account. That is not practical now because there is no money in the ATMs and cash is very scarce. for every 10 Bs. the central back emits, there are just 1 Bs in actual cash.
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That’s a no go. Cash is very very scarce. For the total monetary mass in existence, there is something close to 10% in actual cash in circulation. in fact, people sell cash at double of the value on the street (very carefully) other sells stuff and give you a better price if you pay in cash. In short, take cash out of the country is hard and could be very expensive.
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Gotcha. In retrospect, I apologize, as I realize the request might seem insensitive.
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Nah! don’t worry there is almost no frame of reference to be PC on these matters.
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Are you currently in Venezuela or are you abroad? I haven’t been back to Venezuela for like… 15-17 years now 
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