decrypt.co
Bitcoin (BTC) is once again on the march, after the recording over 5% gains in the last 24 hours.
It isn't just Bitcoin that is seeing significant gains today, Dash is also experiencing meteoric growth. Dash is currently worth just north of $81, and is up more than 24% for the day, and more than 45% for the week. Meanwhile, practically all major crypto assets are also experiencing a strong bullish rally, with the average cryptocurrency now up more than 5% in the last day.
This recent price rally appears to coincide with an Internet shutdown in Venezuela, which began yesterday with restrictions on social media ahead of a National Assembly leadership vote. The current situation in Venezuela is similar to events that occurred in January 2019—a time when state-run internet provider CANTV shut down access to popular social media sites during the 2019 protests, and several people were killed.
Confirmed: Total internet outage with #Venezuela's state-run operator ABA CANTV affecting Bolívar, Monagas and parts of Anzoátegui from 8:00 a.m. local time; incident ongoing 📉 pic.twitter.com/ZJ9Fc1npg0
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) January 13, 2020
Beyond this, the country's national currency, the Venezuelan Bolívar currently suffers from rampant hyperinflation. This has contributed to a huge surge in cryptocurrency adoption in Venezuela, as residents lose faith in the national currency, and instead turn to assets that are economically unrelated. Bitcoin and Dash, in particular, are popular choices in Venezuela due to their retail adoption in the country.