Bitcoin as the New Tool of Resistance
Machado’s campaign is based firmly on the economic disaster in Venezuela, where the bolívar has essentially been debased through hyperinflation that at one point reached 1.7 million percent. She has consistently pointed out that this economic meltdown was the inevitable result of untrammeled money printing and theft by the state.
Against this backdrop, Bitcoin was the sole dependable option. It has made it possible for Venezuelan households to keep value out of the failing national currency, to receive life‑saving remittances without state confiscation, and to maintain some degree of financial independence.
Proposal for a National Bitcoin Reserve
Carrying her advocacy well beyond mere survival, Machado last week made the bold economic proposal that a democratic future Venezuela should include Bitcoin in its national reserves.
This dramatic action, she argues, would restore wealth plundered by the dictatorship and guarantee future budgetary prudence. By adopting Bitcoin’s fundamental philosophy of open, incorruptible public record, the country could mark a fresh start from the financial repression that caused it to fail.
The victory has caused waves in the decentralized finance (DeFi) community, with key players celebrating the win as a signal that decentralized money is fundamentally linked to human rights and the struggle for democracy.