Dude, just axe more zeroes — again!

Time is a flat circle. Everything we have done or will do we will do over and over and over again—forever.

The rumors were true, on October 01, six zeroes will be cut from our currency, marking the official death of the ill-fated Sovereign Bolivar, ushering in the birth of the “Digital” Bolivar. This is the third time that the Bolivarian Revolution has axed zeroes off our currency: Three in 2008 (Bolivar Fuerte), five in 2018 (Bolivar Soberano), and now six in 2021.

That means that a whopping fourteen zeroes have been axed so far. On October 01, 2021, one of these new Digital Bolivars will be worth 100,000,000,000,000.00 of the “Original” Bolivars (the ones that existed up until 2008).

Unlike the previous two announcements, this one isn’t even shocking at all, and I couldn’t be more indifferent about it. Given all that’s happened and keeps happening in the country, yet another currency redenomination is something I’m fairly desensitized about, more so than our day to day economic scenario is fairly different from 2018’s.

To be fair, it was a necessary measure, as we were once again in a cumbersome and convoluted position of required scientific notation for large scale accounting and banking bookkeeping — to the point that we were once again simplifying our monetary transactions by removing three zeros from it, in a colloquial an informal manner, that is.

Heck, I was already second guessing myself more than once when dealing with large amounts, such as last month, when I paid over 123 million Bolivars for my brother’s birthday pizzas.

While this is being heralded as a new ‘Digital’ era for Venezuela’s legal tender, the fanfare and propaganda surrounding this new “Digital” era of the Bolivar is just that, fanfare and propaganda. For all intents and purposes, the Venezuelan Bolivar became a digital currency long ago.

The US Dollar, ever so demonized by the ideological spheres of power within the socialist party, has become the de facto cash currency, substituting the Bolivar for most of the day-to-day cash transactions. Payment processors, such as the ever so popular Zelle and PayPal, have also come to take care of digital transactions using foreign currency.

Regardless of its form (physical or digital), it goes without saying that those with access to foreign currency are the ones that do not suffer the utter misery of having to live with a currency that loses its value by the minute.

In addition to foreign currencies, the use of Cryptocurrencies continues to spread throughout the country — certainly at a slower pace than foreign cash, but this is now a country where you can find from electronics stores, bakeries or even fast food places openly accepting varied types of crypto — real ones, unlike the regime’s scam one.

There is no point in going to an ATM to withdraw Bolivars, as the current banknotes themselves are worthless and have no realistic use beyond bus or subway fares — besides, ATMs are barely functional these days, it is estimated that only 5% of the country’s ATMs remain operational. The Bolivar is still a requirement to pay for certain things, such as utilities and the subsidized monthly gasoline rations.

Regardless, this new Digital Bolivar will come with a new series of banknotes, and even with a Bs. 1 coin, I can’t even remember the last time I’ve paid with something using coins, it’s been that long.

As for the new banknotes themselves, they are lazy and hastened recolors that share the same overall design of the Sovereign Bolivar’s short-lived 200,000, 500,000, and 1,000,000 banknotes. The same CGI Bolivar that the revolution has been touting for more than a decade now in the front, and imagery allusive to Venezuela’s historic Battle of Carabobo on the reverse, along with the logo that the regime commissioned for its 200th anniversary.