Wells Fargo Allegedly Shutters Zelle in Venezuela, Driving Crypto Adoption

The move was made public via Twitter by user @ernestocontrer:

So why are @Dashpay and #cryptos welcomed in #Venezuela?
Among other things, Venezuelans have almost no options to move our money.
Today @WellsFargo decided to stop serving some users in Venezuela, which leaves 10s of thousands of people without that option, many are SMEs pic.twitter.com/G8T9HkCUnc

— Ernesto (@ernestocontrer) June 5, 2020

Isolated

Per the tweet, Ernesto suggests that the move only heightens the difficulty for small to mid-sized enterprises. Despite claims last year that the bank would pilot its own cryptocurrency, it seems to have done nothing other than drive competitor adoption. The hyperinflation of the Bolivar has already made business complex, and the new closure only promises to do more damage.

Dash-ing?

In an effort to improve business, Venezuelans are turning to Dash and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. With transfers now possible without these trusted third parties, blockchains are enabling peer-to-peer money flows. Dash has already added a massive number of users in the country, with as many as 1 million predicted by year-end. Dash media relations manager Mark Mason told BeInCrypto:

“This is yet another nail in the coffin for traditional banking, legacy payment methods and failing fiat currencies. We no longer need to trust third parties to control and manage our money. If you want to truly unbank yourself you need to be able to make everyday payments and Dash functions perfectly as digital cash.”

As the number of users continues to increase, and confidence in the Bolivar wanes, the movement toward cryptocurrencies appears to be a foregone conclusion.