To delve deeper into the use of USDT to pay for a transportation service in Venezuela, CriptoNoticias spoke with Alexis Lugo, a Venezuelan bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency enthusiast.
For his part, Daniel Arráez, a Venezuelan economist specialized in cryptocurrencies, argues that although integrations like those of Yummy Rides and Binance Pay "can work" in a situation like Venezuela's, it will be "as long as that goes through a process of price internationalization."
Lugo, while he values having more options to use stablecoins in Venezuela, through different mechanisms and products (like Yummy Rides), clarifies that he is not in favor of paying directly with USDT "because it means losing the possibility of arbitrage."
It should be taken into account that, in Venezuela, the differential between the cost of USDT and the US dollar is around 50%. The stablecoin, which is not the same as the green bill, trades at up to 300 bolívares on platforms like Binance. The dollar, meanwhile, is oscillating around 210 bolívares (at the exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Venezuela).
This means that when exchanging USDT for bolívares, there is a favorable differential, which is advantageous for making purchases or, in this case, paying for services. Consequently, when paying directly with this stablecoin, that financial benefit is lost.
He then points out that there is a "deterioration" if, for example, transfers are paid in Yummy Rides with USDT. "The truth is that it is not a business. I would not use my USDT to pay through Binance Pay to Yummy because I am not taking advantage of the differential," he comments.
A similar opinion is held by Arraéz, who, in dialogue with this news portal, explains that it is also not viable to pay directly with the stablecoin of Tether Limited.
He claims that, as long as it is more beneficial to go to secondary markets of USDT for bolívares and pay for products priced at the official exchange rate, "the incentive will be not to use USDT natively.
