Bitcoin in Cuba: Why Some Cubans Are Adopting BTC to Escape the ‘Matrix’

Bitcoin adoption could accelerate in Cuba, especially if private businesses understand the upside to accepting bitcoin (BTC) as a currency. That’s according to Cuban businessman and bitcoin advocate Erik Garcia Cruz.

A recent expatriate to the United States, Cruz is a vocal supporter of bitcoin adoption in Cuba. Cruz leads remittance and money transfer services BitRemesas and QvaPay, and has been vocal in supporting Cuban citizens using bitcoin since 2020.

In an interview with Cointelegraph as part of an upcoming documentary, Cruz explained that Cubans can use bitcoin “as a tool.”

While some Cubans use bitcoin as a store of value, a means of exchange or a remittance tool, ultimately, it is about “getting out of the matrix,” he explained. Cruz referred to the country’s centrally planned and officially communist economy.

Cuba has no free press, while the historic United States trade embargo makes it very difficult for Cubans to access American products, services, and even applications. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is money independent of the state, and has no leader or central party.

Cruz explained that during a trip to El Salvador in 2022, a friend of his asked, “If Cuba is run by a communist party, how do you teach about bitcoin in Cuba?” Surely the party will be against bitcoin?

“I don’t know if the government doesn’t realize how powerful bitcoin is; They don’t know, and they’re wondering if I’m teaching people about the coins in the casino, or if they’re scared of the hyper-bitcoinization of Cuban society.

Cruz hints that governments may already understand how bitcoin works, and that “they may be able to bypass some of the restrictions around the world” by using internet-based money.

In addition, governments are warming to cryptocurrencies from 2021 onwards: private businesses can legally accept cryptocurrencies like bitcoin for goods and services. Cruz explains that more and more private businesses should accept cryptocurrencies instead of the Cuban currency of the peso or MLC (Moneda Libremente Convertible / Freely Convertible Currency):

“If you pay with CUP or MLC, you are solving the customer’s problem, but you are creating a problem for yourself because the owners are saying they are trying to convert CLP or MLC into international currency. do.”

The Cuban peso has devalued by over 800% since its inception. If a Cuban bought the absolute top $69,000 of the bitcoin bull run, they would still have more value in bitcoin than in pesos. Furthermore, MLC is a government-backed stablecoin that is used for purchases at state-run supermarkets. Cubans looking to save money usually do so in US dollars and increasingly in bitcoin.

Cruz shared the example of his father who bought a small amount of bitcoin three years ago from his Cuban peso pension fund. Pension funds have lost value dramatically as the Cuban peso continues to depreciate, while bitcoin has not only maintained, but also increased in purchasing power:

“This is not financial advice, but CUP—better to store your value in bitcoin than government-issued shitcoins.”

Nonetheless, bitcoin suffers from a bad reputation in Cuba, despite the heavy currency devaluation. Cruz was scammed by a crypto project before even knowing what bitcoin was.

“Until five years ago we had no internet (in Cuba) and bitcoin is 14 years old. The first contact with bitcoin in our society was through scams.”

Cuba has a highly educated population and university education is free, however, the island is protected from Western influences and the Internet is a relatively new tool. The Internet, as Cruz points out, only began to penetrate the country in a meaningful way in the last five years.

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Cruz’s work and the Cuban bitcoin community target private businesses in Cuba; One area where bitcoin adoption could grow is:

“You have to teach the people who have the power to adopt that solution. And that’s the private sector. Right? There’s no law. There’s no law that forbids businesses from accepting bitcoin. Not yet. “

Cruz will be interviewed in an upcoming documentary about bitcoin in Cuba.

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