Deanna Aguilar, a Venezuelan journalist based in Argentina, shares how she entered the crypto industry in 2016 after a chance job interview where her boss introduced her to bitcoin. Coming from a country in economic collapse, she initially embraced bitcoin as a lifeline, believing the hype that holding everything in it was the safest path. In 2019 a market correction wiped out savings she had set aside to help her parents leave Venezuela, teaching her a painful lesson about financial education. She later used remaining bitcoin savings to fund her own emigration to Argentina, though as an undocumented immigrant she struggled for months just to convert crypto into usable pesos. She also recounts being stranded at a Colombian airport during a bitcoin conference because merchants would not accept crypto. Aguilar argues that the bitcoin community often praises the technology while neglecting to teach newcomers basic financial literacy, leaving vulnerable people exposed to devastating losses.
A Venezuelan journalist recounts how bitcoin helped her escape crisis, and how ignoring financial basics nearly ruined her.
What's your story and how did you get into bitcoin?
I'm Venezuelan, and my generation grew up as accidental experts in political and economic collapse because our country became a petri dish of failed socialism. I got into bitcoin through my first journalism job in 2016. My boss saw 'journalist' on my resume, since few existed in crypto media then, and spent an hour explaining bitcoin to me. I fell in love with informing people about it.
What are the real limits of using bitcoin, especially for remittances?
People say you can use crypto to send money to family abroad, and that's true, but possibility doesn't mean it's the best way. Fees can be enormous, sometimes eight dollars to send ten. I've paid fifteen percent just to move stablecoins. It can be freaking expensive. The freedom from a central institution is real, but it still needs to be cheaper and simpler to actually help people.
How did losing money in 2019 affect your plans to help your parents leave Venezuela?
I had two thousand dollars saved from my job to get my parents out of Venezuela in 2019. Then a huge correction hit and I could no longer help them. I was doing exactly what everyone hyped, keeping everything in bitcoin, and I got my hands tied. It was money I couldn't afford to lose, and it taught me bitcoin isn't a savings account you can rely on blindly.
Were you eventually able to liquidate your bitcoin to leave Venezuela yourself?
Yes, I used bitcoin savings to fund half my ticket out of Venezuela with help from an acquaintance in Argentina. But once there, as an undocumented immigrant I couldn't open a bank account. I had to travel three hours round trip every two weeks to the only place in Buenos Aires where I could exchange bitcoin directly for pesos. It was so much work just to move my own money.
What happened when you covered the LABITConf conference in Colombia?
My boss was so confident I could survive on cryptocurrency alone that I arrived in Colombia unable to pay for a cab because merchants didn't accept it. I had nothing, so I called everyone I knew from the airport until a fellow bitcoiner from the conference kindly covered my ride. It taught me you can't assume crypto works everywhere, even in supposedly crypto friendly countries.
What's the bigger lesson you take from these experiences?
The community can be negligent toward newcomers. It's easier to let people take the hit than to teach them properly. I lost thousands I couldn't afford to lose because I had no financial education, only hype. Bitcoin itself is a great invention, but the services and narratives around it need to prioritize teaching people how to actually manage risk before they dive in.
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