Venezuela’s currency has now apparently dropped so much that it’s worth less than in-game tokens for a popular online game. Inflation in the South American country has been raging out of control for quite some time, and now that U.S. President Donald Trump has made good on his threats of sanctions, its currency has plummeted even further.
Venezuela’s currency priced by the black market
In this comparison between Venezuela’s currency and the MMORPG World of Warcraft, the price of the bolivar is based on black market prices. The Venezuelan government’s official price for the bolivar is a little over 10 to one versus the U.S. dollar, which makes it seem like the currency is far less weak than the rest of the world sees it.
However, the rest of the world and even Venezuelans who don’t work for the government use the black market prices for the bolivar. The reason is because the federal government is on the verge of becoming a dictatorship. Things have gotten so bad there that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro jailed two opposition leaders and killed at least 10 people in connection with boycotts related to the election, reports the BBC.
The U.S. denounced Maduro’s actions as those of a dictator and called on him to release his political prisoners, but he mocked Trump and his sanctions not long after they were imposed.
Bolivar versus WoW tokens
Fortune reported that the value of Venezuela’s currency on the black market had fallen to 12,197 for a single U.S. dollar, and now the price via Dolar.com suggests that its value has fallen further. By comparison, game tokens for World of Warcraft were selling for 126,621 pieces of in-game gold, although the token price has now gone up past 138,000 pieces of virtual gold in the game.
WoW tokens can also be bought for $20 in real-world money, so this puts the value of $1 at 6,900 pieces of gold in the game. It means that the value of Venezuela’s currency is now much less than the value of virtual gold in WoW. When bought with in-game gold, the value of tokens rises and falls, although the $20 price in real-world money stays the same, serving as a sort of benchmark for the virtual currency. These tokens can be used to either buy more playing time or items in the game.
