Users of the Venezuelan bank BOD (Western Discount Bank) decided to chain themselves to the facilities of the entity’s headquarters to demand the return of their assets in dollars. The information circulated this Thursday, October 28 on social networks and some local media that collected the protesters’ claims.
The action took place in the city of Maracaibo, in the western region of Venezuela. Nevertheless, the BOD bank has a nationwide presence And according to reports, in 2020 it was positioned in the top 10 of the Venezuelan banking ranking.
In a video released by the National Termometer portal, one of the protesters pointed out that the protest is a “desperate” measure, since have not received a response on the refund of the amount owed. “When they sold us that project, we decided to trust the financial group BOD and deposit our savings there. Now we need our savings back, “said the declarant, identified by the media as Yaida Montero.
According to the information, the entity would have raised funds in dollars from clients who participated in a foreign exchange auction mechanism between 2013 and 2015. This system was implemented by the Venezuelan government in 2013, when the Illegal Law was still in force. Exchange rates, so that nationals could obtain foreign currency legally.
On the social network Twitter, you can read comments from several users who complain about failures in the BOD bank’s platform, which prevent them from mobilizing their funds in local currency.
The number of affected by this case was reported in 16 thousand families nationwide. However, the social network Twitter also circulated multiple complaints about alleged failures in the bank’s platform, which prevents users from making transfers and payments in local currency.
At the time of writing this note, there is no official statement on the subject on the website or social networks of the Venezuelan bank.
“Bitcoin fixes this”
Assets withholding occur in financial systems worldwide. . recently reported a provision approved by the Colombian State, which allows it to take possession of accumulated balances in bank accounts that have not been used for more than a year. The government of that country alleges that the funds will be integrated into the national budget to finance the action of the State.
Just over a month ago, another Venezuelan bank left users without access to their savings for 5 consecutive days. On that occasion it was the Banco de Venezuela, the main state financial institution and the one that accounts for more than 65% of the Venezuelan market.
Some analysts agree that the banking model, whose emergence dates back more than 600 years, could be exhausted and that one of the first symptoms is precisely the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Add Comment