Venezuela’s National Assembly has appointed Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke as Special Adviser on Economic, Monetary, and Energy Affairs, giving the longtime dollarization advocate a central role in drafting a law that would abolish the bolivar and shut the central bank. Hanke estimates the bill has a 50% to 80% chance of passage. Inflation is running near 400% annually, still the highest rate in the world, while the bolivar has lost 78% of its value against the U.S. dollar in the past year. Hanke’s second attempt to overhaul Venezuela’s monetary system follows his failed 1995-1996 currency-board plan under President Rafael Caldera. He is working with Assembly member Antonio Ecarri, founder of the centrist Lápiz party, and says surveys show most Venezuelans already want to abandon the bolivar. Dollar and USDT use is widespread in practice. Retail crypto volume reached $17.9 billion in the first quarter of 2026, with USDT accounting for 90.2% of Binance peer-to-peer listings paired with the bolivar. On Aug. 21, USDT traded near 919 bolivars on major peer-to-peer platforms, compared with an official Central Bank rate near 780. Hanke argues that monetary stability could help attract capital, increase oil production and restructure Venezuela’s roughly $250 billion of external debt, equivalent to about 150% of GDP. Oil output remains 1.1 million barrels per day, roughly one-third of its 3.4 million barrels per day in 1998, before Hugo Chavez took power. Even if formal dollarization reduces the need for crypto as an inflation hedge, USDT’s speed, liquidity, low remittance costs and round-the-clock availability could keep it central to daily transactions.