Is Venezuela switching to the US dollar in 2026?
No. One lawmaker is drafting a full-dollarization proposal with Steve Hanke. Venezuela has not approved the switch, set a conversion rate, or scheduled the bolívar's withdrawal.
The headline has moved faster than the policy. Antonio Ecarri wants Venezuela to replace the bolívar with the US dollar, but this remains his parliamentary team's initiative. No law, official conversion rate, or start date has been adopted.
What was actually proposed
Fortune reported that Ecarri and Hanke want to withdraw the bolívar, adopt the dollar, and stop monetary financing. Ecarri's team told El Diario this is his legislative initiative; National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez denied hiring Hanke. Hanke's claimed 50% to 80% passage odds are a forecast, not a vote count.
Venezuela is already partly dollarized. Shops, savers, and private employers often use dollars as the bolívar loses purchasing power. Full dollarization would also move wages, deposits, contracts, taxes, and public accounts to dollars under a transition law.
Why the proposal has returned
The official rate moved from 301.37 bolívares per dollar near the start of 2026 to 784.6633 on August 24, a 61.6% loss in the bolívar's dollar value. The central bank also reported 90% cumulative inflation from January through April, according to EFE. Stop issuing bolívares, and one direct source of depreciation disappears.
What a real conversion would require
- Set the rate for cash, bank balances, wages, pensions, debts, and contracts.
- Choose when accounts and prices change to dollars.
- Supply enough dollar notes and liquid bank reserves.
- Replace the central bank's emergency support for banks.
- Fund deficits without issuing a domestic currency.
Hanke proposes abolishing both the bolívar and the central bank. Those are separate choices: Ecuador adopted the dollar in 2000 but retained a limited central bank. Venezuela also faces Article 318 of its constitution, which names the bolívar and assigns monetary powers to the central bank. A complete switch may therefore require constitutional change.