The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, says that the country's government is now looking at diverse cryptocurrencies as a potential way of avoiding sanctions. On Sept. 29, Maduro presented a new bill that intends to help the country overcome the impact of United States sanctions. As part of the bill, Venezuela will study the possibility of using various cryptocurrencies in both domestic and foreign trade. Maduro claimed that the new anti-sanctions bill involves both private and state-backed crypto initiatives like Venezuela’s oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro: "The anti-sanctions bill is the first response [...] to give new strength to the use …
Venezuela will soon sell oil from reserves of a state-run oil and gas company for its national oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR). Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree to sell 4.5 million barrels of oil from the certified 30 million-barrel reserve maintained by Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-owned company officially announced on Jan. 14. According to PDVSA, Maduro announced the news in a speech before the Constituent National Assembly — an assembly elected in 2017 to draft a new constitution for Venezuela. Oil sales to be an exploration mechanism Once the initial sale of 4.5 million barrels …
Several Venezuelan leaders recently came under fire for alleged criminal acts, although, contrary to initial impressions, the situation did not directly involve cryptocurrency usage. “Maduro and his co-defendants are not alleged to have been involved with crypto, directly,” Ashok Ayyar, counsel at Experience Legal, told Cointelegraph. A number of Venezuelan officials, including former president Maduro, faced a slew of charges from U.S. governing bodies, according to a March 26 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). Despite the press release announcing the charges touting the Homeland Security Investigations’ ability to track cryptocurrency transactions, a close examination of the DoJ’s …
Venezuela plans to back its national oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), with 30 million barrels of crude oil. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that the oil inventories are sitting in the country’s storage tanks and are ready for immediate commercialization to serve as a “liquid, physical, material backing” for the Petro. The president announced the news on Nov. 20 on state television, according to a Reuters report. In the announcement, Maduro called the Petro a “sovereign Venezuelan crypto asset.” Venezuela initially planned to back the Petro with 5 billion barrels of oil While Maduro has not provided any details on …
Reuters has today, August 30, published an investigative report into Venezuela’s national oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), attempting to square government claims with facts on the ground and evidence of the Petro’s transaction history to date. Reuters dispatched reporters to the central Venezuelan hamlet of Atapirire, which sits at the heart of the 380-square-kilometer territory that the president has said can provide the 5 billion barrels of petroleum needed to back the new cryptocurrency. Amid rampant hyperinflation in the Venezuelan economy, President Maduro last week introduced a rebranded fiat currency – the sovereign bolívar, which will have five fewer zeros …