Venezuelan President Calls for Crypto Payments During Sanctions - Desperate Move?

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro has just recently opened up on his love for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. 

The politician, who is often seen as quite controversial, said that his government is using cryptocurrencies to gain access to national and international payment infrastructures. 

Maduro confirmed that the finance minister and central bank in Venezuela were getting close to bringing in “new instruments.” It would give every citizen in the nation access to “national and international payments through the central bank’s accounts.”

In an attempt to calm everything down from the US Sanctions on Venezuela, Maduro launched the world’s first sovereign cryptocurrency dubbed the Petro. This is a cryptocurrency that aimed to flow independently across borders via an independent blockchain protocol.

However, things didn’t go to plan and the experiment failed. This led Maduro to explore more solutions in the crypto space such as bitcoin as to be used as a way to funnel funds on an international scale.

“Donald Trump and his sanctions are blocking Venezuela from carrying out transactions in any of the world’s banks,” Maduro said. “There are other formulas to pay, and it’s what we’re using because our payment system works perfectly in China and Russia.”

The rise in the price of cryptocurrencies has been often accompanied by an increase of general interest by big institutional investors. At the end of 2017, we saw a lot more people enter the market who probably never even heard of cryptocurrency and get involved with the space, most likely including the Venezuelan president...

The opposition for Maduro received recognition from over sixty nations for his claim on Venezuela’s presidential chair. Juan Guaidó called Maduro's campaign an act of desperation, fearing it would boost Venezuela’s already worsening economic crisis.

“The regime’s use of cryptocurrency shows desperation. To resort to that kind of subterfuge emphasizes the economic crisis the regime is going through.”

It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out. For more news on this and other crypto updates, keep it with CryptoDaily!