Venezuela’s largest bank, the Bank of Venezuela (BDV), has added support for the country’s controversial Petro digital currency. Bank of Venezuela hints at crypto wallet As cryptocurrency news outlet Decrypt reported on Sept. 13, BDV clients have discovered a new section in their online banking account dedicated to cryptocurrencies. At present, the crypto wallet only caters to Petro, but as the section appears to be still under development, speculation suggests more tokens may follow. Petro, launched by the Venezuelan government, is notionally pegged to the country’s oil reserves. The United States Treasury Department believes President Nicolas Maduro wants the digital …

The Spanish-speaking world saw a number major developments this week, with several companies accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment and the Venezuelan government making new claims about the use and acceptance of the controversial Petro coin. Here’s the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. Spain: Eurocoinpay introduces cryptocurrency payments On Aug. 24, Cointelegraph en Español reported that in Spain, Eurocoinpay introduced the possibility of making payments and collections with cryptocurrencies, through an application to make transactions in various shops. The firm's CEO, Herminio Fernández, reportedly said: “Eurocoinpay is a …

In a major escalation against socialist president Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump’s administration has frozen all Venezuelan government assets. The United States’ hawkish move has been reflected in a new all-time-high for peer-to-peer trading volume on LocalBitcoins in the country. Trump takes on the “usurper” As the Associated Press (AP) reported on August 5, the U.S. administration’s action took immediate effect this Monday, with President Trump citing Maduro’s ongoing “usurpation” of power — as well as human rights abuses by his supporters — as the grounds for the decision. Even ahead of yesterday’s strident move, Venezuela has been weathering ruinous economic …

Venezuela is reportedly choosing to use Bitcoin (BTC), not its own digital currency Petro, to circumvent United States sanctions in airports. According to a report in local news media outlet ABC on July 22, president Nicolas Maduro has authorized the use of an app which collects aeronautical taxes, and then their conversion to Bitcoin. The app, Jet Man Pay, is ironically of U.S. origin, with Venezuela converting the BTC funds via partners in countries such as China, Russia and Hungary. The funds are then deposited as fiat dollars in government-controlled bank accounts in those countries. According to ABC, the design …

For the entirety of cryptocurrency’s short history, Venezuela has been seen to be among the most striking example of the need for the utility. The South American country has hosted escalating political tension for years, as skyrocketing hyperinflation, electricity blackouts and shortages of vital food and medicine intensified popular discontent. Venezuelan trade volume dominates P2P markets Venezuelan peer-to-peer (P2P) markets have long been a leader in terms of volume, in part owing to widespread geo-blocking that targets Venezuelan citizens on the part of cryptocurrency exchanges. Recently, Binance announced that as of July 1, 2019, the residents of Venezuela and 28 …

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country’s leading bank, Banco de Venezuela, to accept the nation’s cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR) at all of its branches, the country’s Finance Ministry tweeted on July 4. According to the tweet, Maduro gave “the express order to open Petro desks in all the branches of the Bank of Venezuela.” The announcement apparently came during an event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the nationalization of the bank in question. On June 19, Maduro announced that 924 million bolivars (over $92.5 million) were allocated to the Digital Bank of Youth and Students to open one million …

Venezuela is considering to close mutual trade settlements with Russia using the ruble, Russian government-backed TV channel RT reports on May 17. Venezuela’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva Jorge Valero said they are also discussing uses for the state-owned Petro (PTR) cryptocurrency. Valero reportedly revealed that Venezuelan authorities are now working with Russia to find opportunities for eliminating the use of the United States dollar in trade deals between the two countries. As such, the two countries' authorities are purportedly mulling the use of the Russian ruble, as well as Venezuela’s oil-backed Petro digital currency, a controversial project …

The United States Treasury Department has added Moscow-based bank Evrofinance Mosnarbank to its sanctions list, alleging it was the “primary international financial institution willing to finance” Venezuela’s controversial national oil-backed cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR). The news was announced in an official Treasury press release published on March 11. In its statement, the Treasury accused Evrofinance — which is reportedly jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies — of materially assisting efforts to launch the cryptocurrency, which it characterized as a “failed” project: “When the failed Venezuelan cryptocurrency, called the Petro, launched in 2018, Evrofinance emerged as the primary international financial …

From Jan. 29 to 30, Tehran hosted the eighth annual conference on Electronic Banking and Payment Systems, which was promoted by the Monetary and Banking Research Institution, the research arm of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). Among the announced topics under the theme of the “Blockchain Revolution,” it was the unveiling of the Iranian plan for a national digital currency that, as a matter of fact, remained rather vague after it was presented during the conference. In his inaugural speech, Ali Divandari — the director of the Monetary and Banking Research Institution — stressed that “the realities of blockchain …

The Venezuelan government has introduced regulations for crypto remittances within the country, according to a decree published on Feb. 7 in the country’s official media outlet, Gaceta Oficial. According to the document, the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (SUNACRIP) will now be responsible for taxation related to the sending and receiving of cryptocurrencies. The new legislation will reportedly be applied both to individuals and legal entities. According to the new requirements, the state has set out monthly limits and commissions, payable to SUNACRIP, on cryptocurrency remittances. The decree states that the maximum fee for a transfer has …

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 10, amid tremendous hyperinflation, long-lasting political and economic crisis, and strict sanctions imposed by its former partner and oil purchaser: the United States. Since Maduro first took office in 2013, Venezuela has faced several brutal riots, including the “Mother of All Marches” in 2017 and the Caracas helicopter attack in the same year, and the current crisis is very likely to be the last for the regime. We decided to look into the last six years for Venezuela and the fate of the Petro — a national …

Venezuela has taken issue with United States sanctions, including those levied against transactions in the country’s national digital currency, the Petro (PTR), according to a World Trade Organization (WTO) consultation request, published Jan. 8. The request, dubbed “United States — Measures relating to trade in goods and services,” was originally filed on Dec. 28. In the document, the delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela requests consultations with the U.S. government regarding “certain measures imposed by the United States in relation to trade in goods and services.” In particular, the document describes five key areas through which the U.S. purportedly …