Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that this week the government will pay half a Petro to Venezuelan retirees and public workers as Christmas bonus. With a total of 4,500,000 retirees and 3,500,000 public workers, Maduro said in a speech on Dec. 15 that he expects to deliver half a Petro to more than 8 million Venezuelans this week. This follows up on remarks Maduro made in mid-November. With a fixed value of $60 established by the Venezuelan government, the average Petro bonus that each Venezuelan will receive will be equivalent to $30. It is estimated that the government will give …

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 …

Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro announced that the Christmas bonus of the country’s retirees and pensioners will be paid to them in the national cryptocurrency Petro. The Twitter profile of local news outlet Venepress reported on Maduro’s remarks on Nov. 17. This particular instance is not the first time that Venezuela pushes Petro into the wallets of pensioners so far. As Cointelegraph reported in December last year, Venezuela back then has automatically converted pensioners’ bonuses for the year into Petro. Petro, the future for Venezuelan economy? The crypto asset in question has been first launched for a pre-sale in February last …

When thinking of countries that are ahead of the curve in crypto adoption, Turkey might not be the first place that springs to mind. However, Statistica's Global Consumer Survey for 2019 shows that a fifth Turkish residents are acquainted with crypto and have been exposed to it in some form or another. If the figures are true, 20% is the highest proportion of all the countries in the world. Flying under the radar, Turkey has undoubtedly become a crypto giant, and with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently announcing that testing of the digital lira is to be finalized in 2020, …

In this week’s news from the Spanish-speaking world, a Venezuelan official claims that all currencies will be replaced by cryptocurrencies, the Argentinian chief of the Banking Association criticizes fintech and crypto, and Spain offers prepaid visa card to teenagers that they can reload with crypto. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. "Currencies will be replaced by crypto," says Venezuelan official The Deputy of the National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, Francisco Torrealba, said in an interview on national channel Globovisión that in the future all existing currencies will …

Last week, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, appeared on national television approaching a Trezor-branded stall at a local technological fair. He seemed perplexed as to what exactly a hardware cryptocurrency wallet is supposed to do. Still, Maduro, device in hand, turned to the camera and proclaimed that cryptocurrencies — his country’s own digital currency, Petro, in particular — are important for Venezuela’s economic future. Trezor officials soon clarified that they had nothing to do with the stunt, and that the company had no official resellers in the country. The event seemed to accurately portray the precarious situation of cryptocurrencies …

Bitcoin (BTC) trading set new records in two of its most keenly watched South American markets last week, new data has revealed. As monitoring resource Coin Dance confirmed on Nov. 10, the seven days ending Saturday saw more trading against BTC than ever before in both Venezuela and Argentina. Argentina: central bank accidentally increases Bitcoin popularity Venezuela Localbitcoins weekly trading history. Source: Coin Dance Argentina Localbitcoins weekly trading history. Source: Coin Dance The statistics cover peer-to-peer platform Localbitcoins, which despite increasing user identification demands continues to see patronage in the two troubled economies. In total, Venezuela traded 142.9 billion sovereign …

On Nov. 6, President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro appeared on state-run television station Venezuelan Television Corporation (VTV), holding a crypto hardware storage device allegedly developed by major wallet supplier Trezor. The video is posted on the official Facebook page of President Maduro. Trezor says it is unaware of the alleged Trezor representatives who appeared on the Venezuelan national TV alongside Maduro. Trezor says it is investigating In a news segment titled "Private companies of cryptocurrency are operative in Venezuela," Maduro was meeting a company that introduced themselves as alleged representatives of Trezor in Venezuela, Trezorvenezuela. The alleged representing firm has …

The Spanish-speaking world has seen major cryptocurrency and blockchain developments with a former Bolivian intelligence director claiming that Venezuela is full of secret crypto mining farms, extortionists who request Bitcoin (BTC) finding their way into Spain, and the Fintech Alliance of Latin America preparing a white paper on digital identity. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph en Español. Former intelligence director: Venezuela is full of secret government-led mining farms Manuel Figuera, a former director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, said that the Venezuelan government is secretly running crypto …

A Chilean-based exchange says its goal is to deliver easy access to crypto for the Latin American community. Cripto InterCambio’s offering comes amid growing interest in the industry across the region. Confronted with ever-increasing levels of hyperinflation, Venezuelans have been embracing crypto — with record trading volumes reported as consumers abandon the bolivar. The country’s central bank has also been exploring whether or not to hold Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in its coffers, adding validity to crypto in the eyes of the public. The company says its exchange service is instantaneous and that more than 100 cryptocurrencies — including …

Bittrex International, Malta-based international unit of United States’ crypto exchange Bittrex, will cease operations in Venezuela and 30 other countries. No clear reason for the action In an email to Venezuelan customers, Bittrex International announced that the exchange will halt account and trading access to users on Oct. 29, asking them to withdraw their funds with the exchange before that date, Cointelegraph en Español reports on Oct. 19. According to the report, the Malta-based international trading platform of Bittrex has informed its entire user base in Venezuela that it will stop its services for users in the country without citing …

Two Venezuelan companies have partnered to release a cryptocurrency debit card and point-of-sale (PoS) system. “Crypto transfer device” supports four currencies According to a social media release by state-sanctioned exchange CriptoLAGO on Oct. 1, the joint offering with so-called “investment cryptobank” Glufco is already taking orders. A translated part of the announcement states: “What we were waiting for, our alliance with Glufco, puts us at the forefront.” The system will provide support for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Dash (DASH) and Petro, the Venezuelan government’s state-backed digital currency. Neither offering, it appears, will feature support for fiat currency, including the country’s …