Expert Believes Petro Cryptocurrency Is Helping Venezuelan People Bypass Sanctions
- Cryptocurrency adoption is steadily increasing in Venezuela.
- The South American nation's citizens have suffering from one of the worst economic crises in history with the Bolivar becoming practically worthless.
Venezuelan Petro Moves Towards A New Phase
The Petro is now accepted in many shops in the country, according to Ricardo Baptista, the director of the Latin American Cryptoeconomy Corporation, the Venezuelan government wants to help the economy by promoting the use of virtual currencies, including the government-backed Petro.
The goal is to solve the many problems that the current Venezuelan economy is experiencing.
Using Virtual Currencies In Order to Circumvent International Sanctions
Mr. Baptista explained that the government of Venezuela is currently promoting the use of virtual currencies in order to improve its economy. The main goal is to avoid the negative effects of a massive blockade on the Venezuelan economy. Using virtual currencies, the country is able to evade these sanctions.
He has also mentioned that virtual currencies are now being used by the Venezuelan population and are starting to think in a different way the financial culture they have.
On the matter, he commented:
“Our currency, the bolivar, has been hit hard and what we are looking for is that financial technology is that the bolivar has a value, not on paper, but as a digital asset.”
During a conversation with the radio show “A tiempo,” which is broadcasted by Unión Radio, he said that cryptocurrency adoption was growing in the country due to the proliferation of different businesses and content distribution companies. Indeed, digital assets are currently being used for online payments, purchases and more.
The country is experiencing a very hard crisis in which individuals are not able to have access to basic goods and other services. Cryptocurrencies could have a positive effect on the economy and the population that is living in a very difficult situation.
The government has decided to create a digital currency called The Petro that tried to diminish the effects of these sanctions on the population. Although it has not been used for a long period of time and many experts believe that it was never going to be used by people in the country, it seems that there are some individuals already using it.
As reported by José Antonio Lanz, a Venezuelan crypto journalist, there are some businesses that have implemented the currency and it can be traded in six local exchanges. At the moment it is not possible to provide a positive future for the digital currency since the United States has imposed strict sanctions against those who deal with the virtual currency.
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