In Venezuela, there has been a socioeconomic crisis for the past couple of years. This year, it managed to reach historical proportions, mostly because of the recent mismanagement and abuses made by the reigning government led by President Nicolas Maduro. As reports in the latest cryptocurrencies news show, there are signals that Venezuela could use Bitcoin and Ethereum as a means of storage for its country reserves.
The Maduro administration is currently under pressure – both economically and diplomatically – because of the international sanctions tied to the ongoing crisis. This may be a breaking point for the president and his team to turn to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) and fatten its dwindling foreign reserves.
If this move is done and carried out, the country of Venezuela could benefit in a big way. More importantly, the ETH news and BTC updates will show that the cryptocurrencies are used in a meaningful way. The increasingly alientated President Maduro will only move forward with the idea if he sees it as one that will bolster his regime further. As it stands, he may well do so – even if it is only temporary.
All of this consideration coms from a report published on September 26 on Bloomberg, where a handful of sources close to the matter said that employees at Venezuela’s central bank were studying how the institution and country of Venezuela could go about counting Bitcoin and Ethereum towards its foreign reserves.
Speaking of, such reserves (normally cash or other assets) are used by central banks to balance the payments of a nation. Venezuela’s current foreign reserve holdings are now below $8 billion, a level which has not been seen since the 1980s.
The consideration of BTC and ETH comes on the heels of state-owned oil and the natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) which is asking the nation’s central bank to see the possibility of using BTC and ETH.
The Bloomberg report also show that the company is interested in paying its suppliers with the cryptocurrencies after it became cut off from mainstream banks – and therefore cash flows. Triggered by the PDVSA request, the country’s central bank already began testing the use of Bitcoin and Ether in its international reserves.
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