Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, published an executive order yesterday in which he prohibited the US citizens to buy any cryptocurrency emitted or backed up by the Venezuelan government after January 9th, 2018. This order comes as a new instance of the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States of America.
The order says that any individual living in the United States, as well as any judicial entity operating in the country, cannot participate in the trading of Petro, a token emitted by the government of Venezuela. The order also encompasses any other digital assets backed up by the current government of Venezuela.
The Trump’s executive order contains the following text: “All transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in, by a United States person or within the United States, any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token, that was issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on or after January 9, 2018, are prohibited as of the effective date of this order.”
The Venezuelan government is defined in the order as any entity associated with it, specifically including the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), but also any other individual controlled or acting on behalf of Venezuela.
Similarly, the Secretary of the US Treasury is authorized to enact any regulation dealing with this type of actions or delegate this work to other governmental bodies, as long as it consults with the Secretary of the States.
The order also warns the people that affected by this new measure: “For those persons whose property and interests in property are affected by this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual.”
Nevertheless, it is unknown how this process will be controlled since anyone can exchange petros for other cryptocurrencies before selling them for US dollars.
This measure that was circulating as a rumor for some time might strongly affect the circulation of the Venezuelan cryptocurrency, because the large cryptocurrency exchanges registered in the US, such as GDAX or Poloniex, are unable to integrate the Venezuelan cryptocurrencies in their platforms.
The Venezuelan government has not yet responded to these measure introduced by the US president. The executive order affects Petro, the first cryptocurrency announced last December and Petro Oro, another cryptocurrency emitted by the Venezuelan government announced last month. The presale of Petro concludes today.
