The President signed a new Executive Order today making it unlawful to engage in transactions involving digital currency issued by the Venezuelan government. The Executive Order makes official prior guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which stated that dealings related to Venezuelan digital currency would likely be prohibited under existing sanctions.
Last year Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared that Venezuela would issue a digital currency to help the Venezuelan government and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the state-owned oil company, avoid U.S. sanctions. New guidance released by OFAC today confirms that the Venezuelan “petro” and “petro gold” currencies are subject to the new restrictions.
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