Trump Ban on Petro is More Venezuela, Less Cryptocurrency

The mainstream media once again has everyone up to their eyeballs is doom and gloom over the Truump ban on petro, a Cryptocurrency produced by the government of Venezuela and how The United States is cracking down on coin.

The United States has been cracking down on virtual currency since 2013.

This is nothing of that nature, this the Trump show and he's flexing a muscle with an executive order specifically banning the coin to enforce the heavily financially sanctioned country of Venezuala and many of its officials.

Trump isn't alone either, multiple government officials have approved of the move. Senator Bob Menendez said in a statement regarding petro:

"I welcome the Administration’s imposition of additional sanctions to block Maduro’s efforts to further drown Venezuela in debt and suffering. Maduro created the Venezuelan state-backed Petro cryptocurrency to explicitly circumvent U.S. sanctions and to paper over the financial calamity he inflicted on his country. Beyond sanctions evasion, the Petro was hand-tailored to perpetuate the money laundering and plundering of public resources that has tragically led Venezuela to economic ruin. With an unprecedented level of Venezuelan refugees fleeing their country amidst this growing humanitarian crisis that threatens to destabilize neighboring nations, the international community must continue coordinated efforts to increase pressure on the Maduro regime.” - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Made in Venezuela

The truth be told, nobody in the United States really makes an effort to transact with Venezuela anyway.

Venezuala is one of only 14 or so countries on the US sanctions list which include Sudan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, etc... Bitcoin traders (meaning virtual currency dealers/traders in general) clear each transaction they conduct through OFAC and this is predominately limited to individuals or companies that match restricted lists.

However, the handful of countries on the sanctions list are typically avoided all together because it's difficult to specifically know who you're actually dealing, they may be an FSE and the United States require vendors to have a very specific license to transact with sanctioned countries.

This is particularly a concern with FSE (Foreign Sanction Evaders) lists which contains a group of individuals and entities who strategically develop schemes to avoid detection and conduct transactions where they would otherwise be sanctioned.

This is not to say a trader could not conduct a legal transaction with a citizen of Venezuala. There are many citizens not directly under the sanction of whom transaction can legally be conducted with. However, it's just to say that in general, restricted countries when heavily sanctioned.

"The White House cracks down on cryptocurrency" makes a good headline that attracts readers to the mainstream outlets, and industry ones for that matter, but beyond the headlines and suspicions there's nothing more than the United States further enforcing sanctions that have been in place for years. In this case it's also been reported that Russia helps Venezuala develop the coin, which Russia of course denied, further mucking up the waters of foreign affairs.

The political reasons for this are important, sure, and sanctions aren't worth a shit if they are not enforced and given continued ongoing pressure, but outside of that, there's really 0 affect on the industry here.

In that regard and to be completely frank, who really cares?

Seriously, is anyone in the US crying today if they can't purchase petro? Unlikely. It's got to be one of the biggest "ShitCoins" to bit the market to date and likely a massive scam that's really selling "oil futures" to compensate for poor performance and production.

Besides, and the number one point to make here... who in this industry would really want a coin developed and controlled by any government in the first place?

Case in point.

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