Venezuela has learned how to use crypto to its advantage by adopting what helps them and discarding what hurts them.
Subject to US sanctions, Venezuela has found clever ways to use crypto to curb them while also rejecting aspects of crypto that could hurt the country. Recently, it has decided to disconnect all Bitcoin mining farms from the national power system after it experienced frequent power outages and PDVSA, state-owned oil and natural gas company, being investigated for fraud.
In April, Tether reportedly froze USDT wallets that were linked to evasion of Venezuelan sanctions as the country reportedly used the stablecoin to bypass US restrictions. PDVSA adopted USDT for its new customers, requiring them to use the stablecoin for transaction.
This was not the first time the country tried to adopt crypto as it even launched its own cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR), in 2018 before ultimately ceasing its operation in Jan 2024 amid limited adoption and the crypto never being widely used.
Despite its more recent adoption of USDT, Venezuela took a firm anti-crypto stance in March 2023 when it shut down exchanges and mining farms amid an anti-corruption investigation.
In October 2022, the country saw strong retail transaction as Venezuelans were hit hard by inflation.
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