Venezuelan Government Accused of Using Bitcoin to Bypass US Sanctions

As the Venezuelan Inflation Rate Jumps to 10,000,000%, Sunacrip Collects Taxes in Crypto
The state of the Venezuelan economy and political system has been in disarray and the whole world has been watching the events unfold. The country’s legal tender, the sovereign bolivar, has suffered from massive hyperinflation and the Venezuelan fiat currency recently reached an inflation rate of 10,000,000%. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been a controversial leader who recently introduced the first nation-state issued cryptocurrency, the petro. There’s been a lot of conflicting reports concerning the petro and the government agency behind the operation called Sunacrip. The National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip) agency manages the petro distribution and the collection of other cryptocurrencies. Through Sunacrip and other state-sanctioned cryptocurrency exchanges, Venezuelans can supposedly obtain petro by purchasing the Venezuelan digital currency with assets like BTC and LTC. Venezuelan native Pedro Peroza believes that Sunacrip was implicitly built to collect taxes using various cryptocurrencies. “Sunacrip is promoting a remittance exchange platform using bitcoin,” Peroza explained five months ago. “I believe that its main objective is the collection of taxes in cryptocurrency, for that, a law was approved in the ANC (National Assembly Madurista) where what stands out is the collection of taxes.”
The Digital Mining Administration’s objective is the planning, coordination, promotion and execution of digital mining activities and associated processes, licensing and certificates for the import, export, development and usufruct of said activities in the national territory.
Florida Company Jetman Pay Allegedly Helps Convert Maiquetía Airport Airline Taxes Into Cryptocurrencies
On July 22, regional publications reported that Maduro’s regime is being accused of collecting taxes from airline travelers and then converting the funds to BTC to escape U.S. sanctions. The report details that travelers purchase tickets through an application called Jetman Pay, a firm located in Florida. The process allegedly helps convert the airline tax into BTC in order to send the funds to regime accounts held internationally. ABC International says the crypto is being sent to countries like Russia, China, and Bulgaria in exchange for fiat reserves. “Through digital wallets, they convert the tax payment into bitcoins and divert them to accounts abroad. According to airport sources consulted, the bitcoins are transferred to international exchange houses located in Hong Kong, Russia, China, and Hungary,” ABC International reported. “An addendum (modification of a certificate of registration) to which ABC had access, was signed by the Director-General of the IAIM (Maiquetía Airport), Admiral Carlos José Viera Acevedo and the director of Barracuda Solutions, Ángel Lovera.”
The US Financial Blockade Imposed by the Trump Administration
Speculators believe the whole idea of converting taxes into cryptocurrencies and sending them to foreign accounts owned by the regime is meant to circumvent the U.S. financial blockade. During the second week of April, the Trump administration imposed harsh sanctions against Venezuela and the country’s central bank. The move is meant to restrict President Maduro and tighten the finances stemming from the United Socialist Party. The financial blockade severs the Venezuelan central bank’s access to the U.S. dollar. Venezuela under Maduro’s regime has defaulted on loans but is still able to sell gold and oil to various nations in the Middle East, Russia, and Turkey. Just before the mid-April extended sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, the Venezuelan central banks sold eight tons of gold for $400 million. Estimates claim that there’s still around $8.6 billion worth of gold reserves under the United Socialist Party’s control.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Barracuda Solutions, Jetman, Pixabay, and Sunacrip.
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Airline Airline Taxes Barracuda Solutions BCDA Aeronautical Solutions BTC Collecting Taxes in Crypto Digital Mining Administration Florida Jetman Pay litecoin LTC Maiquetía Airport National Assembly Madurista Nicolas Maduro Pedro Peroza Petro Sunacrip United Socialist Party of Venezuela venezuelan-government