Citing US sanctions against Venezuela, Paxful, a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange platform, has notified its clients that it will no longer accept transactions from the most important financial institution in Venezuela, the Bank of Venezuela.

As a matter of fact, trading in Venezuela for the digital currency is now more difficult for bitcoin traders, even though Venezuela leads the region of Latin America in Bitcoin trading volume.

In addition, Paxful explained through an email sent to customers that the compliance department of the firm is required to cooperate with the U.S. Foreign Asset Control Office. Because of this, the email stressed that any trades made through the state-owned bank would be deactivated instantly.

Only trades through Bank of Venezuela are restricted

According to a post shared through the firm’s website, Venezuela is among the counties with international sanctions imposed on them. Although Venezuelans are not restricted from carrying out P2P trades on the platform, cryptocurrency traders in the Latin American nation are mandated to confirm their identities and prove that they are not people who “threaten international stabilization efforts.” 

Meanwhile, only trades through the apex bank of Venezuela are banned. The latest change shocked cryptocurrency traders and the industry as a whole. For a long time, payments were facilitated through the State-owned bank, even with the embargoes in effect. In response to further explaining the matter by a Paxful user on Twitter, the firm stated, “Venezuela, and now this government-regulated bank, are part of the list of countries sanctioned by OFAC.” 

Other P2P platforms accepting transactions through the central bank

LocalBitcoin accounts for an enormous amount of Bitcoin trade in Venezuela, outdoing Paxful by far according to Useful Tulips data. Other peer-to-peer exchange giants Binance also allows transactions through the  Bank of Venezuela.

Over social media platforms and private chat rooms, paxful users expressed dissatisfaction with the platform ‘s latest decision. According to Luiz Elvis, a crypto trader who joined the Paxful community to champion the adoption of petro cryptocurrency: “I think this measure affects the development of the crypto ecosystem in Venezuela. It seems to me that the company is exaggerating [the effect of the sanctions].”