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MetaMask Blocks Venezuelan Users Amid Sanctions

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Venezuelan MetaMask users claim they can no longer use the popular digital asset wallet.

On Wednesday, messages concerning the problem began to appear on social media, with multiple cases spreading by late Thursday morning. The API for Infura, a blockchain node infrastructure network, is thought to be the culprit.

“MetaMask and Infura are inaccessible in some areas due to legal compliance,” a MetaMask help website updated an hour before press time.

A screenshot of an error message similar to the type that has been circulating on social media, which has put users unhappy.

The news of the restrictions sparked debate over whether or not VPNs could be used to get around the problem.

The Infura reconfiguration had a knock-on impact on wallet users, according to MetaMask. However, users were not barred. “MetaMask uses Infura as its default endpoint,” the company’s official account tweeted, adding, “although this configuration may be updated by users if desired, or in the event of any service outages.”

MetaMask abiding to US sanctions

The extent to which the claimed blockades indicate a tightening of restrictions in relation to other nations sanctioned by the US and other governments is still unknown. Although a majority of the current complaints appear to be about Venezuelan access, users from Iran and Lebanon appear to have been affected.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and other countries imposed harsh sanctions on the land.

Western nations have imposed limitations on state-owned firms, government officials, and oligarchs, in addition to freezing hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign deposits and disconnecting individual Russian banks’ links with the SWIFT messaging network.

Sanctions imposed by the United States apply to firms doing business in the United States, including ConsenSys and its products, to ensure that no assets are transferred to forbidden nations, corporations, or persons.

However, because the penalties are designed to be targeted, most ordinary persons’ cryptocurrency transactions are not expected to be immediately harmed.

As a result, the blanket Infura ban of “certain regions” has sparked concerns that ConsenSys has limited access to innocent individuals to comply with government demands.

Venezuela Citizens To Have 24/7 Access To Bitcoin With Blockstream’s Satellite Node

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Developed countries steering towards the adoption of technological developments, developing countries, and underdeveloped countries aren’t lagging behind. Particularly in the adoption of cryptocurrencies, the latter has been keener on the topic. Venezuela stands as substantial proof of the same. The latest news from the country further emphasizes its interest in cryptocurrencies.

Satellites To Address Internet Issues

The economic instability in Venezuela has left its citizens as well as the government veering towards cryptocurrencies for relief. While attaining proper internet connectivity could be a task in certain regions of the world, satellite nodes have come as a ray of hope. Utilizing Blockstream’s technology, Anibal Garrido and AnibalCripto set up the space node in Venezuela. The prominent crypto startup, Cryptobuyer reportedly spearheaded the entire event, as it provides services related to Bitcoin across Central and South America.

In its blog post, Cryptobuyer pointed out that the latest infrastructure eliminates the necessity for a local internet connection to access Bitcoin. Employing Blockstream’s EUTELSAT-113, the startup carried out its first transaction through the satellite and emerger successful.

Stressing the importance of addressing real-world problems, the CEO of CryptoBuyer, Jorge Farias said,

“For example, we already deployed Bitcoin ATMs and Bitcoin point-of-sale terminals across the region, and also launched a fiat-crypto exchange platform. Now with the Bitcoin satellite node, we address the local issues of internet connectivity in Venezuela. Users can’t afford to be cut off from the Bitcoin network!”

Adam Back’s Blockstream made an entry to Central America with this latest partnership and would reportedly prolong it. The capital of Venezuela, Caracas, and Boliver State are yet to have nodes installed.  At present, this Bitcoin satellite is limited to the residents of Valencia. Furthermore, Cryptobuyer intends to cover the entire county allowing users within the proximity of the satellite nodes to connect via local mesh networks.

Anibal Garrido, the CEO at AnibalCripto also commented on the latest innovation. Garrido stated,

“Having a 24/7 always-available digital money system independent of local internet infrastructure is now a reality.”

While the electricity, as well as internet services in Venezuela, are considered to be below average, the latest innovation could aid the adoption of crypto in the country.

P2P Bitcoin Exchange Paxful Announces Departure from Venezuela

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Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela has so far failed to tackle corruption that exists at every government level, chronic shortages of food and medicine, unemployment, growing human rights violations, and not to forget – the rampant hyperinflation.

At a time of such a massive scale of socio-economic and political crises, Venezuelans had turned to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But now the picture looks grim as the country saw yet another crucial cryptocurrency exchange exit amid stringent regulation.

The North American Bitcoin exchange, Paxful announced pulling out its operations from Venezuela citing strict regulations and the platform’s own risk tolerance that have proved to be a major setback for the P2P Bitcoin exchange as the reason for exiting.

 

Paxful’s departure from the country highlights a myriad of issues when it comes to operating a cryptocurrency exchange, something that has been associated with giving back the power to the people, in a country stricken with a bad economy among other crisis.

The platform had previously sent a notice to its customers in Venezuela that it will no longer allow trades using Bank of Venezuela due to US President Donald Trump’s sanctions against the country. The company had cited that its compliance team must adhere to the sanctions related to the Office of Foreign Assets Control [OFAC].

The OFAC, which is a department of the American Treasury, had recently imposed a new set of sanctions on firms involved in businesses with Venezuela and the Nicolás Maduro regime. Further, Paxful listed Venezuela as one of the OFAC sanctioned / high-risk countries.

The official page of Paxful also detailed

“As a US company, we comply with the penalties of the OFAC. OFAC is a division of the US Department of the Treasury that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security objectives against foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international drug traffickers. , those involved in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other threats to national security, foreign policy, or the economy of the United States.”

Ukraine, Venezuela Way Ahead Of US In Terms Of Crypto Adoption

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The first cryptocurrency was dropped into the world in 2008. More than a decade later and thousands of cryptocurrencies have been launched so far, the industry has seen a significant increase in both value and popularity. From being associated with the dark web to being widely adopted across the globe, the crypto-verse has come a long way. The rate of adoption and the current value of cryptocurrencies stands as substantial proof. The latest report from Chainalysis further gives a peek into the countries behind the increased adoption rates.

US And UK Far Behind In The Crypto Game

While the world assumes financial leaders like the United States of America or the United Kingdom are open to innovation and encourage digitalization, Chainalysis’s latest report says otherwise. Even though authorities across the globe are realizing the importance of crypto, the adoption rate in several countries is still slow or stagnant. However, beating the US and China to the top, Ukraine, Russia, and Venezuela were the top players in terms of crypto adoption.

Research platform, Chainalysis shared a report titled “The 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index: Cryptocurrency is a Global Phenomenon.” The report pointed out that Ukraine had the highest rate of adoption. The platform used four metrics to rank a total of 154 countries keeping in mind factors like population and the size of the economy of different countries. The sum of all the metrics further facilitated the ranking of the countries.

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The above table clearly indicates that developing nations were keener on incorporating crypto into their lives. Venezuela has been in the news following its severe economic conditions. The report revealed that the citizens of Venezuela were using crypto more than the country’s native fiat itself. Since Venezuela’s native currency, the Bolivar has been losing its value following inflation. The report further read,

“We also see this pattern in other Latin American countries, as well as Africa, East Asia, and elsewhere. Our data and interviews also suggest that some residents in many developing countries use cryptocurrency to carry out commercial transactions.”

Furthermore, the countries with the lowest rate of crypto adoption included Afghanistan, Algeria, Cape Verde, Chad, Fiji, Laos, Libya, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, West Bank and Gaza, and Zimbabwe. This list, however, includes countries that are currently under oppression and have limited sources. The web activity in each of these countries was lower than that of the other countries that are ranked higher.

Venezuela Outlaws Crypto Mining Activities in the Country

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Venezuela has recently banned the trade in crypto mining in the country. The ban is mainly aimed at citizens who reside in all government-owned houses and in all their surrounding vicinity. In a maiden announcement on Friday, Minister of Habitat and Housing, Iidemaro Villarroel, said that the continued use of crypto mining could have an impact on the distribution of electricity in the country.

Besides, the Minister said Crypto ‘s ban on mining was part of the Great Home Project. In his speech, the Minister revealed that crypto mining and other instruments involved in its operations consumed a lot of power. This, in turn, violated the government’s already formulated electricity distribution policy. He added,” In this coordinated work, we have detected the harmful effects of these elements of high electrical demand in the public houses of the Grand Mision Vivienda project.”

Venezuela’s Great home project plans

The Great Home Projects (Gran Misión Vivienda) involve the government’s plans to provide grant housing to local Venezuelan citizens with low incomes. The government is targeting the poor and providing them with adequate housing despite the harsh economic environment that the county is currently facing. And the government has also managed to deliver around 3 million homes to the citizens in their efforts towards the project.

Around 151 houses were also distributed to different families in the nation’s capital of Caracas; back last year. It is precisely these government-owned houses and their surroundings that have notified the ban. They insist that all crypto mining trades in these households are considered illegal and a crime punishable by law.

Crypto mining effects on the country’s electricity supply system

The Venezuela government has attributed the Crypto mining trade to directly affecting the power grid. They insist the mining process tends to consume a lot of power, thus affecting the distribution of electricity throughout the country. Back in 2019, there were reports of the national electrical shutdown after the Guri hydroelectric dam failed; further proving a significant problem that needs to be addressed.

Bank of Venezuela Banned by P2P Exchange Firm Due to US Sanctions

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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].”

Venezuela Crypto Head Added to Most Wanted List by US Customs Authorities

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The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations office based in New York city announced on June 1 that it had included Venezuela crypto head to its most persons list.

According to the ICE, the superintendent to Venezuela’s cryptocurrency,  Joselit de la Trinidad Ramirez Camacho is cited to have  “having deep political, social, and economic ties to multiple alleged narcotics kingpins,” which includes Tareck EI Aissami. The Venezuela crypto head is being charged for allegedly infringing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Kingpin Act, on top of several other policies.

$5 million bounty placed on Venezuela crypto head 

Moreover, the United States authorities have placed a hefty $ million bounty on any information that may lead to the arrest of the Venezuela crypto head. Camocho is the current premier of Venezuela’s cryptocurrency, heading the country’s oil backed Petro digital currency.

Particularly, Venezuela developed its own digital currency backed by the country’s oil reserves back in 2018 to combat the high inflation rate amid international sanctions by the United States. Indeed, the South American nation’s government even went to the extent of forcing its citizens to use the oil-backed cryptocurrency.

US Department of Justice accuses Venezuela President of Narco-terrorism

If arrested, the Venezuela cryptocurrency superintendent will be sent to the United States and charged in the Southern District of New York. Back in May, New York district attorney Geoffrey Berman, accused Ramirez Camacho of participating in a corrupt class of top Venezuelan officials which includes the country’s president Nicolas Maduro.

According to the attorney, the group is operating a; “narco-terrorism partnership” intent on flooding “the United States with cocaine in order to undermine the health and wellbeing of our nation. Additionally, Berman claimed that Maduro and 14 other high-profile government officials such as Padrino Lopez, Diosdado Cabello, Tareck El Aissami; among others run the narco-terrorism operations; and a series of rewards have been announced for information leading to their capture.

Venezuela Increases Monthly Minimum Wage to $2 as Citizens Protest Failed Promise

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Countries in Latin America have taken to the cryptocurrency market due to the problems they face with their national currencies. Venezuela was a major example in this department, taking its citizens to crypto to avoid Bolivar’s crumbling.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently took to the public forum to inform that the government would be raising the minimum wage in the country by a 100 percent. While the figure looks good on paper, the ground reality was that the new wage will only amount to a measly $2. 

The incumbent government revealed its latest decision in line with the country’s tradition of raising wages before Labor Day on May 1. As per the latest overhaul, the daily wage earners will now earn a minimum of 400,000 bolivars from the earlier 250,000 bolivars. Comparing the hike to Venezuela’s official cryptocurrency, Petro, it was noticed that the figure would jump to 0.039 or 0.0003 BTC.

Venezuelans have been clamouring for an increase in the daily wage for a long time and the new change is not expected to do a lot for their morale. Analysts claimed that 0.0039 petros is only enough to buy one kilogram of meat, a far cry from obtaining other basic necessities. A litre of edible oil costs $1 while a kilogram of rice is priced the same. An on-ground report stated:

“To acquire the 27 basic products regulated by the government, a Venezuelan needs $ 32.65 or 5.58 million bolivars at the official exchange rate of April 25, 171,072 Bs./$. The amount is equivalent to 22 minimum wages, which since January is located at 250,000 bolivars, or 1.4 dollars at the BCV rate.”

The latest value may be confusing to a lot of people, because Petro, linked to daily wages, was not the same as Petro’s cryptocurrency. The second Petro acts just as a unit of account and has not inherent connection with the national cryptocurrency. This is why the monthly minimum wage was set at 40,000, which is roughly $2.

Nicholas Maduro’s government had initially promised that the daily wages would be hiked to 0.5 which was equivalent to almost $30. The premier had instructed his cabinet to carry forward the changes which came to nothing because of internal conflicts within his cabinet. Citizens came out in droves to protest the decision as it was a total u-turn from what was promised.

Reports stated that the promised raise would have been at least 10 times the new minimum wage, something that the struggling people of the country did not take lightly. The current predicament was another black mark for Petro as it only seemed to increase the people’s problems rather than alleviate it. The Center of Documentation and Analysis for Workers said that a family would need 77 times the current wage to sustain their needs.

Banking Closure in Venezuela Drives Bitcoin Trading Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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Following the spread of coronavirus across the world, President Maduro has ordered national quarantine in Venezuela. Only 33 cases of COVID-19 were reported to have been confirmed in the South American nation. Irrespective of the number, the President decided on March 17 to put the whole country in quarantine.

The emergency action taken by President Maduro’s administration will prevent Venezuela’s health system from being flooded with the rapid spread of infection. In compliance with the decree, the banks in Venezuela have been closed for an indefinite period of time. However, even though this decision crippled the country’s banking system, it spurred bitcoin trading on peer-to-peer trading platforms.

Venezuelans not worried over banking closure

Venezuelans do not seem to be very concerned about the closure of the banking system. The country has been through severe economic conditions, and cash shortages are not a rare occurrence. The lack of technological infrastructure and dependence on the US dollar has already begun to push people away from traditional banking.

Venezuela’s informal economy is thriving through barter trade, gold, cash, and digital currencies are the latest addition. Peer-to-peer exchange platform, LocalBitcoins has endured its largest trading activity this year as a result of growing interest in digital currencies. At the end of February, the traded volume of bitcoin was at 491 BTC which has eventually hiked to 540 BTC. Additionally, the trades for bitcoin against the U.S. dollar stood at 479 BTC.

Moving forward, the economic impacts of COVID-19 appear to be triggering a massive adoption of digital currencies across South America. LocalBitcoins have increased by more than 30% in Peru and approximately 15% in Colombia over the last seven days.The last time we saw such figures was back in 2019 when the price of bitcoin escalated after a long period of crypto winter.

peru
Peru

columbia
Columbia

Coronavirus threatens Venezuela’s Petro program

President Maduro vowed back in January to make Petro cryptocurrency a success. Biopago (Petro’s payment system) then temporarily suspended service delivery to the public. However, the President ordered all state services to be priced and paid for the use of petro cryptocurrency.

In fact, some Venezuelan crude oil buyers have stopped doing business with Venezuela. This is because the port officials of the South African nation began demanding port fees in the controversial Petro cryptocurrency.

The threat posed by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic appears to have thrown cold water on President Maduro’s endeavor to impel the adoption of petro cryptocurrency in Venezuela. The last major activity by the president to stir oil-backed Petro use was back in January. Then, Maduro launched Petro-powered casinos from which health and education programs will be funded. 

In addition, the announcement of the casinos came after President Maduro ordered the sale of airline fuel; for international flights to be sanctioned by the use of petro. Despite the government’s efforts to drive the adoption of petro in the country, the Venezuelans were not convinced by the idea of petro. A couple of weeks ago, Venezuelans sold the oil-backed petro digital currency at half the official set price of $60.

 

Thousands of ATM’s in Mexico will now have Dash Cryptocurrency

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The United States and Latin America combined have become great hot spots for cryptocurrency adoption. Out of this, Latin American countries have taken a bigger bite because of the relentless updates within the cryptocurrency industry.

Dash cryptocurrency, one of the major altcoins on the charts has been a very good friend of growing economies. After enjoying great runs in countries such as Venezuela and Colombia, Dash has now set its eyes on Mexico.

Dash coin will be added to over 11,000 ATMs in Mexico creating a massive influx of crypto interest. The addition comes in the wake of a partnership between Dash Pay and cryptocurrency firm Tauros. Tauros is a known crypto remittance organization in Mexico popular for its goal to make it easy for people to buy crypto.

With the latest addition, users of the ATM will be able to buy Dash with Mexican Peso. The Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of Dash Core Ryan Taylor stated that the ‘great partnership’ will pave way for more developments in the region. He added:

“[The Bitcoin ATMs] Infrastructure that can continue growing our Latam [Latin-America] remittances strategy going forward and help expand our use for payments in Mexico, even among the unbanked. This is another great partner for Dash.”

The cryptocurrency market has stayed strong in economies with flailing economies. That was the main reason why Dash and Bitcoin became superstars in countries such as Venezuela. Earlier studies had shown that merchants in Venezuela had begun accepting Dash coin as a mode of payment for basic necessities. This decision came in the midst of the country imposing its own state-backed cryptocurrency, the Sovereign Bolivar.

Reports have also predicted that Dash cryptocurrency may have over 1 million users in Venezuela by the end of 2020. Mark Mason spotted that from May 2019 to December 2019, there was a 562 percent increase in Dash wallet usage in Venezuela. The number of devices using the Dash wallet application had risen from 7,597 in May to 50,336 in December.

Experts spotted that citizens use cryptocurrencies because of a need for transitional currency. This was to counter the insane hyperinflation rate int he country, a figure that was touted to hit a million percent by the end of 2019.

Dash and Bitcoin have been openly praised by the citizens of oppressed countries for its decentralized nature. Dash cryptocurrency can take pride in the fact that it was giving financial power back to the people rather than the government. Officials claimed that the increase in use cases will also result in an increase in its price.

At press time, Dash was trading for $115.82 with a total market cap of $1.076 billion. The 16th ranked cryptocurrency had a 24-hour market volume of $1.137 billion after a 2.13 percent hike on the daily charts.