In Washington, Venezuela's Plan to Create a 'Bitcoin' Seen as a Sign of Desperation
In Washington, Venezuela's Plan to Create a 'Bitcoin' Seen as a Sign of Desperation
“The potential for massive corruption is huge and Venezuela has become a society that’s really overtaken by corruption,” said AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth in response to Venezuela's plans to launch a national crypto-currency.
Venezuela’s announcement that it plans to launch a national crypto-currency to evade U.S. sanctions has been met with skepticism in Washington, where lawmakers see the proposal as a sign of the regime’s increasing desperation...
Although Maduro did not go into detail about how the Petro would work, he said in a television address on Sunday that it would have the backing of the country’s oil and mineral reserves. Crypto-currencies, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, typically aren’t backed by governments or central banks...
“Who would actually use a Venezuelan crypto-currency, honestly?” said Eric Farnsworth, the Vice President of the Council of the Americas. “Only the most desperate or the most lawless would try to avail themselves of this.”...
Farnsworth pointed to the corruption within the country’s current currency exchange system and said a crypto-currency could provide another similar opportunity. “The potential here for massive corruption is huge and Venezuela has become a society that’s really overtaken by corruption,” he said...
