Bitcoin and Ethereum soon in the reserves of the Central Bank of Venezuela?
by Alexander Romero 
Bitcoin and Ethereum soon in the reserves of the Central Bank of Venezuela?
This is what Bloomberg reports according to well-informed sources around the Venezuelan government.
The Central Bank of Venezuela is performing test to see if it could add Bitcoin BTC and Ethereum ETH to its international reserves.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the national oil and gas company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), has asked the Venezuelan Central Bank to pay some suppliers on its behalf using cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum!
The sources are not named and want to stay anonymous.
Nobody knows how PDVSA company managed to get some Bitcoin BTC and Ethereum ETH, but it did despite the US embargo and economic sanctions.
Venezuela is probably mining Bitcoin BTC and Ethereum ETH in the country with mining farm running 24/7.
As the country is under US sanctions, it has problems dealing with different clients in the world and is somewhat isolated from the global financial system.
Venezuela has tapped into its reserves while facing hyperinflation, but its lowest level in three decades is $ 7.9 billion.
PDVSA will probably not sell its crypto tokens (BTC and ETH) on crypto exchanges as it should be subject to KYC and would probably be rejected by most crypto exchanges because of US sanctions.
Last year, Venezuela launched an oil-based cryptocurrency, called Petro, which was distributed via an initial coin offering (ICO).
To encourage its adoption, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro ordered the country’s largest bank to accept it.
What is interesting is to see that to circumvent US sanctions, Venezuela uses cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
We talked about it in an article about Cuba and how Cubans use Bitcoin to get around American economic sanctions.
In this case, Venezuela, short of dollars to pay foreign suppliers, therefore uses cryptocurrencies to pay suppliers.
If these practices will increase, the Central Bank of Venezuela should actually have Bitcoin and Ethereum in its reserves to face future expenses for the country.
Venezuela recenlty saw the installation of its first Bitcoin ATM in the country near Colombia.
