PDVSA, Venezuela’s government-owned oil company, is reportedly planning to boost its use of cryptocurrencies for exporting crude oil and fuel, in response to tightening US sanctions on Venezuelan oil.
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, ranking fifth in global oil exports, is resorting to using stablecoin Tether (USDT) for its fuel sales, following the reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against it due to insufficient electoral changes, according to sources close to the situation who spoke with Reuters.
PDVSA’s use of cryptocurrency for oil sales is not yet clear-cut, but sources claim that the company has been transitioning towards USDT transactions since late last year. Venezuelan oil minister Pedro Tellechea acknowledged to Reuters that Venezuela employs various currencies based on contractual agreements, implying that crypto could be an acceptable form of payment in certain deals.
According to reports, PDVSA may require both new and current clients to keep cryptocurrencies in digital wallets for their business dealings. It’s uncertain if this is PDVSA’s preferred payment method or just an alternative option.
In the past, attempts to use crypto in Venezuela have been met with difficulties, as demonstrated by the recent shutdown of the Petro project. Introduced in 2018 as a government-backed digital currency linked to oil reserves, Petro was beset by issues and failed to capture the interest of the population.
Although President Nicolas Maduro had initially hoped that Petro would help him bypass U.S. sanctions and resolve economic issues, the token’s failure in January signaled the end of a nearly six-year endeavor.
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2024-04-23 11:51