The US is seeking tougher sanctions against Petro

A bipartisan group of senators in the United States is seeking to tighten sanctions against Venezuela and its Petro currency. The proposed sanctions would extend and strengthen the presidential order prohibiting US residents from providing any assistance to the Venezuelan government in its efforts to launch Petro.

The legislative initiative, first introduced to Congress on September 24 and entitled the Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance, Reconstruction and Rule of Law Act of 2018, covers a variety of issues, including tougher sanctions on government-backed cryptocurrency in Venezuela.

It also includes an order from President Donald Trump in March that imposed sanctions on Venezuela for seeking to circumvent already existing economic constraints with Petro. The proposed bill expands and extends the provisions of the presidential order prohibiting US residents from “providing financing and software” to the Venezuelan government for the issuance of any digital asset, including Petro.

US Senators are pushing for tougher sanctions against the Venezuelan Petro. The proposed document is described in the explanatory note as intended "to provide humanitarian assistance to the Venezuelan people and Venezuelan migrants, to promote a constitutional and democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela, to solve Venezuela's economic problems, combat public corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering and other purposes."

Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, an information and analytical organization that focuses on on the impact of cryptocurrencies on public policy, stated about the sanctions: “While Venezuela's attempt to issue a national cryptocurrency is new, there is nothing new about the United States restricting financial transactions with sanctioned countries,” and also added: “Issuing cryptocurrency will not help Venezuela avoid sanctions.”

Official Public Sale Petro, the nation's oil-backed digital asset, is scheduled to launch on November 5th. But already in August Sovereign Bolivar, tied to Petro, was released. Later, the entire system of social payments, salaries, pensions and prices was tied to the national crypto-asset, announced by the government back in February, but never fully operational. And from October 1, Petro was supposed to become the main currency for international payments of the republic..

Recently, Nicolas Maduro assured the country's citizens about the upcoming release of Petro Oro, another national cryptocurrency, but only backed by gold.