Venezuela’s central bank is exploring the possibilities of holding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in its coffers, according to anonymous sources who reportedly have direct insights into the matter.
Can the central bank store Bitcoin and Ether?
According to a Sept. 26 Bloomberg article, the central bank of Venezuela is taking a closer look at whether they have the possibility to store cryptocurrencies.
The
state-run oil and gas company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PSDV), had
requested the central bank look into the matter after the oil producer
ran into difficulties receiving payments from international clients due
to U.S. sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s current
regime.
The unnamed sources said that the PSDV is looking to
transfer Bitcoin and Ether to the Venezuelan central bank and then have
the central institution pay its suppliers in cryptocurrencies.
Crypto could count toward international reserves
In
the hope of overcoming its isolation from the global financial system,
the Venezuelan central bank is reportedly studying proposals that would
see cryptocurrencies counted toward the country’s international
reserves, which currently sit at a 30-year low of $7.9 billion.
Venezuela received its first Bitcoin ATM
Cointelegraph reported
in September that after multiple false starts, Venezuela’s first crypto
ATM was installed in the city of San Antonio del Táchira. The Latin
American firm Panda BTM installed the machine which supports
cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and DASH, as well as the official currency of Venezuela and Colombian pesos.
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