Cryptos are moving sharply lower in response to news that President Trump has issued an executive order banning the U.S. purchases of the “Petro”, the cryptocurrency which was infamously rolled out by the Venezuelan government; the order comes as part of a campaign to put more pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
As a reminder, one month ago Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro announced that the launch of his country’s oil-backed answer to Bitcoin, Petro, raised $735 million in its first day, despite warnings by the Treasury Department that investors should stay away.
In a tweet in February, the Venezuelan leader said that investors had promised 4.8 billion yuan, or $735 million in a pre-sale of Petro, the cryptocurrency Maduro hopes will help boost Venezuela’s ailing economy. Maduro has said that he hopes the Petro will help the country skirt Western sanctions, though the U.S. Treasury has warned that it won’t be that easy. In mid-January, the department told potential Petro investors that they could be subject to sanctions against Venezuela.
“Available information indicates that, once issued, the Petro digital currency would appear to be an extension of credit to the Venezuelan government,” the Treasury department said in a statement to Reuters.
And now, the US is escalating, with Bloomberg reporting first that Trump issued the order on Monday prohibiting U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions using the oil-backed cryptocurrency. He authorized Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to issue any necessary regulations to enforce his order.
And while the EO has nothing to do with bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies, the entire crypto space dropped by 3-5%, ostensibly on concerns that any other crypto currency could fall in Trump’s sight next.
via RSS http://ift.tt/2GI3MsF Tyler Durden