Trump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela

[Baofeng]

Trump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela on Wednesday as the Trump administration sought to boost pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the countries that support him.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-bolton/trump-security-adviser-bolton-unveils-new-u-s-sanctions-to-pressure-cuba-idUSKCN1RT29X

Do you think that the pressure on Maduro will be that effective? And what does it mean to Venezuelans who's into bitcoin already? Will this sanctions be another use case how bitcoin is really going to be used a medium of exchange?

Last February I posted this one Bitcoin Trading In Venezuela Keeps Setting New Records and it seems this trend will continue.

[fiulpro]

I would make it short and simple:-

It won't affect the cryptocurrency in any way .
Since the cryptocurrency is already being regulated by the IS government and Bitcoins is doing good enough with some restrictions then I don't think they are doing this in relationship with Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrencies.
Cuba's leader needs to be pressurized so that he doesn't take over the step of the former leader .

[pishite]

Venezuelans using bitcoin is not threatened. Since the price is regulated by the market, not the us government. Perhaps the sanctions will affect only the main economy(agriculture for example). For other aspects, there are cryptocurrency moreover, has its own El Petro coin.

[Jating]

Venezuelans using bitcoin is not threatened. Since the price is regulated by the market, not the us government. Perhaps the sanctions will affect only the main economy(agriculture for example). For other aspects, there are cryptocurrency moreover, has its own El Petro coin.

Petro coins is scam.

I guess bitcoin has been established in Venezuela already and as inflation goes up, more people will tend to see bitcoin as their saviour. The blackouts recently cause a lot of problems and if you are a bitcoin miner in Venezuela then you are heavily affected by it.

As fas as use case, well it has been proven already so I guess these recent sanctions will just push people to really go and use bitcoin as a hedge, imho.

[olumyd]

I doubt if the sanction will directly impact crypto in any way, besides, since the heightened inflation in Venezuela, the level of Bitcoin usage hasn't changed much - it's not like it matters much that the citizens are gradually becoming dependent on Bitcoin.

[Adriano2010]

I also don't think the sanctions will affect the crypto price, but this will affect the countries and i hope on future all countries somehow to make decent jobs for people and they can live from jobs and also get enough money so they can economy a part.

[Artemis3]

Trump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela on Wednesday as the Trump administration sought to boost pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the countries that support him.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-bolton/trump-security-adviser-bolton-unveils-new-u-s-sanctions-to-pressure-cuba-idUSKCN1RT29X

Do you think that the pressure on Maduro will be that effective? And what does it mean to Venezuelans who's into bitcoin already? Will this sanctions be another use case how bitcoin is really going to be used a medium of exchange?

Last February I posted this one Bitcoin Trading In Venezuela Keeps Setting New Records and it seems this trend will continue.

Unfortunately i don't think those sanctions are very effective, they are probably hurting the regime but its the people who end hurt the most. Something more substantial, like ordering their capture would move things forward. He should be getting trialed at the Hague tribunal with his close associates. They already accepted and are studying the case, but this moves at a snail pace...

Illegally, Maduro recently sold a lot of Venezuelan gold to the Russians, bypassing all the sanctions in place. This money isn't going to fix the inoperative health system or the vandalized education system, its fat money for more corruption, and crime. And the military are now trafficking newer types of minerals such as coltan or thorium, not just gold...

Its the people that loses power, water, food, medicine, education, security. The leading elite has it all, no Maduro minister is ever seen using public transport or doing grocery at a supermarket with the rest of the population, much less risk their lives in a "hospital" or walk on the streets without armed bodyguards. The truth of socialism always shows in the end, history is merely repeating itself.

Crypto trading is done to: escape hyperinflation, and evade State controls on the exchange of foreign currencies. People here are not holding to them, and can't use them to buy things, so its always exchanged back at the last minute. This is why you see so many transactions, while many in the world are content with simply buy or sell, here is always both operations or more due to the ridiculous limitations imposed to the banks by the de-facto gov What for you could be a single buy and sell operation here it could easily take 10 or more, because the limitations force to use very small amounts to avoid getting their accounts frozen (in the banks, not the exchange).

[tomahawk9]

Do you think that the pressure on Maduro will be that effective?

Only time will tell. Maduro and his regime have found several ways to bypass the US sanctions, like selling oil to Turkey and China (since they can't sell it to USA who was their main buyer), selling literally tons of gold to middle east countries in order to have a influx of foreign currency, but in the long run, they'll run out of options to circumvent sanctions.

And what does it mean to Venezuelans who's into bitcoin already?

Not much I think, they'll probably keep using bitcoin as always, as a store of value and to sell it for fiat currency.

Will this sanctions be another use case how bitcoin is really going to be used a medium of exchange?

There are no precedents where sactions to a country translates into bitcoin becoming a [official] medium of exchange.

[iamMhew]

Well, its up to Trump now. They should had made this long time ago. An economic sanction should be initiated in addition to this. Thats where it hurts most.

[Ailmand]

Valenzuela's bitcoin trading volume had spiked and had hit all time-high this is due the inflation that had occured. The reason behind this inflation is caused by corruption and government mismanagement. That is why U.S. is pressuring Maduro and doing everything they can to help venezuelan people by taking all actions to remove him as a leader.

[Yaunfitda]

People is resilient, they will always find a way to survived in crisis such as in Venezuela. If they do think that bitcoin is the only way out and help them bring food in the table so be it. As for question whether there will net effect, yes, I believed so.

And for the sanctions, I don't think that Maduro will just simply step down, he has supporters inside and outside of the country. And unless US led a coup, there's no way he will give up that easy because of the new sanctions.

[Haunebu]

Why do so many people end up assuming that everyone will begin using Bitcoin just because their government collapses or some other similar situation? It is definitely much more complicated than that.

Firstly, majority of the world population are still unaware of what Bitcoin actually is and tend to stick to traditional FIAT or gold etc even in such extreme situations.

Assuming that people will automatically adopt Bitcoin in such situations is over-optimism. Be realistic people. It will take a lot more time and effort to help people understand the importance of Bitcoin.

[Naida_BR]

The sanctions that Trump poses to Venezuela would definitely not affect Maduro.
They will possibly affect the nation of Venezuela and the citizens. Maduro is not going to leave his seat so easily and he will probably go it until the end.
Citizens will be just pushed to flee to another country in order to make a better living.

[carter34]

I think the ban is outside what bitcoin can do or can not because US does not have any global regulation on bit neither do any other country has. So, the usage of bitcoin and cryptocurrency won't be affected in those mentioned countries in my view.

[mu_enrico]

I think this is the first step to bring democracy to Venezuela. After coup d'état, it is crucial to plant a puppet dictator to this country. *If you know what I mean*

I'm afraid, Bitcoin is not a long-term solution for political and economic turmoil. However, it could help some Venezuelan to store their wealth so that they could easily escape the country.

[Crypdon]

As long as the military support maduro he will remain in power. They need to remove the military leadership otherwise the economic sanctions will simply hurt the people even more.

[Mpamaegbu]

Trump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela

The Republicans are always known for their belligerent administrations. Check the America presidential history, the George Bushes were clear examples if we want to cite the more recent examples. So, I am not sure anyone will be surprised about all the sanctions coming from the US now. I expect more to come but all these will cost Donald Trump his second term ticket.

Do you think that the pressure on Maduro will be that effective? And what does it mean to Venezuelans who's into bitcoin already? Will this sanctions be another use case how bitcoin is really going to be used a medium of exchange?

Venezuela is just a drop of water in the ocean. Apart from her oil, I am sure the US wouldn't have even looked into its internal problems. The US may oust Nicolas Maduro out of office but will that restore normalcy to Venezuela? I don't think so. As for the Bitcoin population there, i also don't think their activities will make any difference to the entire crypto space. Pedro didn't.

[Beerwizzard]

I don't really care about those sanctions. I'm not buying anything from there and not willing to visit Venezuela.
In case with crypto it also won't have any impact. Venezuela is a country where people got 6.70$ monthly income and a huge inflation. I'm a humble BTC holder but even BTC stash is equal to a monthly income of some hundreds of venezuelans. Their satoshies got no income on the general picture.

[GregH37]

So they have finally seen what will give them practical example of the usefulness of Bitcoin, so until they have problem before they see the solution that has been lying ahead of them.

It is a good thing that bitcoin is already proofing its worthy to not only individuals alone, but to the nations completely, from here, many nations would have also head of what crypto is all about and if it can really solve Venezuela crisis out, then we should expect a mega boom in the price of BTC. I am sure many of these top people would be analyzing BTC already and they may have come into conclusion that it is not a threat to their system, but rather of help.

[1Referee]

I don't really care about those sanctions. I'm not buying anything from there and not willing to visit Venezuela.
In case with crypto it also won't have any impact. Venezuela is a country where people got 6.70$ monthly income and a huge inflation. I'm a humble BTC holder but even BTC stash is equal to a monthly income of some hundreds of venezuelans. Their satoshies got no income on the general picture.

I think you're missing the bigger picture here. Admittedly, a country such as Venezuela can't do much on its own, but in that region there are plenty of more countries that are going through similar problems, and they all contribute to a growing overall demand for Bitcoin.

The lowest class (the people with $6.70 monthly you are referring to) aren't those who actually buy into Bitcoin, but the classes above them. People with money have the most to lose but also the most incentive to protect that what is left of their wealth. I'm certain that we haven't even seen 1% of what these countries are capable of in terms of Bitcoin adoption.