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

[Xampeuu]

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.

Venezuela took the last resort after their currency was worthless after uncontrolled inflation. they decided to switch to cryptocurrency to change their currency. with more adoption, of course the economy will recover, as the price of bitcoin increases

[Sithara007]

These sanctions are never going to work. Look at North Korea. Sanctions have been in place for many years. Did Kim Jong Un destroyed his nuclear stockpile? Same with Venezuela. Despite all the sanctions and embargoes, has Maduro been forced to step down? And the less talked about Cuba that better. The American policy has been a gigantic failure for many decades.

[hatshepsut93]

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

No, because he's not going to give up, and he still has Russian support.

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

Probably nothing, the economy has been shit for a while. Worst thing that can happen is if Maduro will start confiscating Bitcoins.

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

Sanctions mean that the US and its allies will stop doing some business with Venezuela. No one will want to risk getting in jail or getting huge fines by trying to circumvent those sanctions, so Bitcoin is irrelevant here. Sanctions is much more than just "you can't use our banks now".

[Kevin77]

I can understand some sanctions to Venezuelan government in order to stop them a bit and than support the rebels which I think are the rightful rulers but completely stopping them should not be the way to go, maybe have a dealing with the revolution leader to lift of sanctions for them and help the general public but punishing the public in order to send a message to Venezuela is really not the proper way to go with this.

I am not even going to further in detail for Cuba because no matter how close a country to the other if you are punishing the people of a whole country for the wrong doings of the leader of a totally different country than you are definitely not playing it nice at all. Its USA after all and its Trumps advisors so I don't even know what they are thinking.

[tomahawk9]

Venezuela took the last resort after their currency was worthless after uncontrolled inflation. they decided to switch to cryptocurrency to change their currency. with more adoption, of course the economy will recover, as the price of bitcoin increases

They didn't take any last resort, no one is switching to cryptocurrency, let alone Bitcoin, those who can get bitcoins are either holding it because of its 'store of value' attribute, or they sell it right away in the black market for fiat currency that even though it's worthless, as far as I know, it's still the only official currency accepted for purchases of goods and services.

Btw, tell me, how exactly will the increase in the BTC price help the country recover from the economic collapse?

[Febo]

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

Can they leave Cuba alone?  60 years passed. WTF.   Could not those rich asses that were nationalized already got filthy rich again?  If not, let them buy Bitcoin and will be rich again in 10 years time.   This bullshit has to stop.

[BitHodler]

Can they leave Cuba alone?  60 years passed. WTF.   Could not those rich asses that were nationalized already got filthy rich again?  If not, let them buy Bitcoin and will be rich again in 10 years time.   This bullshit has to stop.

Apparently, this bullshit is worth continuing for many more decades. It really seems that there is something playing behind the scenes that we don't know about, which is the reason these sanctions look nonsensical to us.

Bitcoin they can buy at any time of the year, they don't mind seeing the price pump to $10-$20k because of how this asset could easily reach over $100k one day. This market has always been generous offering entry points.

On the other hand, do we really want these filthy rich hyenas to enter the world of crypto? I'm sure that we are way better off without them, because they will try to gain control over that what they are involved in.

[Artemis3]

On the other hand, do we really want these filthy rich hyenas to enter the world of crypto? I'm sure that we are way better off without them, because they will try to gain control over that what they are involved in.

And not everyone buying are "clean". I can imagine more than one corrupt politician from the regime moving their ill gotten assets into crypto, if they haven't done so already...

That cannot be stopped easily, at least if they are able to use one of the anonymized altcoins. Petro is garbage/scam that will simply disappear should they fall. It is pegged, yet they change the value at whim. It has infinite supply, all nodes are in a single datacenter, code is not released... Pure garbage.

Its ironic now with crypto even rogue govs can do their ill. It used to be Swiss bank accounts but not anymore...

[TheCoinGrabber]

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.

Isn't it ironic that as the the power outages increase in frequency more and more people are using bitcoins? Wouldn't this put a hamper to bitcoin adoption there?

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.

Fight or flight. History is filled with despots who have been deposed via revolution, Marcos, Ceaucescu, etc. Pull a cat's whiskers long enough and it will lash back.

[Netnox]

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

Can they leave Cuba alone?  60 years passed. WTF.   Could not those rich asses that were nationalized already got filthy rich again?  If not, let them buy Bitcoin and will be rich again in 10 years time.   This bullshit has to stop.

It is not that simple. The Cuban American community is very influential in certain states (especially in the swing state of Florida) and in case the president takes a soft stance towards that country, these people will vote en bloc against him. So at least for the next few decades, expect no change in the American stance towards Cuba.

[alyssa85]

These sanctions are never going to work. Look at North Korea. Sanctions have been in place for many years. Did Kim Jong Un destroyed his nuclear stockpile? Same with Venezuela. Despite all the sanctions and embargoes, has Maduro been forced to step down? And the less talked about Cuba that better. The American policy has been a gigantic failure for many decades.

North Korea is helped by China.

Venezuela is helped by both Russia and China - but both will extract a price. Nobody helps for free. Maduro is using Venezuela's gold reserves to buy stuff from Russia. The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

[1Referee]

The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

I doubt they even consider Bitcoin to be a viable option. Not because of the price and volatility, but more so because of how Russia seems to be in a hurry when it comes to hoarding as much Gold as possible. The same applies to China. I am fairly sure that the publicly known figures about their aggressive Gold buying doesn't reflect the reality, which is much and much higher.

Another thing is that we don't know how much value the Petrocoin has in this specific case, and if Russia is willing to prop it up and cause some sort of a pump and dump effect.

[Fabienne_ayy]

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.

new sanctions on Venezuela’s central bank to prohibit its access to U.S. dollars, it's a bit strict...

[Netnox]

Brent crude is now trading at $72 per barrel and it is well above the cost of production in Venezuela. Ideally, the economy should have stabilized due to the high oil prices. But it looks like there is no improvement in the situation and the oil production is dropping with every passing month. Why can't they just sell the oil wells to Russia and use that money to feed the people?

[usorin]

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.

There are certain times when you have to let your child grow and the same goes with those two countries, why do they have to intervene if they don't offer a real solution to their financial and political problems?

[tomahawk9]

Venezuela is helped by both Russia and China - but both will extract a price. Nobody helps for free. Maduro is using Venezuela's gold reserves to buy stuff from Russia. The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

No country in the world would accept Bitcoin for paymens of goods, services, or whatever. We barely see local stores accepting it as payments, what makes you think a sovereign state would accept Bitcoin?

Why can't they just sell the oil wells to Russia and use that money to feed the people?

Because Maduro needs to keep the "elite" happy, by elite I mean his entire crooked cabinet, the armed forces, and the paramilitaries, you know, the people that are keeping him in power. "Feed the people"?, nice joke, if only that were one of the main objective of Maduro's regime, I'm pretty sure that's at the bottom of his priority list right now.

[Artemis3]

No country in the world would accept Bitcoin for paymens of goods, services, or whatever. We barely see local stores accepting it as payments, what makes you think a sovereign state would accept Bitcoin?

Because Maduro needs to keep the "elite" happy, by elite I mean his entire crooked cabinet, the armed forces, and the paramilitaries, you know, the people that are keeping him in power. "Feed the people"?, nice joke, if only that were one of the main objective of Maduro's regime, I'm pretty sure that's at the bottom of his priority list right now.

Well so far the Russians have been more than happy to accept our gold as debt payment. Pathetic, given that gold was our reserves, and Maduro spends them illegally, simply because he needs authorization from the Legislative to use them but he doesn't recognize other branches of power that don't obey his whims.

The Chinese are getting crude oil as payment, but they are not giving us any loans anymore, the debt is too tall and the Venezuelan economy too bad.

Putin knows a thing or two about crypto, so its a bit rare he isn't accepting debt payments in bitcoin, perhaps when the next one due October comes we will know (or never) how it is that Maduro is paying debts back to Putin. We know for sure the last one was paid in gold, a plane came and all...

[Sithara007]

These sanctions are never going to work. Look at North Korea. Sanctions have been in place for many years. Did Kim Jong Un destroyed his nuclear stockpile? Same with Venezuela. Despite all the sanctions and embargoes, has Maduro been forced to step down? And the less talked about Cuba that better. The American policy has been a gigantic failure for many decades.

North Korea is helped by China.

Venezuela is helped by both Russia and China - but both will extract a price. Nobody helps for free. Maduro is using Venezuela's gold reserves to buy stuff from Russia. The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

North Korea is helped by both China and Russia, because they don't want the American military bases near their territorial border (the Americans already have a number of military bases in South Korea and Japan). Venezuela doesn't have that advantage. It is located far away from both China and Russia. Russia is currently helping them by purchasing gold and other metals, but I don't think that they are going to offer any financial assistance to the Maduro regime.

[Yakamoto]

These sanctions are never going to work. Look at North Korea. Sanctions have been in place for many years. Did Kim Jong Un destroyed his nuclear stockpile? Same with Venezuela. Despite all the sanctions and embargoes, has Maduro been forced to step down? And the less talked about Cuba that better. The American policy has been a gigantic failure for many decades.

North Korea is helped by China.

Venezuela is helped by both Russia and China - but both will extract a price. Nobody helps for free. Maduro is using Venezuela's gold reserves to buy stuff from Russia. The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

North Korea is helped by both China and Russia, because they don't want the American military bases near their territorial border (the Americans already have a number of military bases in South Korea and Japan). Venezuela doesn't have that advantage. It is located far away from both China and Russia. Russia is currently helping them by purchasing gold and other metals, but I don't think that they are going to offer any financial assistance to the Maduro regime.

Russia is taking advantage of the situation to get assets for pennies on the dollar from Venezuela. While it can be considered unethical, if the US is sanctioning Venezuela it means that other countries won't be accessing their market and the Russians can take full advantage of it. The Venezuelans don't have many options to get the basic necessities into their country either. The Russians don't want to invest in the country, but they're definitely going to take what they can get their hands on. Russia couldn't fund a permanent military base and China probably couldn't find a use for having a military base there. Venezuela will sell their resources for next to nothing, and they literally can't do anything about it until they get their internal situation under control.

[Yaunfitda]

The question is, will Russia accept bitcoin instead? Depends on the price and volatility.

I doubt they even consider Bitcoin to be a viable option. Not because of the price and volatility, but more so because of how Russia seems to be in a hurry when it comes to hoarding as much Gold as possible. The same applies to China. I am fairly sure that the publicly known figures about their aggressive Gold buying doesn't reflect the reality, which is much and much higher.

Another thing is that we don't know how much value the Petrocoin has in this specific case, and if Russia is willing to prop it up and cause some sort of a pump and dump effect.

Did Russia really support Petro though? I thought report surfaces saying that this is FUD.

https://bitcoinist.com/russia-venezuela-petro-not-happening/

And this, U.S Treasury Adds Russian Bank To Sanctions For Petro Involvement. So it's hard to say what extend is Russia involvement in Petro.