Venezuelan Central Bank may add BTC and ETH to its reserves

The Central Bank of Venezuela conducts internal tests in order to determine the possibility of adding cryptocurrencies, in particular BTC and ETH, to its international reserves.

Testing is carried out at the request of the state oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), which plans to use cryptocurrencies to pay for the services of its suppliers. At the same time, payments on behalf of the oil and gas company will be carried out by the country’s Central Bank.

Such a complex scheme is connected with US sanctions, which prohibit US companies from having trade with Venezuelan business. Large banks also shun ties with local companies. At the same time, selling cryptocurrencies on the open market is not very convenient for PDVSA, since it is necessary to register on the exchange.

The company already stores a certain amount of cryptocurrencies, although at the moment both the amount of funds stored in BTC and ETH and the ways in which PDVSA received cryptocurrencies are unknown. Note that at the moment, the total reserves of the Central Bank of Venezuela is estimated at $ 7.9 billion and is at its lowest level in the last 30 years.

It was previously reported that Venezuela uses cryptocurrencies to circumvent US sanctions. The Spanish newspaper ABC conducted an investigation and disclosed a scheme in which Maduro and his associates used a special wallet application to convert tax revenues into bitcoin and other crypto assets.