BTC payments disabled for passports in Venezuela
Venezuela’s SAIME has recently halted accepting Bitcoins for passport applications. The officials have disabled methods without explanation and people were unable to find the relevant information on the official website.
The situation is very vague and so far there has not been any official announcement. Venezuelans living in the country can still pay for passport applications with the Blockchain-based Petro.
It should be pointed out that U.S. based cards such as Mastercard and Visa are unable to conduct business in the country. As there is a row between the United States and Venezuela the former put a lot of sanctions against Nicolas Maduro’s country, thus preventing famous companies like Visa to operate there.
Visa and other cards are very popular worldwide and a lot of people use them to manage their assets. Even if we take a look at various Forex trading lessons it is recommended to use Visa and Mastercard respectively for depositing the money, to get further benefits.
How did they get there?
Venezuelan authorities have allowed the use of Bitcoin as a method of payment when issuing passports. It was reported recently, citing statements by residents of the country.
The possibility of a payment in BTC was noticed on the website of the Venezuelan migration service. The screenshots show that Bitcoin is the only available means of payment, while payment using Visa and MasterCard is not yet available. BTCPay Server is indicated as payment processing.
However, only a few hours after the introduction of the function, the possibility of a payment in BTC disappeared from the site. Some Twitter users doubted the reliability of the information provided, however, multiple screenshots and articles in local publications confirm the appearance of Bitcoin on the agency’s website.
One user posted a photo of the page with a QR code for payment and payment details. Paperwork cost him 0.011 BTC (~ $100). According to reports of those who managed to test the function, transaction processing time is an average of 9 minutes.
The local publication Diariobitcoin reported that the possibility of a payment in Bitcoins was probably planned to be introduced exclusively for foreign citizens. No official comment has yet been received by the migration service.
We can recall that at the end of last year, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed that Venezuela bypasses US sanctions with the help of cryptocurrencies.
Venezuela, crypto, and oil
We should also recall that Venezuela announced the sale of oil for the national cryptocurrency Petro. This was announced in 2020 by President Nicolas Maduro, recalling that the country is already selling iron and steel for Petro.
Petro is a very prevalent cryptocurrency in the country, helping to avoid sanctions from the United States.
The Bolivarian Republic has concluded contracts “for the sale of oil, steel, iron, and aluminum, and we will sell part of the gold mined in petro.
The Venezuelan leader also noted that his country has successfully introduced cryptocurrency into the daily lives of citizens. So, in December 2019, the authorities transferred benefits related to New Year holidays to pensioners and civil servants in petro. Maduro emphasized that the trial use of Petro is successful.
Recall, the launch of the national cryptocurrency petro was announced in October 2017. Its sale began in February 2018. The cost of the national cryptocurrency of Venezuela is equal to the price of a barrel of oil produced in the country.
