The central bank of Venezuela is exploring the possibilities of holding Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ether ( ETH ) in its coffers, according to anonymous sources that reportedly have direct knowledge of the matter.
Can the central bank store Bitcoin and Ether?
According to a Bloomberg article from September 26 , the central bank of Venezuela is closely analyzing whether it has the possibility of storing cryptocurrencies.
The state-owned oil and gas company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PSDV), asked the central bank to investigate the matter after the oil producer had difficulties receiving payments from international customers due to United States sanctions against the current regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The unidentified sources said that PSDV is seeking to transfer Bitcoin and Ether to the Venezuelan central bank and then have the central institution pay its suppliers in cryptocurrencies.
Crypto could count toward international reserves
Hoping to overcome its isolation from the global financial system, the Venezuelan central bank is studying proposals that would see cryptocurrencies counted toward the country’s international reserves, which currently stand at a 30-year low of $ 7.9 billion.
Venezuela received its first Bitcoin ATM
Cointelegraph reported in September that after several false starts, Venezuela’s first crypto ATM was installed in the city of San Antonio del Táchira. The Latin American firm Panda BTM installed the machine, which supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ) and DASH , as well as Venezuela’s official currency and Colombian pesos.
