On March 19, President Trump issued an Executive Order (E.O.) “Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela.” This E.O. aims to take further action against the Venezuelan Government’s newly issued cryptocurrency—Petro.
Previously, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) to clarify that its existing prohibitions against extensions of debt/credit to the Government of Venezuela would likely prohibit U.S. persons to transact in the petro given its structure.
In the new E.O., the United States has gone further to simply prohibit all such transactions. Specifically, the new E.O. prohibits U.S. persons (defined to include U.S. citizens and permanent residents, U.S. companies including foreign branches, and persons in the United States) from engaging in:
- Any transaction associated with any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token, issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela, on or after January 9, 2018; and
- Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set in this E.O.
The E.O. defines the term “Government of Venezuela” (GoV) as any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including the Central Bank of Venezuela, and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as well as any person owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, the GoV.
In addition, OFAC released new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to this E.O., and separate new Digital Currency-related FAQs.
On March 22, President Maduro announced a redenomination of Venezuela’s fiat currency, “Bolívar Fuerte,” into a new currency called “Bolívar Soberano.” The “new” bolívar is expected to remove three zeros from the current bills once released. Notably, one of OFAC’s new FAQs clarified that the Bolívar Fuerte is not considered a digital currency for purposes of the new E.O. and therefore U.S. persons are not prohibited to transact with the Bolivar Fuerte. OFAC has not, however, specifically addressed transactions in the Bolivar Soberano. However, given that very similar—if not identical—measures were instated by the GoV in 2008 when late-president Chávez announced the redenomination of the “Bolívar” into the Bolívar Fuerte, it is likely that OFAC would take the position that the Bolívar Soberano and Bolivar Fuerte would be considered equivalent “traditional fiat currencies” pursuant to its regulations and would not be covered by the new E.O. Nevertheless, in view of the escalated sanctions on Venezuela, companies should continue to monitor closely any future measures by OFAC.
OFAC Designates Four Venezuelan Officials
OFAC also added four individuals associated with Venezuela’s Treasury and other government agencies to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List pursuant to pre-existing authorities, as follows:
- William Antonio Contreras—Vice Minister of Internal Commerce and Superintendent for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights (SUNDDE)
- Nelson Reinaldo Lepaje Salazar—Acting in the Capacity of the Head of the Office of the National Treasury
- Américo Alex Mata Garcia—Alternate Director of the National Bank of Housing and Habitat
- Carlos Alberto Rotondaro Cova—Former President of the Board of Directors of the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security (IVSS)
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