Tren de Aragua (Aragua’s Train), a criminal gang with Venezuelan origins, has been sanctioned by OFAC as a transnational organization engaging in kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and other illegal behavior. The U.S. Department of the Treasury also stated that the organization had used cryptocurrency to launder the proceedings of their activities to some extent. OFAC […]
Venezuelan authorities led by the National Power Ministry and Corpoelec, the state-owned power company, have seized over 6,000 bitcoin miners in two new operations. The ministry, which recently declared that it would disconnect all bitcoin miners due to its high energy consumption, has already confiscated over 17,000 miners from several mining farms. Venezuelan Authorities Advance […]
The Venezuelan National Power Ministry announced a special operation to disconnect all bitcoin mining farms from the grid. Authorities have seized over 11,000 bitcoin miners as the government seeks to reduce the power usage from high-power customers siphoning energy from the national electric system. Venezuelan Authorities Seize and Disconnect Over 11,000 Bitcoin Miners Amidst Energy […]
PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, would be preparing to migrate more of its payments portfolio to USDT, a dollar stablecoin, to avoid being affected by the restitution of U.S. sanctions. Reuters reported that the company started receiving payments in USDT last year and will accelerate its adoption. Tether, nonetheless, stated it will uphold OFAC […]
The Venezuelan Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, unveiled the second wave of detentions linked to a crypto money laundering scheme derived from unregistered oil sales paid in different currencies and crypto. The former president of the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Tareck El Aissami, the former Economy Minister Simon Alejandro Zerpa, and entrepreneur Samark Lopez were […]