The government of Venezuela began to monitor the bank accounts of its citizens for transactions related to cryptocurrencies. Accounts containing cryptographic transactions at prices that the government considers "undermine the national currency" will be "severely punished," said vice president Tareck El Aissami.
Next phase of the Paper Hands operation
After the launch of "Operation Hands of Paper," as previously reported in. Bitcoin.com, the Venezuelan government has initiated the next phase of its plan to reduce capital flight, calling it "Operation Metallic Hands."
Venezuela begins to monitor bank accounts for cryptographic transactions
Tareck El Aissami.
This new phase was launched last week with a focus on what they call "gold smugglers," or Venezuelans who bought gold from small-scale miners and then sold it out of the country. The operation has "detected that these mafias have distorted the prices of the dollar," said the country's vice president, Tareck El Aissami, who added that "they have migrated through the market of cryptocurrencies to hit the Venezuelan monetary system."
The operation is aimed more at the flight of capital through cryptocurrencies. El Aissami explained that the government will begin to monitor bank accounts for transactions related to cryptography and will process those who negotiate them "at speculative prices".
"This is part of a war to hit the country's financial system," said the publication of Aporrea, "and they [the government] will take future actions to hit those who try to conspire through cryptocurrencies." The vice president was cited by La Publicación roja:
All accounts that we identify that are linked to manipulation will be severely punished and (those responsible will be) placed in the order of justice.
He revealed that, as part of Operation Manos de Papel, "5 billion bolivares [~ US $ 50,000] in bank accounts were frozen in the Banesco bank, and 12 billion bolivars [~ $ 120 million] seized that were destined to smuggling in Colombia ", Aporrea transmitted publication.
Three legalized remittance houses
Venezuela begins to monitor bank accounts for cryptographic transactions. Since the launch of Operation Paper Hands, three remittance houses have been closed, including two cryptographic exchange operators. However, the government soon realized that the underground cryptocurrency transactions did not cease.
This led the Vice President to announce last week that three money exchangers in Caracas have been specifically authorized to handle the currency transactions and remittances of the country. He was quoted by Correo del Orinoco:
We have authorized three exchange houses, private companies, private exchange operators, legally authorized, to carry out all operations associated with remittances.
The three exchanges are Zoom, Italcambio and Insular. However, their websites do not indicate that they deal with cryptocurrencies in any way.
With the purpose of buying and selling cryptocurrencies specifically, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced in April that he had certified 16 exchanges with the aim of including the country's own digital currency, the petro.
