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posted by mrpg on Wednesday March 21 2018, @04:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the ¿y-ahora-que? dept.

U.S. bans transactions with Venezuela's digital currency

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order barring any U.S.-based financial transactions involving Venezuela's new petro cryptocurrency, as U.S. officials warned that it was a "scam" by President Nicolas Maduro's government to further undermine democracy in the OPEC country.

"The 'petro' is a desperate effort by a corrupt regime to defraud international investors," a senior U.S. administration official told reporters, strongly warning that any transactions in the petro digital currency would violate U.S. sanctions. "Investing in the 'petro' should be viewed as directly supporting this dictatorship and its attempts to undermine the democratic order in Venezuela," the official added.

Trump's order bars "all transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in, by a United States person or within the United States, any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token," issued by Venezuela's government since Jan. 9, the White House said in a statement.

Also at the New York Times.

Previously: Enter the "Petro": Venezuela to Launch Oil-Backed Cryptocurrency


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @10:52AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @10:52AM (#656031)
    Tell me how does it really matter. Give me a real scenario for the USA where you're a fairly normal person with a normal job.

    Yes using credit cards does make it easier for the government to know where I eat, what I like to eat and what I buy and where I shop, but if I'm ever an enemy of the government my safety isn't significantly higher if I was solely using cash before that happened.

    Because whether I use cash or not they already know where I live and where I work.

    Yes using credit cards would be unsafe AFTER the government decides I'm an enemy. But if that ever happens and I somehow managed to escape (yeah right) I would be buying different stuff and eating at different places too. Like maybe in a different country.

    So if you want to be safer in such scenarios you should have huge piles of cash stashed away and use credit cards for most "normal" stuff. This way you'd have more cash available - since you probably wouldn't be paying your credit card bills in such scenarios ;).

    The government probably keeps a closer eye on people who completely don't use credit cards but buy expensive stuff with cash...

    As for other enemies, for online- whether I use credit cards or not doesn't help them find my real identity from my posts here or other forums. For offline - they can probably figure out where I live and it's nothing to do with whether I use a credit card or not.

    Of course if I paid for a forum subscription (or whatever else that links me to that forum ID - game account) with a credit card then yes it's traceable. But the last I checked SN doesn't allow you to pay for subscriptions anonymously with cash e.g. send them a letter with cash and a UID. You have to use stuff like PayPal which is far from anonymous.
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @01:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @01:43PM (#656092)

    Governments aren't the only adversaries after your personal information.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Osamabobama on Wednesday March 21 2018, @05:49PM (1 child)

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday March 21 2018, @05:49PM (#656236)

    So I went to the local middle eastern food market recently, and decided to pay cash. That should keep me off a few lists, I think, except before I even finish shopping, Google Maps is asking me questions about the place. So the whole credit card versus cash thing is only a sliver of the privacy war.

    By the way, they had 12 different brands of grape leaves in jars on the shelf! I don't know if that points to a chaotic supply chain, or a severely segmented market.

    Oh, and since it bothers me, flaut vs. flaunt [quickanddirtytips.com]

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    • (Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday March 22 2018, @02:30AM

      by arslan (3462) on Thursday March 22 2018, @02:30AM (#656449)

      Come now, obviously the folks advocating for cash only are also, mobile phone free, doesn't use the internet, live in a mobile home with make shift tin-foil hat they put on upon entering their humble abode.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @12:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @12:58AM (#656409)

    Tell me how does it really matter.

    It matters because privacy is inherently desirable to me. I simply do not want companies or governments collecting information about me, regardless of what they do with it.

    I'm also not confident that companies won't think of various schemes to use the data against me that I didn't even think of. For example, insurance companies raising premiums based on what food you buy. They pay people to figure out ways to use the data to generate a profit, so they have more time to think about this than we do.

    Also, the government could easily get a hold of the data if companies possess it.

    Because whether I use cash or not they already know where I live and where I work.

    But if you pay with cash, they will know much less about you. I won't hand over everything on a silver platter.

    Yes using credit cards would be unsafe AFTER the government decides I'm an enemy.

    How do you know they've decided you're an enemy if you're on a secret list? How do you know their criteria? The reality is that some people end up on these secret lists simply because they have the same name as some 'bad guy'.

    Also, by then, it is too late; they already have tons of data about you.

    The government probably keeps a closer eye on people who completely don't use credit cards but buy expensive stuff with cash...

    Nonsense. They can't yet closely scrutinize everyone. By constantly trying to avoid surveillance even if your activities are completely mundane, you provide a cover for those who need privacy more than you. Make them waste their resources.

    This is that toxic 'Just give up and surrender everything' attitude that inevitably results in the destruction of our liberties. Such shallow thinking.