Maduro failed to honor a free and fair election agreement scheduled for July. This led to the U.S. reinstating gold and oil sanctions imposed on some members of the Venezuelan government in late May. Members of U.S. Congress expressed concerns in 2022 over whether sanctioned parties would use cryptocurrency to transfer funds out of Russia.
In Venezuela, Chainalysis conducted a blockchain analysis of SUNACRIP, a crypto oversight body established by the local government in 2018. SUNACRIP frequently transferred substantial amounts of tokens across multiple accounts within different cryptocurrency platforms, data shows. According to the blockchain data company’s findings, these transactions were linked to several addresses potentially controlled by SUNACRIP or individuals closely associated with it.
In response to this sentiment, the U.S. Treasury Department granted companies a replacement license, allowing them 45 days to phase out their operations and transactions in the oil and gas sector of the OPEC member state. The sanctions could have dire implications for Venezuela’s government, which sought ways to bypass U.S. sanctions by creating a crypto dubbed Petro back in 2018. Crypto wallets were reportedly used to divert payments intended for the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, which analysts believe President Maduro could emulate.
Political observers believe Maduro faces a clear dilemma: if he loses at the polls, as indicated by most opinion surveys, he could either accept defeat and engage in negotiations for a transfer of power with protections against legal persecution, or opt to manipulate or annul the election results.