BTC Paxful Exchange Exists Venezuela Due To US Sanctions

The BTC Paxful exchange closed its doors to the Venezuelan users claiming it was too risky to keep offering services in the South American country because of the US sanctions as we read further in our bitcoin latest news.

The BTC Paxful exchange no longer offers services to the Venezuela users because of the strict regulations from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The exchange previously restricted Venezuelan customers from making transactions. This morning, the Venezuelan users of Paxful, which is a North American Bitcoin exchange, received an email in which the platform thanked the users for their trust and said goodbye:

“Due to concerns regarding the regulatory landscape around Venezuela and Paxful’s own risk tolerance, we regret to report that Paxful will be ceasing operations in Venezuela. We made our best efforts for several months, but with current risks, we had no choice but to make this incredibly difficult decision.”

A nuestra familia Paxful en Venezuela,

Hoy, nos entristece anunciar que Paxful dejará de operar en Venezuela.

Esperamos que haya otra oportunidad de ingresar a la región nuevamente en el futuro cercano. Este no es el fin.

Gracias siempre.
El equipo de Paxful LATAM pic.twitter.com/sAkdKIg1Sb

— Paxful LATAM (@paxful_LATAM) September 14, 2020

If the situation changes, Paxful indicated it could start offering services again in this country. The platform acted in the past to restrict the activities of the people of Venezuela. This summer they banned the use of accounts from Banco De Venezuela which is the biggest bank in the country. Later, Paxful forbids the use of Petro, the country’s national cryptocurrency, or any other transactions between exchanges and the support of the state-sanctioned cryptocurrency.

Paxful’s team clarified that the strict regulations are not coming from Venezuela but instead are related to the Office of Foreign Assets Control which is a part of the US Department of the Treasury. OFAC sanctions against Venezuela prevent the American citizens from doing business with people in Venezuela or the government-owned businesses as well as a litany of other things. They also add paperwork for financial institutions in the country.

The regulatory costs could not be worth it to Paxful because it doesn’t do that much business in the country but according to the data from Useful Tulips, LocalBitcoins moved more than $4.5 million last week in Venezuela while the North American exchange reported less than $25,000 dollars. Other exchanges have a different goal in mind. A few new options were offered to the people in Venezuela such as centralized exchanges like Binance to decentralized platforms like HodlHodl.