It seems that isn't only the Turkish government the one who is imposing new regulation on cryptocurrencies. Their fellow friends of the Venezuelan government are not left behind.
The Venezuelan government has passed legislation seeking to collect information on cryptocurrency operations carried out in the country. The regulation affects people and legal entities that provide products and services to third parties through activities that involve crypto assets.
The regulations provide that exchanges must keep control of the operations carried out by their users and, in the event of detecting suspicious transactions, they must inform the authorities.
It also establishes that any operation with bitcoin or cryptocurrencies that exceeds 1,000 euros or dollars must include the personal data of who sends the funds and who receives them. Exchanges must collect the name of the originator and beneficiary, account number or virtual wallet for each one or reference number of the transaction that allows it to be traced, physical address of the originator, national identity number, identification number of the client, date, and place of birth. Service providers must also track IP addresses used by users and examine transaction history. The data collected should be kept for five years.
Will this make people use less cryptocurrency in Venezuela?
Of course not, but this will make exchanges established in Venezuela less attractive for users. And could affect the advances we've seen recently in the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
In Venezuela, you can buy goods and services using cryptocurrencies. And, even though we are far from being able to speak of mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. You can buy food, medicines, use them in retail stores to buy all kinds of goods, pay for lodging and restaurants, satellite TV services, among others.
The new regulations were promulgated on April 21 and will go into effect on July 19.
The serious dysfunctionalities in the country's economy have made many of us see cryptocurrencies as an alternative to overcome the acute economic crisis. For many Venezuelans, cryptocurrencies have been the lifesaver that has allowed them to go through the unprecedented economic crisis that the country has suffered in recent years.
These kinds of measures will only keep Venezuelans looking for alternatives to escape the tight control that the government has imposed on us to the detriment of our economic freedoms.
I guess, people in Venezuesla could use dex exchanges, or exchanges based in other countries, it is difficult to regulate decentralized cryptocurrencies, more regulation will be a challenge for crypto to overcome and prove itself as an alterntive to fiat.