Paxful has sent the notification to the accounts of the users of its platform. The community still does not know if there will be future measures related to the South American country.
The peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin exchange site Paxful will not allow transactions with Banco de Venezuela, a financial institution of the Venezuelan state. Last June 10th, the company announced the measure through a brief statement on the social network Twitter and the Telegram group Paxful LATAM.
The notification explains that the new measure responds to compliance with the sanctions of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against Venezuela. One of the administrators of the group wrote a message stating that the compliance team must follow OFAC sanctions in the US.
According to the message, all the offers available on the platform that directly or indirectly mention bank transfers to Banco de Venezuela would be disabled within hours.
Besides, Paxful requests its users to eliminate this bank from among their options to trade in the country through bank transfers.
In the same Telegram group, various users claimed to have received a notification with the news in their respective accounts on the exchange platform, one of the most used P2P Bitcoin trading sites.
The statement does not refer to other banking institutions in the Venezuelan public sector. The community does not know whether the measure against Banco de Venezuela will be extended to other state banks. In addition to this entity, other states banks are operating in Venezuela, such as the Bicentennial and the Treasury Bank, as well as institutions associated with the Armed Forces, such as Banfanb. Most people prefer private financial institutions when conducting transactions on the platform.
Paxful LATAM explains on a Twitter message that, because it is regulated in the USA, the company must comply with the legal provisions of the North American country. The platform includes Venezuela among the countries that OFAC sanctioned as high risk. Users from countries on that list have to verify their identity so that they can send or sell Bitcoin on Paxful.
Last March, Paxful reached an agreement to work together with Chainalysis. The alliance allows Paxful to monitor the transactions associated with its platform.
User Reactions
It is possible to observe on social networks how the users of the exchange platform have reacted to the news. Some have even shared the message that they received on the platform. This message notifies the action that involves one of the banks with the most customers in the South American country.
Some users regretted the measure, referring to this impossibility as a new door closed on Venezuelans. Previously, US sanctions had caused Bittrex to suspend its services to users in Venezuela. The sanctions even cover the use of Petro, the Venezuelan government’s cryptocurrency project.
In recent months, Paxful has emerged as an alternative to this type of exchange sites concerning LocalBitcoins. According to data from UsefulTulips, the trading volume on Paxful exceeded for the first time that of LocalBitcoins in recent days.
By Alexander Salazar
