PDVSA, a state operated oil company in Venezuela, is preparing itself for raising the usage of Tether stablecoin for the export of crude and fuel oil, since the US now intends to introduce sanctions on the country, as per a report issued by Reuters.
A short while back, a statement released by Reuters, mentioned that the Biden administration will not be issuing a renewed certification that relaxed oil-related sanctions on the country, following President Nicolas Maduro being unable to abide by his election manifesto. Under the present circumstances, The US Treasury has allowed the customers of PDVSA, as well as suppliers time till the 31st of May to clamp down on transactions.
Behind PDVSA’s inclination for USDT lies the intention of lowering the risk quotient pertaining to oil selling profits being deactivated in over the border bank accounts because of the sanctions imposed by the US. The company is known to be slowly transferring its oil sales to USDT from 2023.
Towards the end of quarter one, PDVSA had managed to transform a lot of non-swap spot oil deals into a sort of contract for which it was necessary to carry out prepayments in USDT. The company is reaching out to fresh clients looking for carrying out oil shifting and asking them to have crypto in their digital wallets.
Since crypto transactions in oil do not come under any trade compliance office, PDVSA, along with its trading associates, depends on functioning through middle parties, as informed by Reuters. This could result in the company having to compromise on profit margins.
In 2023, at a time when the US had relaxed the sanctions, Venezuela managed to export almost 700,000 barrels of oil on a daily basis. Out of this, 65% was to China, and to the US, 19%.
Source: https://www.cryptonewsz.com/pdvsa-to-raise-the-usage-of-tether-stablecoin/