It seems Venezuela is following in the footsteps of the Chinese communist country by controlling and managing citizens’ transactions through Petro cryptocurrency, the leader of cryptocurrency startup Purse.io said. Venezuela appears to be extracting a page from China’s playbook on how to control its citizens. Venezuela is using government-issued cryptocurrencies to create a system that traders lose, government officials gain, and citizens monitor.
The leader of the cryptocurrency platform provides real use-cases of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash by facilitating their spending on Amazon, Eduardo Gómez, recently highlighted the Petro’s way of trading and tracking cryptocurrencies. According to him, state-controlled cryptocurrencies are nothing but a clever way to develop a system that benefits the government by cleverly obeying citizen purchases.
Gómez, for the first time, provided some basic information about Venezuela’s identification program “carnet de la patria” also known as the “fatherland card,” inspired by China and developed by Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, in a new tweetstorm.
“Fatherland card” is used to monitor the behavior of citizens and take advantage of the government
Gómez provides valuable insight into the “fatherland card”, an ingenious identity card developed by Chinese telecommunications company ZTE and how it is used to track citizen behavior and leverage government advantage. The card is used to track social services for citizens, including food, health and other programs, by transmitting cardholder data to the server. Under the contracts reviewed by Reuters, the card is part of a popular program that combines the national database with the mobile payment system.
Here’s an update on what’s happening right now in Venezuela with the Petro cryptocurrency ($PTR).
But first some background: some years ago the Venezuelan dictatorship launched a new (illegal) ID card. The “Fatherland’s card”. The aim was to send subsidies to the people. pic.twitter.com/gBzSh3AcdF
— ⚡??Eduardo??⚡ (@Codiox) December 29, 2019
This site has a built-in Petro Exchange. The dictatorial regime decided to broadcast 0.5 PTR to everyone by wallet. It is a “gift” for everyone to go out and spend it. Despite a warning, only selected merchants have a point of sale system linked to the Petro platform.
The dark side
People will probably buy PTR to spend, pushing prices up until there is equilibrium. Meanwhile, traders will be out of stock (and business) selling goods at a price 50% lower than their value. Long lines of people have been popping up to spend the damn thing.
Taking this opportunity, senior government officials offloaded their holdings. Not to mention the incredible money laundering activity they took place with this.
The Venezuelan economy continues to soar with rising hyperinflation and Bitcoin transaction volume hit a new record high on LocalBitcoin.
As President Nicolás Maduro fights with sanctions, empty shelves and capital flight, citizens are being watched. Based on accounts from employees of the card system and screenshots of user data, Reuters reports that the national card stores a long list of information about Venezuelans.
Read more:
- Venezuela: Nicolás Maduro Will Begin Airdropping 0.50 Petrocoin To Citizens Next Week
- The Chinese Government Has Confiscated Nearly 7,000 Bitcoin ASICs That Illegally Consume Electricity