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Trump Bans Venezuela's New National Cryptocurrency (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday banning any transactions within the United States involving any digital currency issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela. The order applies to U.S. citizens as well as anyone within the United States, and includes cryptocurrency issued on or after January 9. President Trump's order is in response to recent attempts by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime to "circumvent U.S. sanctions by issuing a digital currency," the White House said in a statement. Venezuela launched its oil-backed cryptocurrency in February to help pull the country out of a continuing economic crisis. President Maduro said each petro token will be backed by one barrel of the state's national petroleum. Maduro also said roughly 100 million tokens would be issued -- estimated to be worth around $6 billion. Bitcoin prices dropped about $200 to around $8,388, according to Coinbase, following the order.
Russia attacked a NATO country and Donald Trump is still sucking Vladimir Putin's dick.
Lock this traitor up right fucking now.
The US issued sanctions as a result of the polonium assassination, it might issue more in response to this.
This particular action is in response to Venezuela's attempt to circumvent existing sanctions.
"The order applies to U.S. citizens as well as anyone within the United States."
So no, you cannot legally buy Venezuelan cryptocoins, ever. Trump said so!
#DeleteFacebook
I just don't see how bitcoin is even maintaining it's current price because if you can't buy anything with it then what use is it? I guess does anyone know what you can still buy with bitcoin?
You can still trade bitcoin for legal currency, as long as you can find someone who wants your bitcoin. You know, like any kind of currency. It's good for moving money around the planet when the authorities don't want you to, but won't actually raise a finger to stop you. It doesn't hide the transaction, but it does make possible transactions which banks won't make.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No, he does not. He can ban it from the government, but he has zero authority to tell individuals or companies what they can and can't accept as payment for goods or services.
I'm going to say no. He's not telling the government what to do. He's trying to make something illegal (aka against the law).
He's trying to cite emergency powers:
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)
And I think it would be awfully hard to call this a national emergency for us. On the other hand, it was Barack Obama that called it an emergency, and this new executive order merely cites it: https://www.federalregister.go...
So yes, these executive orders are getting out of hand.
The embargo of trade with Cuba was initiated by an executive order, so there's strong precedence for it.
"Banning" cryptocurrency is akin to trying to ban Math. Yeah, good luck with that.
Banning math is not exactly new.
Trump is giving it more credibility than it deserves.
It should just sink without a glug. Would you buy currency from this nation at their exchange rate?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
It is fairly common for /.-ers to not bother reading TFA. But the answers to your "sarcastic" questions are right there in the write-up — you didn't have to click away to read them...
The executive order bans transactions — not ownership. If you own it, you aren't subject to any punishment until you try to sell it.
If you are a US citizen, you will be violating the order — and become subject to whatever punishment prescribed. Not very different from the ban on travel to Cuba, for example — it was illegal, but people did manage to get away with it.
Perhaps more importantly is why would you seek to circumvent this one... Maduro's government is even more stupid and evil than Chavez' was — and Chavez managed to not only destroy Venezuela's economy, the rate of murders and rapes quadrupled during the first 15 years of his rein (even before oil price tanked). Are you just as critical about US sanctions against Russia?..
If, as I suspect, you are motivated simply by the desire to "stick it" to Trump, I urge you to move to Venezuela permanently...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I'm not exactly certain that Lord Trump can tell me what I can and can't spend my money on. Last time I checked Congress made the laws, not the office of the President.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Bitcoin prices dropped about $200 to around $8,388, according to Coinbase, following the order.
Bitcoin prices fell way more than that the day before, because someone farted in a trading room I assume. And now they are going back up. This stuff's really volatile, a $200 price change is just noise.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Typical comment section troll; has no idea of the contents that he's commenting on. As all other executive orders do, this executive order lists the laws cited in the first paragraph: "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,"
Congress already gave him the authority: 50 U.S. Code  1701 and 50 U.S. Code  1702
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Both "sides" appear to like it. This was handed from Obama to Trump and both have some severe overstep on executive orders. In either case, I've disliked any sort of unchecked power in government - and executive orders were supposed to be part of the checks and balances against legislative power (mostly regarding selective enforcement of the law - which is an executive branch privilege).
The executive branch enforces the laws. Unless there exists a law that violating this ban would also infringe, someone with enough money to see this through court can get it blocked or overturned.
Of course Joe Blow in his basement buying some crypto-bolivars (or whatever) would have no ability to stop the SS* from dragging him from his home, shooting his dog, and destroying his computers...
As in Secret Service, who deals with currency related issues, but pun partially intended.
on Venezuela while we help the Saudi's bomb Yemen? I get that they're government is sketchy, but we support something like 80% of the world's dictatorships. If we're trying to take the high ground on Democracy that boat has sailed, circumnavigated the globe and returned laden with exotic spice (joke shamelessly stolen from Yatzee of Zero Punctuation fame)
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Why is AC being downmodded - Trump can't even get the courts to allow things he *is* allowed to regulate, like immigration. Nothing about this is an emergency - Venezuela isn't going to take the pennies Americans might throw at their new currency and build WMDs with it. If there's fear that the new currency will somehow take away our stranglehold on the price of oil, banning it from America will do fuck all to stop the global markets from using it anyway.
Just as you are supposed NOT to spend your money on goods sold by ISIS, you are not supposed to buy Venezuelan bonds, including the petro.
In that case I wonder why Citgo is still allowed to operate in the US. Oh yeah, because entrenched interests like it that way. Funny how calls of "national security" don't apply when influential people with large amounts of money stand to lose it...
Per executive order 13692, you cannot send any property to Venezuela. The IRS considers cryptocurrencies as property. Thus trading - sending or buying - in Venezuelan crypto is not legal. Unless, of course, the underlying executive order is illegal - but that's not been determined yet.
Based on the above, it is quite clear that President Trump didn't add anything new, just explicitly listed Venezuela's cryptocurrency as banned - which it already was, per the earlier EO and existing IRS statutes.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Funny how calls of "national security"
National security is a nice catch all phrase that they use when they want to do a end run around the law and strip you of your rights. Unless its about guns, then its "think of the children."
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Norway, Sweden, Finland. Germany, France, and Italy have socialist tendencies as well. Unchecked corporate greed gets you 'murika which is demonstrably bad for most.
Only I can judge you.
Capitalist economies with strong social nets (in particular, it's called the which is a free market, capitalistic economy with a strong social net. Same thing for Germany, etc. They are NOT socialist countries, which is "characterised by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production".
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Venezuela has enough problems already: leave them alone. The world is full of dictators, why focus on them?
Table-ized A.I.
This seems to be a case of the president saying a law should be enforced that most citizens wouldn't have known was even in existence
No, it's not. The law that's in existence gives the president emergency powers during a national emergency to enact things like this. It's definitely in existence and used to great effect. It was used 6 times between 1977 and 2000. All but one of those is easily obvious in matching the intent and scope of the law. In the last 18 years, it's been used 22 more times. The validity of the "national emergency" in question on most of those is very doubtful.
The point, though, is that this isn't the president using his enforcement powers. It's declaring a false "national emergency" to claim power that they should have no rights to. And emergency powers tend to go beyond the law because it's supposed to be a temporary emergency where congress would act too slowly to ensure the safety of the American people. And yet this national emergency in question was declared in 2015 by our former president. 3 years is quite a while for a temporary emergency with no perceivable threat to national security.
Russia attacked a NATO country and Donald Trump is still sucking Vladimir Putin's dick.
I suggest you join the Army.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Fascist regimes can also be corrupt. Socialism in itself (whether that word really applies to Venezuela or not) isn't the problem.
The main problem is an authoritarian regime intent to keep control by any means, illegally enriching supporters and punishing others.
So for you socialism is only the end-stage of Marxism? Hilarious!
Or tyrannical like the Sith Lords?
Sometimes I would rather deal with Sith Lords. At least they are honest about their goals.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.