Venezuela's crypto head makes it to the US' most wanted list

Venezuela’s cryptocurrency head,  Joselit de la Trinidad Ramirez Camacho, recently got to the US’ most wanted list, with a bounty of as much as $5 million. Camacho was added to the list by the US ICE’s (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) HSI (Homeland Security Investigation) New York.

Venezuela’s chief of crypto has strong ties to narcotics kingpins

The announcement was published earlier this week, on June 1st. It states that Ramirez Camacho is accused of “having deep political, social, and economic ties to multiple alleged narcotics kingpins, including Tareck EI Aissami.“

The United States officially charged him for violating the Kingpin Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as well as other sanctions.

Not only that, but he was also indicted, alongside Nicolas Maduro, the country’s president, back in March of this year.

For the moment, Camacho is acting as the superintendent of crypto in Venezuela. This puts him in charge of the small nation’s native digital currency, the oil-backed Petro. As mentioned, any information that leads to his arrest or conviction will be rewarded with $5 million, according to the ICE announcement.

Venezuelan failed attempt to enforce Petro use

Camacho became the head of Venezuela’s native coin, Petro, which was launched in 2018. The coin was created as an alternative to the country’s traditional currency, bolivar, which became almost completely worthless due to inflation. Meanwhile, the country is also facing harsh sanctions, and digital coins were believed to be a way to bypass them.

Unfortunately for Venezuelan authorities, Petro did not become popular and accepted as the president and his crypto team were hoping it will be. The country made multiple attempts to force its citizens to use the coin, even promising airdrops for those who make Petro wallets. However, many found a way to either convert it back into bolivar, or start using other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, or privacy coins.

The most recent attempt to make people use Petro revolved around offering a discount on fuel prices for those who pay with Petro.

The global crypto community also dislikes Petro very strongly. All of this caused Venezuelan leaders to consider using mainstream cryptos in order to try and heal its failing economy.