Venezuela International Airport Accepts Bitcoin Payments

On October 12, regional news agency El Siglo reported that Maiquetia, an airport located in the center of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, is working to make cryptocurrency payments comply with local industry standards.

Maiquetia Airport plans to accept a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dash and Venezuela’s oil-pegged digital currency, the Petro, according to airport director Freddy Borges.

He said the airport authority will work with Venezuela’s national regulator of crypto assets and related activities to launch the new payment method. The news comes as Venezuela is experimenting with a central bank digital currency, CBDC, with the country’s central bank launching a digital Venezuelan bolivar on October 1. Unlike the CBDC, which is pegged to Venezuela’s national currency, the Petro is an oil-backed currency, a cryptocurrency launched by the government in February 2018.

As previously reported, in September 2020, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed an anti-sanctions law at the National Constituent Assembly, stipulating the use of Petro and other cryptocurrencies (either national or private) in domestic and foreign trade in Venezuela; earlier this year, Maduro stated in his annual speech that the Petro would be revived in 2021, after which the Petro might be used to pay taxes and utility bills.