Venezuela Expands Scope of its Remittance Platform With Bitcoin & Litecoin

The Venezuelan government is set to overhaul its crypto-compatible remittances platform Patria – allowing full operability with bitcoin (BTC) and litecoin (LTC) wallets.

The platform allows individuals based overseas to send remittances to family and friends based in Venezuela – and also enables domestic remittances to be made in crypto. Its operators claim Patria has some 20 million users.

Crypto remittances have become increasingly popular in the nation, which is subject to strict United States-led sanctions that prevent banks and international payment providers from dealing with Venezuela-bound transactions.

Per an official Facebook post and a related blog entry, Patria will be updated – although no timeline was given for this, and some of the new features will initially only be available in beta testing mode.

However, the changes could see a flat commission rate charged for all transactions conducted in LTC, BTC, and the state-issued petro (PTR).

Patria also has basic exchange functions, but these could be set for a revamp, with petro-bitcoin and petro-litecoin trading pairs to be added.

The platform will also allow users to withdrawal tokens from their bitcoin and litecoin wallets directly to the smartphone-based, state-issued PetroApp. In addition, remittances in petro will also be enabled.

The platform’s operators promised that more new functionalities were also on their way, and wrote,

“The Patria platform will gradually incorporate all these services and more. Due to their scope, they will require several days of updating and monitoring.”

The move follows a declaration last month from the crypto regulator, the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip), which said it would boost the amount of crypto that can be sent as remittances, allow citizens to use LTC and BTC wallets and enable crypto-to-crypto exchanges.
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