The Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) licensed US corporations and professionals to offer authorized and monetary recommendation to the Authorities of Venezuela for a potential restructuring of its international debt, however imposed a transparent prohibition: these companies can’t be paid with cryptocurrencies.
Common License No. 58, issued on Could 5, 2026, expressly prohibits funds from being made in digital foreign money, digital currencies or digital tokens issued by the Venezuelan Authorities, together with the Petro.
This common license doesn’t authorize:
Fee phrases for companies offered beneath this common license that aren’t commercially cheap, that contain debt swaps or funds in gold, or which might be denominated in digital foreign money, digital foreign money, or digital tokens issued by, for or on behalf of the Authorities of Venezuela, together with the petro.
Division of the Treasury – Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC)
This restriction seeks Forestall the federal government from utilizing crypto property to keep away from sanctionsa apply that Washington has denounced since 2018. Along with cryptocurrencies, the license additionally vetoes different fee strategies.
Debt exchanges are prohibited (debt swaps), funds in gold and any situations that aren’t commercially cheap. The measure is a part of a managed reduction of sanctions.
US authorities additionally established prohibitions on any transactions by individuals “positioned within the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Cuba or the Individuals’s Republic of China, or by any entity owned, managed by or engaged in a three way partnership with such individuals.”
Debt recommendation and renegotiation
OFAC now permits US advisors to assist the Venezuelan Authorities consider and put together the restructuring of its million-dollar international debt, which exceeds $170 billion, in accordance with a report by The New York Occasions.
Nevertheless, the license solely authorizes advisory and consulting companies. It doesn’t enable closing definitive agreements or negotiating straight with collectors with out further approvals.
Consultants take into account that this opening seeks to facilitate an orderly debt renegotiation course of, however with sturdy safeguards. Service suppliers should ship a replica of the contracts to OFAC inside ten enterprise days.
The choice comes after the departure of Nicolás Maduro from energy and within the midst of a progressive rest of sanctions, particularly within the oil sector. Regardless of authorization, strict limits stay.
The license doesn’t unlock property or authorize transactions with particular sanctioned entities, besides throughout the restricted scope of this recommendation. Analysts point out {that a} profitable restructuring would require vital debt reduction to make the Venezuelan financial system viable and entice new funding.
It is very important keep in mind that the petro has been sanctioned by the USA since 2018, beneath the primary time period of as we speak’s President Donald Trump, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
With this Common License 58, the USA marks a steadiness because it opens a door to the financial restoration of Venezuela, however retains closed the avenues that it considers dangerous to keep away from its monetary controls.
