US Freezes Maduro Gov’t Assets as P2P Bitcoin Volume Soars in Venezuela

In a major escalation against socialist president Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump’s administration has frozen all Venezuelan government assets. 

The United States’ hawkish move has been reflected in a new all-time-high for peer-to-peer trading volume on LocalBitcoins in the country.

Trump takes on the “usurper”

As the Associated Press (AP) reported on August 5, the U.S. administration’s action took immediate effect this Monday, with President Trump citing Maduro’s ongoing “usurpation” of power — as well as human rights abuses by his supporters — as the grounds for the decision.

Even ahead of yesterday’s strident move, Venezuela has been weathering ruinous economic turmoil sparked by its political crisis. Multiple countries —  including the U.S. — consider Maduro’s last election victory to have been fraudulent and support Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido’s attempts to dislodge him from power.

While the…