Russia secretly helped Venezuela launch cryptocurrency to evade US sanctions

[Tanuki]

http://amp.timeinc.net/time/5206835/exclusive-russia-petro-venezuela-cryptocurrency?__twitter_impression=true

"Pesident Donald Trump may not have realized on Monday that his executive order would step on Russia’s toes. Its official target was Venezuela, specifically the country’s plan to create the world’s first state-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, which went on sale Tuesday.

But behind the scenes, the petro was in fact a collaboration—a half-hidden joint venture between Venezuelan and Russian officials and businessmen, whose aim was to erode the power of U.S. sanctions, sources familiar with the effort told TIME.

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Putin’s advisers have been more open about their ultimate aim: “The reign of the dollar must end,” Andrei Kostin, the head of state-controlled VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, said in a speech last month in Moscow, calling on Russia to promote other currencies for use in international trade. “This whip that the Americans use in the form of the dollar would then, to a great extent, not have such a serious impact on the global financial system.”

While not as ambitious as the Russian attempt in 2016 to influence the U.S. presidential election, the Kremlin’s move into cryptocurrencies reveals another layer of ingenuity in its struggle against what Putin’s advisers have called the U.S. “hegemony” in global affairs. The use of cryptocurrencies could, at least in theory, hurt the U.S. ability to control the flow of money in and out of sanctioned countries, thus chipping away at one of most powerful means of U.S. influence around the world."
......(more at link)

[Blue_true]

1. Russia is shooting for world domination.

Putin realizes that he has a pliant fool running out side, so Putin is going to get as much as he can.