Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela
Signed: March 19, 2018
Published: March 21, 2018
Document Number: 2018-05916
📋Summary
This executive order bans U.S. people and anyone doing business in the United States from buying, selling, financing, or otherwise dealing in any digital currency or token issued by or for the Venezuelan government on or after January 9, 2018 (such as Venezuela’s government-backed cryptocurrency). It affects U.S. citizens and permanent residents, U.S.-organized companies (including their foreign branches), and anyone physically in the United States, as well as transactions that touch the U.S. financial system. It also prohibits attempts to evade the ban or conspiracies to violate it, even if a contract was signed before the order took effect. The Treasury Department, working with the State Department, is directed to issue rules and take enforcement actions to carry out the order.
💼Business Impact
This order most directly affects **crypto exchanges, payment processors, fintechs, banks, broker-dealers, and any business facilitating cross-border payments or investments** involving Venezuela, because it **prohibits U.S. persons from transacting in any digital currency/token issued by or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on/after Jan 9, 2018** (e.g., Venezuela’s state-backed tokens). Businesses may need to **update sanctions/AML screening and KYC controls** to identify and block prohibited tokens, wallets, counterparties (including entities owned/controlled by the Venezuelan government such as **PdVSA**), and any activity that could be viewed as **evasion/avoidance** (including indirect exposure through intermediaries). An opportunity exists for compliance-focused providers to offer **enhanced blockchain analytics, sanctions screening, and policy controls** tailored to Venezuela-related risk. Immediate actions: **audit products and customer flows for Venezuela-linked digital assets, implement/refresh OFAC compliance procedures and employee training, add contractual prohibitions and monitoring for customers/partners, and consult counsel before any Venezuela-related crypto activity or wind-downs** (including checking for any applicable OFAC general/specific licenses).
Full Text
Executive Order 13827 of March 19, 2018
Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, in order to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015, and relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13808 of August 24, 2017, and in light of recent actions taken by the Maduro regime to attempt to circumvent U.S. sanctions by issuing a digital currency in a process that Venezuela's democratically elected National Assembly has denounced as unlawful, hereby order as follows:
Section 1 . (a) All transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in, by a United States person or within the United States, any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token, that was issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on or after January 9, 2018, are prohibited as of the effective date of this order.
(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the effective date of this order.
Sec. 2 . (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 3 . For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term “person” means an individual or entity;
(b) the term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;
(c) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches of such entities), or any person within the United States; and
(d) the term “Government of Venezuela” means the Government of Venezuela, any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), and any person owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, the Government of Venezuela.
Sec. 4 . The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including promulgating rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions to other officers and executive departments and agencies of the ( printed page 12470) United States Government. All agencies of the United States Government shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order.
Sec. 5 . For those persons whose property and interests in property are affected by this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692, there need be no prior notice given for implementation of this order.
Sec. 6 . This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Sec. 7 . This order is effective at 12:15 p.m. eastern daylight time on March 19, 2018.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 19, 2018.