The government of Venezuela has taken action against two cryptocurrency exchange operators in the country. Both of them allow customers to convert between a number of cryptocurrencies and bolivars and send remittances abroad.
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Operation Paper Hands
The Venezuelan government’s “Operation Paper Hands” began a new phase this week “with the dismantling of 3 illegal remittance houses: Intercash, Rapidcambio, and Airtm,” according to the country’s Prosecutor General, Tarek William Saab. He described:
Operation Paper Hands is the largest anti-litigation procedure in the country’s history. So far 112 people have been arrested, of whom 107 have already been brought to court.
Venezuela’s Prosecutor General, Tarek William Saab, talking about Operation Paper Hands.
The operation “seeks to take action against individuals and companies that have incurred misappropriation, [and] dissemination of false information about the exchange rate,” he explained, adding that “1,382 bank accounts have been frozen in which a sum exceeding 711,967 million bolivars [~US$10.6 million] has been blocked.” Furthermore, he indicated that he has also requested the blockade of 247 bank accounts, 40 new arrest warrants, and 104 raids, according to a notice by the country’s Public Ministry.
Out of the three aforementioned exchanges, the latter two engage in exchanging between cryptocurrencies and bolivars. Airtm supports the conversion of zcash, bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, ripple, litecoin, monero, dogecoin, and tether. Rapidcambio allowed customers to exchange and send remittances using bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, dash, litecoin, and ripple.
Charges Against the Exchanges
Saab noted that these exchanges operate through websites registered abroad as well as Twitter accounts and other social networks, adding that they use international parent bank accounts in the U.S., Chile, Ecuador, and Panama. The crackdown, therefore, only affects
