Cuba’s government is considering using cryptocurrency to bypass US sanctions

Cuba’s government is eyeing the potential use of cryptocurrency to boost its economy.

The proposal forms part of a series of measures seeking to improve the country’s deepening criss exacerbated by US sanctions.

The new measures were announced this week by President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his government on state-run TV and promise to raise income for around a quarter of the population.

The objective is to increase national supply and demand with a view of boosting growth as sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump target foreign investment and tourism.

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Speaking on TV, Alejandro Gil Fernandez, the country’s Minister of Economy and Planning, said:

“We are planning to explore the potential application of cryptocurrency […] In fact, we’ve gone further and decided to study the potential use of cryptocurrency in national and international commercial relations.”

Gil Fernandez stated this was a long-term project, and added that there is enough talent in Cuba to make the use of cryptocurrency a reality should it prove a feasible means of payment.

@AlejandroGilF en @mesaredondacuba: #Cuba ?? estudia la implementación de una criptomoneda #CubaAvanza @liubamoreno @AlinaSnchez @RadioRelojCuba @radionline @oneliocc @ibs24 @chamberohoy @Guajiritasoy @joaquinsglez @ernestom91 @JoelSuarezPelle @CarlosO28859673 @MEP_CUBA pic.twitter.com/vHoM3IOaxp

— Ramon Rodriguez ?? (@cyber_reloj) July 2, 2019

The news comes after President Miguel Diaz-Canel accused the Trump administration of engaging in an “asphyxiating financial persecution that makes the import of goods and resources of primary necessity particularly difficult,” in a speech delivered in April this year.

Cuba’s ally Venezuela introduced ‘El Petro,‘ a state-run cryptocurrency, to avoid US sanctions and weather-related hyperinflation last year, but it failed to catch on.

It was supposedly backed by the country’s oil and mineral reserves, and was intended to co-exist with Venezuela’s plummeting bolívar, as a way of circumventing US sanctions and accessing international financing.