South America’s Pro Crypto Agenda Criticized by U.S. Navy Admiral

A number of countries are now seeking economic support through cryptocurrencies because they are going through some challenging times. While this is undoubtedly a testament to the potential of cryptocurrencies, some authorities have criticized this operation and claimed that it is in their way. The head of the United States Southern Command, Navy Admiral Craig Faller, explained earlier this week that the use of cryptocurrencies by a number of South American economies has made spreading democracy to their borders immensely difficult. The Department of Defense is made up of numerous unified combatant commands and the South Command is one of them.

The Command is based in Doral, Florida, and provides contingency, cooperation, and planning in operations that are conducted in South America. Talking to the Council of Americans in an interview, Admiral Faller asserted that the rapid crypto adoption in South American countries had made the South Command wary. He highlighted that most of these countries serve as a breeding ground for a number of international criminal organizations, which launder money and traffic illegal substances via their borders. The Admiral said that almost 60% of crypto in the world could be found within these regions and this is primarily because people here are trying to avoid the rules of the international financial system.

This statistic is against the findings of the top blockchain analysis firms. Chainalysis revealed in a blog post in August that East Asia is the largest cryptocurrency market by region. In the Cryptocurrency Adoption Index for 2020 that was published by the analysis firm, it reported that of the top ten countries recognized for global crypto adoption, only two came from South America. These were Venezuela, which took the third spot, and Colombia, which took the ninth position. Venezuela was especially signaled out by Admiral Faller. 

He stated that the Venezuelan government seems to be working alongside criminals. The country has shown to be on a spree of crypto adoption this year has been a major thorn in the side of the U.S. government for a very long time. Faller elaborated that they were considering the impact of pro-crypto policies within the country. Evading sanctions imposed by the U.S. is the primary intent behind crypto adoption in Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has been more open to accepting traditional digital assets and has also attempted to boost the adoption of their own stablecoin Petro, which is backed by oil.

President Nicolas Maduro presented a new bill last month that’s aimed at helping the country in bypassing economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. The bill focused on cryptocurrencies and the government said that it was committed to exploring various digital assets in both, foreign and international trade. The President said that the anti-sanctions bill would provide some strength to Petro, as well as other cryptocurrencies in the country, both national and global. He said that these could be used for local and foreign trade and people would be able to use worldwide cryptocurrencies for making their payments without any hassle.