The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, will report to the National Assembly in his annual message to the nation, made on the last day allowed by the Constitution. Maduro, who took office in 2013, appeared before Parliament to outline the achievements and challenges of his administration during 2023.

In his speech, Maduro was expected to address the impact of international sanctions on the country’s economy, which began to recover in 2021 after eight years of recession. It was also anticipated that the president would make announcements about future plans, especially in connection with this year’s presidential elections, although he has not yet confirmed whether he will seek a third term.

At the same time, thousands of teachers demonstrated in several cities around the country, demanding a salary increase and rejecting the minimum wage set by the government, which is equivalent to about $3.6 a month.

In addition, Maduro reviewed his actions in 2023, including a unilateral referendum that approved the annexation of a disputed territory with Guyana, increasing regional tension.

Maduro’s intervention came a day before the Supreme Court ruled on the possible qualification of María Corina Machado, the presidential candidate of the main opposition coalition, to run in this year’s elections.

K. Tovar

Source: UniónRadio

(Source image reference: x, @NicolasMaduro)

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La entrada Maduro will report to the AN on January 15 apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Hirokazu Matsuno, Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government, reported during a press conference that his government is working on a bill that allows reviewing the legal regulations on currencies that allow the inclusion of cryptocurrency exchanges.

The Japanese country plans to modify its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law so that crypto exchanges are incorporated into the regulations that govern financial entities. The proposed amendment is intended to prevent sanctioned countries from taking evasive action using digital assets.

With the update of the legal precepts, cryptocurrency exchanges will have the obligation, as banks do, to “verify and mark transactions associated with sanctioned Russian individuals or groups.”

Recently elected Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed his support for the reform and asked to coordinate measures with Western countries allied to the Japanese government in order to achieve greater effectiveness in the application of the new laws.

As will be remembered, Japan joined with most Western governments to impose various financial sanctions on Russia due to the military actions it is carrying out in Ukraine. In early March, Japan’s regulatory body asked the different cryptocurrency exchange houses to refrain from “allowing transactions for sanctioned parties.”

Protection against international sanctions

The reform of the Law on Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade by the parliament would establish the obligation that cryptocurrency exchanges must have to “block transactions for several sanctioned Russian officials, oligarchs, banks and other institutions.”

The concern of the Japanese government authorities is focused on the possibility that Russia “attempts to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies”. A concern that arises as a result of the country’s growing interest in the cryptoactive market, coupled with the statements of some of the Russian ministers on the crypto market.

As is known worldwide, the financial sanctions established against Russia have made that country try to implement alternative payment systems and methods that allow them to access international markets and obtain the products and services they require to maintain their economies and at the same time obtain their income.

The use of digital assets as an instrument to evade the sanctions imposed on various countries has been a topic that has been widely discussed by experts in recent days. However, many of the analysts consider that there is no evidence to support this phenomenon, on the contrary, it is “totally unfounded” speculation.

M. Rodríguez

Source: es.cointelegraph.com

La entrada Japan to strengthen regulation of cryptocurrency trading apareció primero en Bitfinance.