CARACAS, Venezuela – Investors looking to buy Venezuela's new cryptocurrency may want to head to a little-known Moscow bank whose biggest shareholders are President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and two state-controlled Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.
Evrofinance Mosnarbank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail the world's first state-backed digital currency.
Early would-be investors who registered with Venezuela's government and downloaded the petro's wallet software were invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring a minimum of 1,000 euros to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance.
The bank's place in the rollout of the petro is further evidence of Russia's role in the creation of a cryptocurrency that Maduro hopes will allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.