The little-known Moscow bank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail Venezuela’s state-backed digital currency, called the petro, even before it begins to function. (Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press)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. Russia has provided Venezuela with billions in debt relief over the years and is a major investor in the country’s oil industry. Even offshore trading platforms like Bitfinex are refusing to deal in the petro for fear of violating sanctions. The other, Fedor Bogorodskiy, used to help run the credit card division at a bank controlled by a Russian oligarch.

Source: Washington Post May 14, 2018 15:00 UTC