Decree No. 4,096, providing for the payment of some fees and services in Sovereign Petro Cryptoassets, has been published in Official Gazette Special Issue No. 6,504 dated January 14, 2020, then republished in Official Gazette 41,800 dated January 15, 2020 due to errors in the original. For a better understanding of this Decree, we will begin with an explanation of the background for the rules and regulations governing cryptoassets in Venezuela.

We will begin with the publication of the Constituent Decree on Cryptoassets and the Sovereign Petro Cryptocurrency in Official Gazette Special Issue No. 6,370 dated April 9, 2018. Setting aside the issue of the legitimacy of this decree given the origin of the body enacting it, we must point out that it provides the basis for the creation, circulation and exchange of cryptoassets in Venezuela and stipulates that the National Executive has full powers to regulate the creation, issuing, organization, functioning and use of cryptoassets, and has full sovereign authority to create and issue these assets

   This was followed by the Constituent Decree on the Comprehensive Cryptoasset System, published in Official Gazette No. 41,575 dated January 30, 2019, that created and defined the regulatory framework applicable to the Comprehensive Cryptoasset System. This decree also stated that the provisions thereof are considered to be public policy and shall prevail vis-à-vis the provisions of any other laws. This decree is applicable in the case of goods, services, securities or activities involving the creation, issuing, organization, functioning and use of cryptoassets and sovereign cryptoassets within the national territory, as well as the purchase, sale, use, distribution and exchanging of any product or service stemming therefrom and activities related thereto. Article 6 explains what the Comprehensive System of Cryptoassets consists of and states that the overall purpose is to guarantee the incorporation of cryptoassets and associated technologies in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

It is based on the above-mentioned legal instruments that Decree No. 4,096 has now been published to provide for, as mentioned above, the mandatory payment in Sovereign Petro Cryptoassets of some of the fees and services payable to the following agencies:

1. Autonomous Intellectual Property Service (SAPI) and the Autonomous Registries and Notaries Service (SAREN),
2. Autonomous Identification, Migration and Aliens Service (SAIME),

c)      National Dredging Institute,

d)    Bolivariana de Puertos, S.A. (BOLIPUERTOS).

e)     National Waterways Institute (INEA).

f)      National Civil Aviation Institute (INAC), Maiquetía International Airport Institute and Bolivariana de Aeropuertos; as well as

g)      Prices set in foreign currencies by state-owned corporations.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need further details regarding these new regulations.

Yours truly

Benson, Pérez Matos, Antakly & Watts

Ysabel Figueira