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YBFB hopes that using crypto will be a direct solution to the nation's shortage in U.S. dollars and foreign currency reserves.
Mar 12, 2025, 2:18 p.m. UTC
Bolivia's state energy company YBFB will use cryptocurrency to pay for energy imports, according to a Reuters report.
YBFB hopes that using crypto will be a direct solution to the nation's shortage in U.S. dollars and foreign currency reserves.
The shortage comes alongside a fuel crisis spurred by a lack of natural gas exports, which had led to scattered protests across the country, the report said.
"From now on, these (cryptocurrency) transactions will be carried out," a YPFB spokesperson told Reuters.
This is not the first time a South American state-owned energy firm has moved into crypto; in 2023 Agentina's YPF announced that it was moving into crypto mining, and last April Venezuela's PDVSA revealed that it was using cryptocurrencies to combat U.S. imposed oil sanctions.
Oliver Knight
Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.
