A luxury hotel, offering breathtaking views of Caracas and the Caribbean coast, will be accepting payments in Petro, Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency. According to President Maduro, the renovated Humboldt hotel is going to be the first seven-star property in his crisis-stricken Bolivarian Republic.
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Luxury Priced in Petro
The Humboldt hotel is a landmark of Caracas, and is considered among the most interesting examples of XX century urban architecture. It’s located in the Waraira Repano National Park, between the capital and the Caribbean coastline of Venezuela.
The 19-story tower, built in the Avila mountain at 2,140 meters above sea level, offers a 360 view stretching to the horizon. Glass and aluminum cover the facade of the hotel which has 70 luxurious rooms and suits. Social areas, conference rooms, an indoor pool, and a cable car will also be available to guests who can pay for them in Petro.
The hotel, which was built in 1956 on the initiative of the Venezuelan dictator Marcos Jiménez, was meant to be a part of the tourist and recreational complex connecting Caracas with its coastal area. At the time, Humboldt met the highest world standards in the hospitality industry. It had several first class restaurants, a disco with rotating dance floor, and even an ice rink. The hotel was closed, however, after Jiménez’s resignation in 1958 as a “symbol of the dictatorship”. In 1991 it opened doors thanks to an Italian investor, but in 2007 Hugo Chávez’s government nationalized it and closed it again.
President , who took part in the latest reopening of Humboldt, claims it will be the first seven-star hotel in his troubled South American country. Moreover, it will also be accepting payments in Petro. The oil-backed crypto was introduced by his administration as an alternative to the country’s fiat, the bolivar, after inflation exceeded 2,600% last year.
Services and extras at Humboldt will be priced in the state-issued cryptocurrency. According to the local newspaper Universal, visitors will be able to buy Petro from an exchange bureau in the hotel, renovated and operated by Marriott. During a tour of the hotel facilities, President Maduro said: “All hotels in the country are authorized to charge in convertible currencies. But this hotel, Humboldt, is going to be a model, a pilot, with all services charged in Petros, so that it produces convertible wealth for our country,” he explained, quoted by Noticia Al Dia.
Crypto Exchange Points across Venezuela
Maduro also posted on Twitter images and video of his visit to the hotel saying, “We want the Humboldt hotel to become a model for the application of the Petro.” The president added that, “Tourism, sooner rather than later, should become the second largest collector of international wealth”. The socialist leader believes that the tourism industry can be a locomotive for the Venezuelan economy and help pull the country out of the severe economic crisis.
“We are giving national tourism an architectural jewel,” Maduro said during the opening ceremony on Friday, which was broadcasted by VTV. The Venezuelan president also announced that soon a number of crypto exchange points will be opened across the country. He was reluctant to reveal too many details but noted that the project will be implemented in partnership between the Ministry of Tourism and large Venezuelan companies.
Some have questioned the promised seven-star rating of the renovated Humboldt hotel. While no universal international standard has been adopted yet, the five-star system is widely used around the world, with variations in the criteria for each level. Most luxury hotels are usually advertised as five-star venues. There are a few, though, that have claimed a higher rating. A notable mention in that respect is the hotel in Dubai offering a butler for every room and the world’s highest staff-to-suite ratio of 8 to 1. The property is the first to be widely referred to as a seven-star hotel.
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Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter (Nicolás Maduro).
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A utility provider in Washington has ramped up security measures in anticipation of backlash in response to a moratorium recently placed on cryptocurrency miners by the company. Despite the measures, the company has not experienced a single incident requiring police assistance.
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Chelan County Power Utility District (PUD) of north-central Washington has enacted heightened security measures including “bulletproof panels and security cameras at PUD headquarters” according to .
Reports are attributing the increased security precautions to concerns of retaliation from “two cryptocurrency-related groups — unauthorized miners whose power has been disconnected and high-density load service applicants denied because of the current moratorium.”
In March, Chelan County PUD’s commissioners launched “an emergency moratorium on new high-density load hookups to give staff time to develop a plan for dealing with the demand for electricity from digital currency miners.”
Emotions “Running High”
Chelan County PUD spokeswoman, Kimberlee Craig, has stated that “PUD employees in the field and those in the office who are handling issues related to high-density load service have encountered an increasing number of upset customers and potential customers. In some cases, people can get agitated and argumentative. Our goal always is to provide excellent customer service, as well as to keep customers, the public and employees safe, especially when emotions may be running high.”
Despite the increased security measures, Mrs. Craig indicated that none of the incidents have escalated to the point of requiring assistance from law enforcement. “The volume of requests and the sense of urgency by applicants has changed the dynamics of the interaction by staff with the cryptocurrency customers,” she added.
Unauthorized Mining Operations Proliferate Despite Moratorium
Chelan County PUD has indicated that when the moratorium was called, it had “22 approved high-density load customers using a total of about 13.5 megawatts; 19 pending applications for 16.3 megawatts; and had identified 28 unauthorized operations, with a watchlist of 12 and growing. Of the 28, 19 were shut down.”
Since taking action, the PUD’s staff has reportedly identified “three more unauthorized operations each week.” The company has expressed concerns about “unauthorized bitcoin operators overloading the system, creating fire hazards and damaging power grid infrastructure.”
Amnesty Period for Unauthorized Mining Operations
During April, the company brought forward a number of measures designed to curb the power consumed by miners, including facilitating the immediate disconnection power, and the introduction of fees — up to $6,150 for in-home cryptocurrency operations and $11,400 for those in commercial or light industrial space — for those who violate the company’s policy.
The measures have included “an amnesty period for unauthorized bitcoin miners not yet identified by the PUD,” during which unauthorized miners must shut down immediately and notify the PUD in order to qualify for amnesty. The amnesty period will be in place until May 14 – at which point commissioners conduct a public hearing regarding whether the company should continue to maintain the moratorium.
Do you think that Chelan County PUD’s heightened security measures are an over reaction? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, chelanpud.org
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