President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order barring any U.S.-based financial transactions involving Venezuela’s new petro cryptocurrency, as U.S. officials warned that it was a “scam” by President Nicolas Maduro’s government to further undermine democracy in the OPEC country. “The ‘petro’ is a desperate effort by a corrupt regime to defraud international investors,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters, strongly warning that any transactions in the petro digital currency would violate U.S. sanctions. “Investing in the ‘petro’ should be viewed as directly supporting this dictatorship and ... (full story)