Venezuela to sell oil and gold for petro cryptocurrency, says Maduro

According to Venezulan newspaper El Nacional, and reported by Russian news agency TASS, Venezulean President Nicolas Maduro said that his country will sell oil and part of the gold it produces for its national petro cryptocurrency. "We will sell Venezuelan oil in exchange for petros. We already sell Venezuela’s iron ore and steel for petros. We have already signed contracts for the sale of oil, steel, iron and aluminum, and we will sell part of the gold for petros," El Nacional newspaper quotes him as saying. According to Maduro at least six million families in Venezuela have used Petro as a payment method to purchase services during the New Year holidays.

Why it matters:

• Venezuela has been making a significant push to drive adoption of it’s Petro cryptocurrency. This recent announcement follows Venezuelan authorities airdropping petro tokens to public sector workers, retirees and the military as a holiday bonus in December of 2019. Eligible citizens received the airdrop through PetroApp, the official government crypto wallet that launched in May of 2019.
• As far as we’re aware, Venezuela’s PetroApp is the only official government crypto wallet in the world today. With native support for Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dash, the Venezuelan government paradoxically seems to be incentivizing people to onboard into crypto and have the option to exit from its deteriorating monetary system.
  

Let us know what you loved about the report, what may be missing, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form. All responses are subject to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.