Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced plans to create a cryptocurrency, dubbed “the Petro,” as a way to defeat the “financial blockade” imposed by U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.
“Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves,” Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing.
The Petro, he said, would help Venezuela “advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.”
Opposition leaders derided the announcement, which they said needed congressional approval, and some cast doubt on whether the digital currency would ever see the light of day in the midst of turmoil.
“It’s Maduro being a clown. This has no credibility,” opposition lawmaker and economist Angel Alvarado told Reuters.
“I see no future in this,” added fellow opposition legislator Jose Guerra.>
Maduro says he is trying to combat a “Washington-backed conspiracy to sabotage his government and end socialism in Latin America.” On Sunday he said Venezuela was facing a financial “world war.”