The proposed Venezuelan digital currency will be backed by an oil field that reserves of more than 5 billion barrels of oil, AP reported.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro identified the field as Ayacucho Block of the Orinoco Belt.
Earlier this month Maduro announced plans to create a cryptocurrency, dubbed “the Petro,” as a way to defeat the “financial blockade” imposed by U.S. sanctions
The President now says each barrel of oil pumped there will equal one Petro.
Maduro's comments Wednesday shed some light on the government's project for which few public details have been released.
The President hopes the cryptocurrency will help Venezuela “advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.”