Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has announced the pre-sale of his country’s national oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro. In addition, he has presented and signed the official Petro’s whitepaper and unveiled the Petro Container for mining the new currency, Bloomberg reported.
“This is the moment to accelerate the entry of the Petro, to have faith in what we’ve created and in the technological and intellectual capacity of our country," Maduro said on state TV.
"The Petro will have a great impact, in how we access foreign currencies for the country and in how we obtain goods and services that we need from around the world.”
He also said a number of "mining farms" are being developed at schools and universities.
Venezuela’s embattled opposition is more skeptical.
“At the end of the day, it’s a coin being issued by the government,” said Jose Guerra, an opposition lawmaker and a member of the National Assembly’s Finance Commission. “It’s not going to be the means to find financing or avoid sanctions.”
By issuing the petro, Venezuela plans to overcome the biggest financial crisis in its history that has lasted for the last four years and resulted in a devaluation of its national currency, the bolivar. Venezuela also wants to become a hub for blockchain technology for emerging economies.