Venezuela's Maduro announces ‘Petro' cryptocurrency

The leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has announced that the country will launch its own cryptocurrency called the ‘Petro’ and it’ll be backed by the country’s natural resource reserves such as oil, gas, and the country's mineral wealth, including its gold. The president announced the plans on his weekly radio and TV show Sundays with Maduro.

In the broadcast, the president said:

“Venezuela is announcing the creation of its own cryptocurrency. It will be called the Petro. It will allow us to innovate towards new forms of international finance for the economic and social development of the country … to advance the country’s monetary sovereignty, to carry out financial transactions and to defeat the financial blockade.
We are facing a financial war against the country which we have denounced and the opposition has denied. There are business people who are unaffected by Donald Trump’s blockade. With this, we will join the 21st century.”

In order to kick-off the development of the cryptocurrency, Maduro has approved the creation of a Blockchain Base observatory that will oversee the development and rollout of the Petro. The country hopes that it can overcome the economic blockade which the U.S. has put on the country. The blockade has caused the country’s national currency, the Bolivar, to lose around 57% of its value in the last four weeks.


While it’s great to see yet another country deciding to set up a national cryptocurrency, Venezuela will likely garner some friction from the U.S. over the move. The Trump administration has already been railing against Venezuela and its socialist leadership in-between tirades against Iran and North Korea.