Venezuela Announces the Creation of Oil-Backed National Cryptocurrency – the Petro

Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro has announced the creation of the country’s national cryptocurrency. It will be called the Petro and will be backed by the nation’s oil, gold, gas, and diamond reserves.

                                                                        Venezuela’s National Cryptocurrency

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Sunday that his country will create a national cryptocurrency called the Petro. Its goal is “to combat what the leftist leader says is a financial ‘blockade’ against the crisis-hit nation spurred by U.S. Sanctions,” Reuters reported.

Maduro explained that the new currency will be “backed by oil, gold, gas and diamond reserves,” Agencia Venezolana de Noticias wrote. He was quoted saying:

I want to announce that Venezuela is going to implement a new cryptocurrency system based on oil reserves, in order to advance in the area of monetary sovereignty. This will allow us to move towards new forms of international financing for the economic and social development of the country.