🗞 Start of the Petro: Venezuela receives hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency

Venezuelan President Maduro announces a successful launch of his own cryptocurrency. The sale of the so-called Petro is said to have brought in more than $700 million on the first day alone.

The launch of the first state-owned cryptocurrency has apparently been successful: Venezuela has taken hundreds of millions of dollars at the start of the Petro, according to President Nicolas Maduro. On the first day of presale 735 million dollars have been collected, said Maduro on Tuesday evening. "Today, a cryptocurrency is launched, which can compete with Superman," said Maduro. "We have made a big step into the 21st century," said Maduro. "We are one of the technological pioneers in the world."

Venezuela, shaken by many crises, hopes that the launch of the cyber currency will solve the economic problems. The country has been in a deep economic crisis for years. Inflation is by far the highest in the world. In addition, Venezuela has hardly any foreign exchange to import food, medicines and everyday necessities. The opposition has repeatedly mobilized mass protests against President Maduro, accusing them of building a dictatorship, mismanagement and corruption.

High inflation is also a reason why cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are so popular in Venezuela. Many citizens try to protect themselves from the depreciation of the actual national currency Bolivar. Other currencies such as dollars are currently only available on the black market in Venezuela.

Until 19 March, interested parties can invest in the Petro, according to Venezuelan information, of which each unit is secured with a barrel (159 liters) of the country's crude oil reserves. 100 million digital petro-coins are to be spent at a price of about $60 each. That would bring the Petro to a total market value of six billion dollars and would it be among the ten largest cryptocurrencies in the world right from the start.

But experts warn against too high expectations of the new means of payment: "You can not stop hyperinflation by inventing a new currency and does nothing else," the news agency AP quotes the economist Jean Paul Leidenz of the Institute EcoAnalitica in Caracas. "The government has no plan for structural reforms."

Source: Reuters, AFP

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