Venezuela to create oil-backed bitcoin

Venezuela

CARACAS, December 4, 2017 – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro unveiled plans for the “petro,” a cryptocurrency backed by natural reserves, primarily oil and gas, on Sunday.

“Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency – the petro-currency, the petro – to advance in monetary sovereignty, to make its financial transactions, to overcome the financial blockade,” Maduro said in a TV broadcast, referring to US sanctions that have contributed to a selective debt default by the country and its NOC PDVSA in mid-November. “This will allow us to move toward new forms of international financing for the economic and social development of the country. And it will be done with a cryptocurrency issue backed by reserves of Venezuelan riches of gold, oil, gas and diamonds.”

The news came days after Maduro’s regime arrested Eulogio del Pino, Venezuela’s former oil minister and PDVSA president, on November 30, charging him with corruption.