Venezuelan President Pushes Forward Petro Coin despite Parliament Decision
Not long ago, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced plans to release a Petro digital currency, which would be backed by oil, in order to help Venezuela overcome its financial crisis. Yet, shortly after the announcement, the National Assembly has declared both the President’s decree and the Petro as illegal, as they believe that such a cryptocurrency would be violating the country’s constitution.
However, despite the Parliament’s decision, recent reports indicate that the President is pushing ahead the launch of the Petro digital currency. With this in mind, Maduro recently signed the Petro’s white paper, and has since announced the pre-sale date. The white paper closely describes that the digital currency is all about, how it will work, the vision behind it and various conditions.
According to the government website, the pre-sale for the Petro will start on the 20th of February 2018, so less than 3 weeks from now. According to the President, “We have reached the future. Venezuela advances as an economic power (…) Venezuela is at the forefront of the world, and we are going to accelerate permanently the start-up of the cryptocurrency, the petro.”
So far, it is known that the Petro will be an ERC-20 Standard Ethereum token, and that mining will be encouraged in order to grant the currency value. According to Maduro, savings banks operating in Venezuela will be able to have their very own mining farms, and participate in the creation and distribution of the Petro. Additionally, the government will also reportedly create mining farms in universities throughout the country.
It is interesting to see how the Petro will evolve given the fact that the National Assembly has declared it as illegal. President Maduro hopes that the digital currency will be able to rise in value, and therefore put an end to the financial crisis that Venezuela is dealing with, while also allowing citizens to participate in Petro-based online transactions.
So far, it is not known whether Maduro wishes for the Petro to be used as a form of legal tender. However, implementation and mass-adoption within the country may be a bit difficult especially given the black market exchange rates that have been operating in the country for years.