Venezuela Petro Cryptocurrency To Be Launched Within Days, President Maduro Announces

in blockchain •  7 years ago 

Almost a month ago I wrote about Venezuela's announcement to launch it's own cryptocurrency, called Petro, which will be backed by the country's oil reserves.

Well, the plot thickens, because, as CNBC reports, president Maduro announced that this new token could be launched within days. The statement was supported by communication minister, Jorge Rodriguez, who gave a bit more details, saying that the first "Petro offering" could come within days. More importantly, he already gave precise information about the actual "pegging", indicating that the

"Camp one of the Ayacucho block will form the initial backing of this cryptocurrency".

According to the same source, that area holds $267 billion worth of oil resources. This value is higher than any other market cap of any other cryptocurrency - at the moment Bitcoin market cap is $233 billion.

There are many details missing from the picture, like how the cryptocurrency will be "minted" (officials said "the miners were already aligned" - which miners?), what's the nature of the currency (inflationary / deflationary), what's the maximum supply, what's the blockchain platform and so on and so forth.

Although this seems more like a populist announcement meant to calm Venezuela's citizens which had to endure a dramatic devaluation of their national currency, there might be something there. If Venezuela pulls this off in a decent way, this will send ripples down an entire new layers of social structures. Political and economical processes at the highest levels will benefit transparently from the blockchain technology.

It all depends on the execution.


I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.


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I am really happy that Venezuela is considering to launch its own cryptocurrency and in my country , India my government is comparing Bitcoin to a ponzi scheme that sounds so ridiculous and absurd.

You know what makes me happy? Venezuelans who found Steemit and using it to support their daily life. It's beautiful.

I'M ONE DOING THAT!

and i'm also helping people in the streets in need with the help of the steemit community <3

magic is happening here

You are wonderful this is magical indeed <3

The fact 3rd world countries can use this platform to support themselves is mind boggling.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

It looks like now every country will have their own crypto currency.

Who is going to trust this crypto? Dont you need to trust the centralized body that is organizing the crypto before you trust the crypto, and since they are the same people that have hyper inflated the venezuela fiat, who would trust them?

Am I missing something? Thanks for the post though. I am interested to see where these Government backed cryptos lead. I suspect nowhere particularly special but nevertheless its interesting because it is an indicator of the greater and greater adoption that is coming in 2018.

That is a big problem but if it is in a blockchain then we can see new token creation.

Still so many questions. I wonder how this one is going to play out. Might be worth a gamble with a couple of $ in the very short term. I am guessing long term very negative.

I'd have a lot of questions for this crypto. Is it decentralized or controlled by the Venezuelan government? Is there a strict upper limit on mining? Does it attach KYC and AML? If the answer to this is yes, then we just have a new banker. If they continue to keep bitcoin mining illegal in Venezuela, it's pretty clear that this is not a "freedom" coin, but travels down the road to a digital panopticon.

That's really strange. I've definitely had a lot of conversations about Venezuela's currency and what's been going on with the government..... but I had no idea they had thier own coin coming out.

I'll be watching this Petro pretty closely.

If this succeeds, then it will be a big growth dor the entire crypto space, but I am not so sure it will. And I really hope for them to succeed with this currency, I guess it will boost Venezuela's economy.

This will definitely be interesting to see how it unfolds. Like you said, if they manage to pull this off it could be revolutionary. But not sure how much faith I have in the Venezuelan government right now

This 'cryptocurrency' is not more than a bad joke made by the government of Venezuela to keep doing their felonies. Mark my words folks, this is not more that an attempt of the government to get liquidity and, as the way i see it, issue some weird crypto-bond (if they ever get to).

But don't worry... I'm like 200% sure that is not going anywhere, who the f3$#k is going to buy or accept pays with a "cryptocurrency" that is backed by an oil industry that is falling like a potato sack, Venezuela recently went down the daily 2 million oil barrel production line, i mean it's absolutely ridiculous that the country with the biggest oil reserves in the entire world ONLY produces > 2 million oil barrels.

See the Bonaire case, PDVSA is going to lose a refinerie because lack of maintenance, and this is in the news because it is in a foreing country, but here in Venezuela the refineries are like 1000 times worst and this is not in the news because of the censorship. Another example, just type in Google 'Amuay Complex Fire', that facility ONLY this year has had two fires (i don't recall if more actually).

I'm sorry for this rant. I'm from Venezuela if i'ts not clear already, so you can be sure that what i'm telling you is true. I apologize if this was a pain the in the ass to read, my english is not that good.

It depends on how much money they want to embezzle :)

I think it's a great news!!

Here we call it CADIVI 3.0 and money laundering 3.0, because it looks like the same scheme that the government uses to limit access to dollars and benefit only a small group. It is not unknown to anyone that many senior government officials , have strong international sanctions that prevent them from conducting negotiations or handling in dollars. The Petro seems to be just a mechanism to evade these sanctions and nothing more

Nice post

You should have some thumbnail picture :) Right, all we see is your profile pic.

wow finally coming out that was quick great thanks for the update

Very bold decesion by the President of Venezuela Mr Maduro. I appreciate his boldness and solute for his deep thoughts towards his Nation just to boost them and stand in the level of top powers of the world.
No doubt this bold step will come a revolutionary change in the world of cryptocurrency. And the countries who are still in the state of confusion will definitely take bold steps.
Great news for the steemians and specially for the crypto world.
Thanks for sharing such a great news @dragosroua

Hi @dragosroua, that's amazing news for me that a Venezuela govt take interest in cryptocurrency. Venezuela president Maduro's announcement about new token launching "Petro" is revolutionary addition in this market. Thanks Bro, for information.

Very informative post

it is good to hear that people in venizula is using it in their day today life

Amazing part of the blog are the stats about i am thinking right now. Means any business is run by looking at the market's economic values. Well the Venezuelan market is pretty good in this regard as @dragosroua said

that area holds $267 billion worth of oil resources. This value is higher than any other market cap of any other cryptocurrency - at the moment Bitcoin market cap is $233 billion.

Point how does the Govt. take action !

Thanks a lot @dragosroua for making aware of this news of Petro.

Keep sharing such valeuabel stats.

Stay Blessed, Steem On!

Nice post keep posting
Happy new year