Venezuela is getting their own crypto currency in December 2017, it would be backed by the country's oil and mineral reserves, and it is intended to supplement Venezuela's bolivar fuerte currency as a means of securing international financing.
In early December, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro shocked both analysts who follow the country’s flirting with default and the cryptocurrency community by announcing that Venezuela wanted to launch the petro cryptocurrency, backed by oil, diamonds, and gold reserves, to help the country to “advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.
Dozens of Venezuelans were arrested in 2017 for mining the cryptocurrency Bitcoin – several of whom were allegedly involved in illicit activities. Nonetheless, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said that those who sign up to the government’s new digital mining system will have access to other cryptocurrencies “provided they are approved by the state”. It is still unknown whether Bitcoin trading will become legal in the South American country.