The Petro cryptocurrency will not be backed as much as previously thought

Venezuela's cryptocurrency the Petro will not be backed as much as previously thought by physical oil.

The President of the nation Maduro said that the 30 million barrels are ready for commercialization. Much less than the earlier statements of 5 billion barrels.

The project was announced back in 2018 and it was made in order to avoid sanctions put in place by the US and a few other governments.

It was initially said that Petro would be backed by 5 billion oil barrels, gold and other precious metals that can be found in Venezuela.

The President had been promoting the coin after inflation reached high levels and international pressures began to take its toll on the home currency bolivar.

At the same time, it was not working due to the adoption of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. 

Now that Maduro has under-delivered on the backing it will be left to see if the project works or if in time more commodities will be used to secure its value.