Venezuelan government to grant Christmas bonus in crypto

According to a local news organization, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro recently announced that the country would grant Christmas bonuses to retirees and pensioners. He stated that the bonus would be paid in Petro, the state-backed cryptocurrency. 

This is not the first time that the Venezuelan government is pushing Petro into the wallets of pensioners so far. According to a report by Cointelegraph published in December last year, the country had automatically converted pensioners’ bonuses into Petro.

Petro was launched for a pre-sale in February 2018. Since then, the crypto asset has raised concerns among many foreign observers. In late August last year, Petro was alleged to be an opaque “stunt” backed by a centralized and debt-saddled entity. However, the local government is promoting cryptocurrencies to a great extent. 

According to a recent report by Cointelegraph Spain, Francisco Torrealba believes that the cryptocurrencies will replace all the existing currencies. Torrealba is the Deputy of the National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela. He stated that the county is going through a tremendous change and Maduro is making a “great contribution” to the country by creating the Petro. He winded up by saying that "everything will be from this currency [the Petro].”