Venezuela’s "petro" pre-sale goes live on Tuesday

Tanya Abrosimova Independent Analyst

Venezuela launches petro pre-sale
International authorities denounce it to be illegal

Venezuela is going through hard times. The economy lies in ruins; inflation is galloping, currency is devaluing, oil production is collapsing, while the United States and the European Union sanctions are making matters worse.

This dire situation forced President Nicolas Maduro to resort to unconventional measures. He has launched commodity-backed "petro" cryptocurrency in hopes that it will help the country to get around Western sanctions and get the economy back on track

According to the government, petro will be backed by vast natural resources of the country, including gas, oil, and diamonds.

The authorities aim to sell 38.4 M of petro tokens at the initial price of $60.00 at the pre-sale round. Thus they will raise $2.3B. The country's cryptocurrency regulator plans to draw investments from the Middle East countries and hopes to attract investors from Europe and US.

The decision attracted lots of criticism as many experts believe Caracas is turning to crypto about of desperation, and the venture won’t bring real benefits to Venezuela's economy. What’s more, the countries parliament declared the cryptocurrency issue illegal and warned the public against buying it.

The US Treasury Department also warned that investments in new cryptocurrency are illegal as they breach sanctions imposed on Venezuela.

Author

Tanya Abrosimova

Independent Analyst

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