Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed the pre-sale of the country’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), has raised $5 billion and recorded over 186,000 certified purchases, according to local news source . The announcement came during a meeting with members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in Caracas.
During the meeting, Maduro explained that the money raised from the cryptocurrency’s pre-sale will be used to “service everything our country needs.” Per his words, the money is part of a wider “economic solution” the Venezuelan government put together.
Additionally Carlos Vargas, the , revealed that over 83,000 individuals from 127 countries attempted to purchase the oil-backed cryptocurrency. Among them, were 3,523 entrepreneurs. As previously covered by CCN, the country had received 171,000 pre-registrations for the token sale, and Maduro claimed it raised
Carlos Vargas: 34 países han confirmado su intención de participar en el , pero son muchísimos más. Estamos cerca de 100 países que ya han manifestado su intención de participar con un poquito o con algo, con lo que consideren importante para ellos”
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR)
The Petro was created as a way to bypass US sanctions, while Venezuela deals with a steep recession, that’s forced its citizens to While Maduro’s words seem to show the Petro’s pre-sale has been a tremendous success, there’s little to no evidence pointing that out.
A believed to belong to the Venezuelan government has yet to distribute any of the 100 million Petros the country’s president ordered. Nevertheless, Maduro recently stated that the Petro aims to improve the country’s “monetary sovereignty,” while also helping it “make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.”
Petro shrouded in controversy
While the Venezuelan leader claims the Petro is a step forward, various Venezuelan lawmakers seemingly don’t agree. The country’s opposition-run congress has said the Petro’s sale is an “illegal and unconstitutional” instrument to . The country’s National Assembly denounced it as a fraud and claimed it could be a risky investment.
On the other hand, Chinese credit rating giant Dagong claimed the Petro “may help the global currency system.” To bolster adoption, Maduro has ordered the country’s airlines to for tickets.
Despite the controversy, Venezuela is set to auction the Petro to private companies via its . Last month, Maduro claimed a – a cryptocurrency backed by precious metals – was going to be launched “next week.”
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Published at Sat, 10 Mar 2018 21:43:03 +0000
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