Venezuela’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro, will be used for international commercial transactions starting in October 2018, according to a September 21 statement made by Nicolas Maduro. The Venezuelan president appeared on the national VTV channel to deliver his speech on the latest economic issues. As cited by the VTV website, he then announced the upcoming use of Petro on an international level, stating: "Petro comes into play as a currency for exchange, purchase and convertible currencies for the world." However, the Venezuelan leader did not specify the areas where the Petro will be used, nor did he name any of …

Venezuela has been living with hyperinflation since at least 2014. Its national currency — the Venezuelan bolívar — hit an official inflation rate of 57.3 percent in February 2014, while independent currency analysts were reporting that, by that September, the real inflation rate had already topped 100 percent. In other words, the bolívar (VEF) was depreciating rapidly in value, and ordinary Venezuelans needed something to fill the void it had left as a one-time viable means of exchange. By definition, hyperinflation is a state in which, as described by the International Accounting Standards Board, "the general population prefers to keep …

Reuters has today, August 30, published an investigative report into Venezuela’s national oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), attempting to square government claims with facts on the ground and evidence of the Petro’s transaction history to date. Reuters dispatched reporters to the central Venezuelan hamlet of Atapirire, which sits at the heart of the 380-square-kilometer territory that the president has said can provide the 5 billion barrels of petroleum needed to back the new cryptocurrency. Amid rampant hyperinflation in the Venezuelan economy, President Maduro last week introduced a rebranded fiat currency – the sovereign bolívar, which will have five fewer zeros …

Venezuela’s national oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), has been scathingly denounced as an opaque “stunt” backed by a centralized and debt-saddled entity, the Wired reports today, August 22. Amid rampant hyperinflation in the Venezuelan economy, President Nicolas Maduro has this week introduced a rebranded fiat currency – the sovereign bolívar – which will have five fewer zeros than its ailing predecessor, the Bolívar Fuerte (VEF). The new currency has in turn been anchored to the Petro, which is now valued at $60 or 3,600 sovereign bolivars. The plan effectively devalues the bolívar (VEF) from 285,000 per dollar to 6 million …

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has announced that the national oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro, will be used as a unit of account within the country, news outlet ABC International reported August 14. Nicolás Maduro reportedly announced in a television address, that the state oil company PDVSA will use the Petro as a unit of account. Additionally, the government will introduce a new salary system and a pricing system for goods and services that are anchored to the Petro. ABC quotes Maduro: “As of next Monday, Venezuela will have a second accounting unit based on the price, the value of the Petro. …

The president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has announced that the country’s new cryptocurrency-backed national currency will start circulating August 20, local state news agency Telesur reported July 25. Telesur reports that the new currency, the Bolívar Soberano (Sovereign Bolivar), will have five zeros less than the existing national currency Bolivar Fuerte (VEF) and will be anchored to the oil-backed Petro (PTR) digital currency. The Petro was launched by the government of Venezuela this February. Maduro noted that the measure intends to align the financial and monetary system in the country “in a radical manner,” stating that the reconversion and anchoring …

Disclaimer: This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. The market data is provided by ICObazaar. Stats on where ICOs are mostly coming from, and what they are mostly about, paint an interesting insight into the ecosystem. As does the data on how the ICO market has changed into 2018. The biggest month for ICO investment was just four months ago, and 2018 has also seen the time taken to complete and ICO, and success of these projects, shift significantly since 2017. …

The Venezuelan Minister of Habitat and Housing Ildemaro Villarroel has announced that the country’s government is planning to fund the construction of houses for the homeless with the national cryptocurrency Petro, Criptotendencia reports Thursday, June 5. The government will fund a project called the “Great Mission for Venezuela Housing (GMVV),” which aims to make quality housing more accessible to the homeless. According to the GMVV website, the government has finished more than 2 million houses to date. Villaroel said that 33 companies so far have started technical, financial, and logistics tests to start the construction process, adding: "Together with the …

Iranians are increasingly turning to Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies in the wake of the US exit from a multilateral nuclear accord with the country this week. The news has plunged the country into economic turmoil, resulting in a surge of interest towards crypto, as Forbes reports Thursday, May 10. Mounting anticipation that the Obama-era accord would collapse has brought Iran to the brink of a national currency crisis, with the Iranian rial losing around a quarter of its value in the past six months. In response, the government has unified its official and open market exchange rates, hiked interest …

A Russian official has refuted claims that Venezuela offered to repay its debts in its newly-launched Petro cryptocurrency, Reuters reports today, March 27. As Reuters reports, Konstantin Vyshkovsky, head of the Russian finance ministry’s state debt department, told reporters that no cryptocurrency-based debt repayments were on the horizon. The update came a week after Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announced that the Russian ruble would be one of the handful of fiat currencies freely convertible with Petro. The others are the Chinese yuan, Turkish lira and the euro. “Starting March 23, all legal and physical entities will be able to purchase …

When the Petro was unveiled to the world by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, he led the cheering squad about what a groundbreaking and successful idea it would be. A government-backed, oil-pegged, cryptocurrency that would aid the ailing Venezuelan nation in their time of crisis with a hyper-inflated currency. However, the pomp and promise of the Petro has quickly been dissected and seen through as the feeling coming from those in Venezuela, as well as those who have been exiled or left on their own accord, see the Petro as one big scam. Maduro continues to plug and push his digital …