President Maduro orders the bank of Venezuela to accept Petro Crypto

The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, ordered Banco de Venezuela to accept the national cryptocurrency Petro (PTR) in all branches. This tweeted the Ministry of Finance on July 4. The Banco de Venezuela is the central bank of the country.

#EnVivo | Pdte. @NicolasMaduro: Doy la orders expresa para que se abran taquillas de transacciones de El Petro and todas las agencias del Banco de Venezuela#TrabajoPazYProduccion# 10AñosBDV pic.twitter.com/mTMy8j2xs7

– MPPEF (@MinEcoFinanzas) July 3, 2019

According to the tweet, Maduro gave “the express instruction to open Petro desks in all branches of the Bank of Venezuela.” The announcement was made during an event in honor of the tenth anniversary of the nationalization of the bank in question.

Wallets for youth

On June 19, Maduro announced that 924 million bolivar (more than $ 92.5 million) was allocated to the Digital Bank of Youth and Students to open a million Petro wallets for the country’s youth. José Angel Alvarez, president of the National Cryptocurrency Association, said to cryptocurrency news outlet CCN:

“It’s a bold and right decision to move to a hybrid economy where the fiduciary currency of a country competes with cryptocurrency.”

Against US sanctions

Venezuela is working on a six-year financial plan. The country wants to actively use the token within this period. Maduro says he can reduce the effect of US economic sanctions.

The controversial token was launched at an ICO in February and has been gradually integrated into the economy of Venezuela since its birth by Maduro. Even before the launch there was a big fuss about the Petro. The Venezuelan Congress, where the opposition has the majority, called the Petro a way to illegally borrow against the oil reserves (in the ground) of the country.

Venezuela began selling the Petro to citizens through a government portal in October, and said the token should be used by all people who want to get a passport. The new national currency of Venezuela, the sovereign bolivar, was already linked to the Petro in July 2018.