Nicolas Maduro states Venezuela pioneered the introduction of crypto in South America when Petro flounders used – Bitcoin News

President Nicolas Maduro stated in an interview with Bloomberg last week that Venezuela was a pioneer in adopting cryptocurrencies in Latam. Venezuela is still one of the first cryptocurrency volume movers in South America. However, the petro token, its official cryptocurrency, has not gained momentum in national and international markets.

President Nicolas Maduro affirms Venezuela’s pioneering status in the cryptocurrency sector

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reiterated Venezuela’s pioneering action in introducing crypto in Latam. The statements were made during an interview offered by Bloomberg in which he also referred to geopolitics and sanction-related issues. Maduro quickly realized that the country was one of the first to give cryptocurrencies a central role in monetary policy. Maduro stated:

Venezuela created a cryptocurrency, the Petro, and created a worldwide cryptocurrency operating system that enabled many people to trade nationally and internationally and opened a window to Venezuela’s consumers.

Venezuela founded the Petro network back in 2017, when cryptocurrencies were much less important in world markets. The first objective of the issue was to bypass economic sanctions imposed by the United States. According to other media, it was also a secret joint venture that was built with Russian help.

However, Venezuela did not use the Salvadoran model of adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. At least not in the same way. When asked why Venezuela didn’t take this route, Maduro said:

All cryptocurrencies can circulate in Venezuela, you can easily combine currencies and cryptocurrencies, you can have euros, dollars, yuan, Russian rubles or bolivars from Venezuela and buy any cryptocurrency. You can have Petros and exchange them for dollars or you can have Petros and exchange them for Bitcoin

Venezuela is one of the largest cryptocurrency usage countries in Latam, with peer-to-peer markets like Binance moving millions of dollars a month. Cryptocurrencies play an important role in the lives of many Venezuelans.

The state of the Petro

However, the Petro token has not gained the same popularity as other crypto assets. It could not gain momentum in the country either as a medium of exchange or as a store of value.

The Petro (PTR) initially had an introductory value of $ 60, the then price for a barrel of oil. It was also announced that the minimum wage would be anchored in the value of Petros. In practice, however, this has not been implemented, and the value of the minimum wage is now around $ 3. In addition, the real value of the Petro on the national stock exchanges is much lower than the official price.

Once upon a time, thousands of stores accepted petroleum as a means of payment through Biopago, a banking platform. But that has changed. The government immediately stopped exchanging these Petros for Bolivar. This meant that companies were exposed to volatility in the petroleum market and Petro had to trade on a secondary exchange market. This made Petros adoption impractical, and it’s unlikely that will change in the future.

However, the penetration of cryptocurrencies in payment transactions is still very low in Venezuela. US dollars or the national fiat currency, the sovereign bolivar, are the most popular means of payment for goods or services.

What do you think about the current state of the Petro? Let us know in the comments section below.

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