According to recent news Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro says the launch of his country’s oil-backed answer to Bitcoin, Petro, raised $735 million in its first day.
This is impressive given the fact that the U.S. Treasury Department has been feverishly warning investors not to invest in it.
A tweet went out late Tuesday in which the Venezuelan leader said that investors had pledged 4.8 billion yuan, or $735 million in a pre-sale of Petro.
For people who have never heard of Petro, essentially it is the new cryptocurrency backed by the Venezuelan government that Maduro intends to boost Venezuela’s ailing economy with.
Countries including the U.S. have imposed sanctions on Venezuela, with the U.S., at least, dubbing Maduro a “dictator.” That comes as the Venezuelan bolívar fuerte has been in free fall partly due to excessive printing of money, while the country still owes its creditors some $141 billion.
This is a very genius way to boost a failing economy! If it works, expect other countries with financial difficulties to follow suit!
“Available information indicates that, once issued, the Petro digital currency would appear to be an extension of credit to the Venezuelan government,” the Treasury department recently disclosed to Reuters.
If Maduro’s plan works this fund will net a lot more money than the initial $735 million raise. According to Maduro, he has said that a total of 100 million Petros will be put on offer at a starting price of $60 each—roughly which also happens to be the price of a barrel of oil. This adds up to a total of about $6 billion. At the current time, 824 million tokens have been made available.
In addition to the sale of the Petro, Maduro also plans to launch a cryptocurrency backed by gold next week, Reuters reports.
This is a very exciting time to be involved in the cryptospace! I can't believe this is actually happening and in fact it is certainly going to put other governments on notice. This is a train and you either get on it or you get left behind!
What do you guys think about this new Petro token? Will this be the solution in solving the economic woes of Venezuela?
Please leave your thoughts below.
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Source:
Venezuela President Claims His Country's Answer to Bitcoin, Petro, Raises $735 Million - Fortune
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Fortune