This is the article 4 of Decree No. 3.196 -recently published in the Official Gazette- "authorizing the creation of the Superintendence of Cryptoactives and related Venezuelan activities", signed by Nicolás Maduro and Venezuelan ministers.
Article 3. The purpose of this Decree is to establish within the policies of integral development of the Nation and in a lawful manner, the regulatory conditions provided for in the Venezuelan Civil Code, the purchase / sale of financial assets, application, use and development of Blockchain technologies (chain of blocks), mining, development of new cryptocurrencies in the country, with the aim of betting on an economy capable of maintaining social cohesion and political stability.
Decree No. 3.196 Official Gazette No. 6346, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
The aforementioned article 4 establishes that the Petro is Venezuelan Petroleum quoted in the OPEC basket, as well as other commodities such as gold, diamond, coltan and gas. Venezuela's proven oil reserves amount to 300,878,033 barrels, making it the largest reserve in the world so far. In this same sense, among the considerations of the decree it is established that the Petro may be exchanged for physical oil.
CONSIDERING
That the "PETRO" is of an exchangeable crypto-active characteristic for goods and services, and for fiduciary money in the national and international crypto-asset exchange houses, and at the same time exercises commodities functions, since it can be used as a instrument of financial refuge to be backed in barrels of Venezuelan oil, in the form of a purchase / sale contract with the possibility of being exchanged for physical oil.
Decree No. 3.196 Official Gazette N ° 6346, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
This national cryptoactive will initially be distributed "through auction or direct placement" by the Superintendence of Cryptoactives of Venezuela -entity headed by Deputy Carlos Vargas- in accordance with the number of barrels granted as support by the National Executive, as well as the number circulating Petros.
It is stated that the custody of Petro will be decentralized once the auction and assignment have been carried out. Each Petro holder will independently manage their digital wallet and will be entirely responsible for their private keys and passwords, as happens in any other cryptocurrency portfolio.
For the exchange and negotiation of Petro for its equivalent in cryptocurrencies, bolivars or other fiat currencies, the decree affirms that national and international exchange houses will be used, although until now it is unknown which exchanges will support Petro on its platforms. The equivalent in bolivars will be the exchange rate determined by a national exchange house for cryptoactives.
The Superintendence of Cryptoactives of Venezuela will be "a decentralized service without legal personality, administered, supervised and integrated to the Vice Presidency of the Republic", and will coordinate financial and budgetary management with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The operation and internal organization of the Superintendency will be defined in its Internal Regulation, which has not yet been published.
The creation of this body is in accordance with Decree No. 3,074 of September 11, 2017, which declared the State of Emergency and Economic Emergency in Venezuela.
As stated by Superintendent Carlos Vargas during the launch of the Blockchain Observatory in Venezuela, the creation of this cryptocurrency aims to overcome the economic difficulties that Venezuela is going through and thus "not be slaves of the traditional financial system."