With the rise and current decline of Bitcoin over the last few months, every crypto-investor and their grandmother are out to find the next altcoin that they can either pump and dump or HODL for the best replacement to BTC as the market leader. I hope it's seen as fairly obvious by everyone, but avoid the cryptocurrency Petro.
While it's unclear who the exact Venezuelan creator of Petro is, it's clear that it's only in the news cycle at all due to being propped up by Nicholas Maduro, the President (Dictator) of Venezuela. If you need proof of his authoritarian credentials, look no further than his wikipedia page. By suspending his own recall vote, disbanding the Venezuelan national assembly, and forcefully dealing with protests over the last 4 years, his nation is in shambles and not a place anyone living in a free society should want to do business.
Moving past the politics of the government in question, let's look at what Petro is itself to understand why it will never be a solid investment, even among high risk crypto alt-coins.
Petro is backed by Venezuelan hard commodities, such as oil, natural gas, gold, and other precious metals. That said, it's important to note Venezuela's current credit rating, which to say is laughable would be an understatement. You are not going to get your money back if you attempt to withdraw your Petro to USD, EUR, or GBP. It's more than likely that the currency will fail to be picked up by a major exchange, requiring the Venezuelan government to distribute it directly with no oversight to prevent a default. This is a move by a totalitarian government to squander money out of investors drooling over every coin they see. I'm sure that if you found this on Steemit at this early stage, chances are you are in the know enough to know a little about crypto and not be a complete fool. Keep your friends who may be on the fence about something they don't truly understand from investing in a coin that will only lead to propping up a dictator and a high risk of default.
Edit: Even the US treasury department thinks it's a dumb idea.