Venezuela will start using petro in international trade

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro announced that Petro's National Petroleum Cryptocurrency, secured by oil, will be used for settlements in international trade from October. These words were heard on the air of local television.

"The Petro enters ... as a currency of exchange, purchase and convertible currencies for the world," Maduro said during the broadcast.

 At the same time, according to Reuters, many analysts and economists are skeptical about the economic potential of the token, and also doubt that the currency will be in demand on the international market.

It is not clear at this time in which particular sectors of international trade it is planned to use the token. Maduro also added that the use of Petro in international trade should be another step in the recovery of the Venezuela's economy.

Let's remind, earlier Maduro has started scale economic reforms. So, within the planned financial changes in late August, the Central Bank of Venezuela devalued the national currency by 95% due to the upcoming hyperinflation of the bolivar. The new currency was renamed the "sovereign bolivar" and is tied to the issued Maduro earlier this year by the cryptocurrency Petro.

For the first time, Maduro announced plans to issue a national cryptocurrency in December last year. Since its debut, Petro has repeatedly incurred the wrath of both local politicians and foreign countries.

One of the US senators even asked the Ministry of Finance to prohibit the spread of the Venezuelan cryptocurrency. Also against the petro was President Trump, and his administration banned American citizens from participating in cryptocurrency transactions in connection with US sanctions against Venezuela. Subsequently, Venezuela thanked him for advertising Petro.

Also, Reuters journalists prepared a report describing the situation in the oil region near the city of Atapirir, where allegedly there are oil reserves that provide Petro. There they failed to discover either Petro, or the promised investments in the region.