Venezuela’s Maduro announces sale of oil, gold using Petro

Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis has been recognized as one of the most significant in modern history, while having failed to receive aid and pledges from donor nations. Venezuela has remained desperately underfunded throughout the crisis, with the country trying to launch several programs over the past few months to counter the same. In what is a recent development for the country, President Nicolas Maduro has announced that he will be setting up talks with the United States after months of international tension. In the meantime, Maduro also assured the country that this year, the country’s oil will be sold in its native cryptocurrency, Petro.

In an interview with a Spanish journalist, Maduro noted that along with oil, other products like iron, steel, aluminum, and gold will also be sold in Petros. He said,

“We are going to sell Venezuelan oil in petros. We are already selling the iron and steel of Venezuela in petros. We also have a signed contract for the sale of oil, steel, iron, aluminum and we are going to sell part of the gold production in petros.”

Maduro asserted that the measure to use crypto was established in response to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States in 2019. He also claimed that the payment of pensioners and public employees through crypto in December was a good test of its use in daily transactions across the country.

“The essay has been going very well. The physical currency is not used, the town has had its petrogauinaldo and has been making it effective in its accounts. Some save it as savings in their petro-app, others have gone out to the market to buy things from the Decambrin era. The petro yields a lot.”

Petro, a cryptocurrency native to Venezuela, was announced by the President himself in October 2017, with sales beginning in February 2018. According to Maduro, Petro has proven to be successful and beneficial for the people of Venezuela.