Rubles Can Buy You Petro Maduro Says While Denominating Venezuela’s CurrencyEl Petro, the Venezuelan cryptocurrency, can now be purchased with Russian rubles, among other fiat currencies, President Nicolás Maduro announced. Companies from many countries, including the United States, want to buy the oil-backed crypto, he added. Venezuela’s head of state also said he decided to denominate the national currency, the bolivar.
Yuan and Bitcoin Also AcceptedStarting from March 23, all citizens and enterprises will be able to buy petro with Russian rubles, Chinese yuan, Turkish lira and euro, as well as with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum and NEM,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said, speaking to local TV. During the 30 days of the pre-sale of the petro, almost 201,000 orders from 133 countries have been placed, totaling $5.25 billion USD. “We are just starting”, Maduro said, adding that many businesses, including American, have declared intentions to purchase the Venezuelan cryptocurrency.
“Companies willing to buy petro come from Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Turkey, Germany, Russia, China, Ecuador, and Chile,” Venezuela’s head of state revealed, quoted by RIA Novosti. His statement comes days after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning American citizens and legal entities from any transactions with Venezuelan cryptocurrencies.
Venezuela released its oil-backed petro in February, thus becoming the first country with own cryptocurrency supported by petrol reserves. Earlier Nicolás Maduro announced the country had collected $735 million USD through the pre-sale.
Recently, reports came out that Russia might have been involved in the development of the petro. A Time investigation revealed circumstantial evidence connecting Moscow to its launch. Russian officials have denied the claims. Through its spokesman, the Finance Ministry stated it had nothing to do with the creation of the petro. Artem Kozhin said all such speculations were “outright lies”. He also called the “pseudo investigation” a “fake sensation”.
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