Venezuelan President Orders State-Run Firm To Sell 4.5M Oil Barrels For Crypto

The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has decided that the country will soon sell oil from reserves of a state-run oil and gas company for its national oil-pegged cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR). As we can see from the altcoin news and rumors today, the president of the country signed a decree to sell 4.5 million barrels of oil from the certified 30 million barrel reserve maintained by Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) as the state-owned company announced on January 14.

According to the reports from PDVSA, the Venezuelan President Maduro announced the news in a speech before the Constituent National Assembly – elected in 2017 to draft a new constitution for Venezuela.

Once the initial sale of 4.5 million barrels is completed, we will see the firm selling 50,000 barrels per day – all denominated in Petros – as an “exploration mechanism” for the oil-backed stablecoin. Maduro also noted that the trial will be vital for the consolidation of Petro and stated:

“We are preparing for the second phase that will allow more efficient use of cryptocurrency.”

Moreover, the Venezuelan President Maduro decreed that all airplane fuel used for covering international routes should be sold for Petros. The president said that this scheme will allow Venezuela to “open roads to the new economy” and build “a world of peace and integration of peoples, their happiness and improvement.”

Maduro also noted that the Petro will be an important tool for the country’s fight against the mafia. According to one Venezuelan writer and journalist named Maibort Petit, the Venezuelan President Maduro said:

“A lot of people don’t want to switch to the Petro because they have their business in dollars. Mafia and other thieves don’t like the cryptocurrency because it cuts off their hands.”

Many analysts have reportedly took it to Twitter to comment the latest decision of the Venezuelan president in the cryptocurrency news. A lot of people now claim that the Petro is a “robbery disguised under 4.5 million barrels” and some of them argued that selling oil from the country’s national reserves violates the constitution of Venezuela.

As we reported in November 2019, the Venezuelan President Maduro cut the Petro’s backing from five billion barrels of oil to 30 million – a decline which was allegedly a result of the United States sanctions on PDVSA.