The president of the failing socialist state of Venezuela has announced that by the end of 2019, he plans to make all oil trade from the country occur with a new Petro cryptocurrency rather than normal Petro dollars controlled by the United States.
President Nicolas Maduro told members of the public on state television during a recent visit to Russia that the world's first state-backed, and allegedly oil-backed, digital currency will soon become the standard for how the world buys and sells at least Venezuelan oil.
Maduro says the switch is necessary for the embattled country to free itself from the clutches of deep state control, pointing to Washington, D.C., as the cause of much "economic pain" around the world. Maduro also used the word "persecute" to describe how the U.S. currently treats not only Venezuela, but also Cuba, Iran, and Russia.
Crypto experts warn that "El Petro" is a total scam
Known as "El Petro," the cryptocurrency in question is said to be backed by the very oil reserves it will be used to buy and sell. But some experts claim that it's about as stable as Bitcoin, which as you may have noticed, has plunged to epic lows in recent weeks.
In fact, most cryptocurrency "assets" these days have been seeing unprecedented declines as they follow the lead of Bitcoin, which makes the prospect of relying on yet another one to buy and sell oil somewhat disconcerting.
Beyond this, critics of the Venezuelan regime say that the use of Petro cryptocurrency represents just another way for Maduro to sidestep sanctions and create the illusion that Venezuela's domestic economy is making a comeback – when, in fact, the exact opposite is true.
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Venezuelan economy predicted to drop a total of 18 percent by year's end
Based on statistics put forth by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela's projected GDP (gross domestic product) for 2018 is -18 percent, with inflation jumping by a whopping 1,370,000 percent.
With conditions rapidly deteriorating as predicted, Maduro is attempting other emergency measures such as increasing Venezuela's famously cheap gas prices – this would be the first time in 20 years that gas prices have increased in Venezuela.
Maduro also continues to devalue Venezuela's currency while pushing for the adoption of Petro cryptocurrency, which he says has the potential to "revolutionize" the global crypto economy by enhancing trade, finance, and monetary exchange.
But is Petro cryptocurrency really worth the ones and zeros that comprise it? Maybe. Maybe not. Nobody really knows since there doesn't exist any solid evidence to show that it's actually backed by oil assets and minerals as Maduro and his people claim it is.
"Reaction from the cryptocurrency community has been a mixture of dumbfoundedness and anger," stated Alex Tapscott from the Blockchain Research Institute, as quoted by Zero Hedge pulling from BBC News.
Even so, a trading platform is already being set up to allow traders to exchange Petro cryptos, as well as a variety of other digital and fiat currencies.
Russia is reportedly following suit, as is China – these two countries representing two of the largest economies in the world. And if these two nations are able to join together with Venezuela to avoid using the U.S. dollar entirely, as Maduro is hoping, then this could eventually spell disaster for Federal Reserve Notes and the private central banking cartel that controls them.
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