Venezuela Will Accept Cryptocurrencies for The Petro

Venezuela is without a doubt the country that has the most advanced plans when it comes to releasing a national cryptocurrency. The country's president first announced the release of the petro back in December, 2017. Since, there have been shared some new information about the cryptocurrency and it seems that the plan is moving forward.

Actually, plans are so advanced that Venezuela will launch the token sale of the petro on February 15. And the country is willing to accept cryptocurrencies for the petro. Of course, hard currencies will also be accepted at the sale. This will actually be a presale for the launch of 38 million petros which will go to institutional investors.

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, previously revealed that a total of 100 million Petros will be created. Maduro also said that these institutional investors will be able to buy the petro at a discount of up to 60 percent.

The bolivar will not be accepted for buying petros

An interesting thing revealed at this point is that the bolivar, which is the national currency of Venezuela, will not be accepted. There was no reasoning given for this at this point. The superintendent of the national cryptocurrency stated in a state television interview that:

“The presale and initial offer will be made in hard currencies and in cryptocurrencies. It is not going to be done in bolivars at this stage (…) Our responsibility is to put (the petro) in the best hands and then a secondary market will appear.”

— https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-petro/venezuela-says-petro-cryptocurrency-pre-sale-will-be-in-hard-currency-idUSKBN1FC2RG

After the presale ends, 44 million petros will be up to sale for the general public to buy them. Only after the presale ends, people will be able to buy the national cryptocurrency with the use of the bolivar.

The superintendent of the national cryptocurrency also stated that mining traditional cryptocurrencies in Venezuela was not illegal. However, many people have been detained by authorities in recent years for the practice. He stated that those who were accused in relation to mining activities will have their charges dismissed.