Venezuelan state oil firm to strike deals using national cryptocurrency

The country’s oil ministry tweeted the president’s directive, which also applies to Venezuelan state-run conglomerate CVG, which is charged with economic development in the Guayana region. It also operates aluminum producers and state petrochemical company Pequiven.

The petro is backed by the country’s oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves. Investors purchased around $735 million worth of petro crytptocurrency during the pre-sale on Tuesday, according to President Maduro. He sees it as a way of breaching the US financial blockade.

Maduro also ordered Venezuelan embassies across the world to provide consular services using the digital currency. The president has entertained a proposal made by the airlines association to buy aircraft fuel using the petro.
The commodity-based cryptocurrency will be used as a payment instrument on the Venezuela-Columbia border starting from Wednesday.

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