Venezuela sparked a lot of controversy after announcing its own state-owned cryptocurrency, ‘Petro’. The country claims that the Petro cryptocurrency is backed by its natural reserves, including gold, diamonds, and others. Venezuela, a country that is buckling under global economic pressure created Petro in order to circumvent the U.S sanctions.
However, the cryptocurrency has received a strong backlash from the country’s own opposition body after the continuous push for its use by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. But now as a positive news, the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has approved the decree for the use of crypto assets and Petro. Vice President Tareck El Aissami presented the decree to the ANC.
“We are making history with the approval of the Decree on Cryptoassets and the Cryptocurrency El Petro. Nothing can stop the impulse of our country,” confirmed the Superintendent of Cryptocurrency.
As per the announcement by the Vice President, “this decree is intended to establish the basis for the management of these alternative mechanisms in financial and commercial activities.”
The Sputnik news elaborated the decision saying: “According to the document approved by the Constituent Assembly, President Nicolás Maduro will have the power to regulate the issuance, organization, and operation of the Petro.”
It further added that “The purpose of the decree is to allow the use and exchange of cryptoassets by natural and legal persons, resident or not, in the territory in order to advance the economic development of the nation.”
After the decree was passed, President Maduro said: “The Adeco-bourgeois assembly took out a resolution to prevent Venezuela from having the Petro.” He further added that the Petro belongs “to the people of Venezuela”.
The circulation of Petro has been already started within the country’s economic system wherein last Friday President Maduro announced the purchase of ambulances using the digital currency. He said: “We have received 30 ambulances that we are delivering in La Guaira, Vargas state, and we have achieved [this] through agreements with companies that we have paid with Petro. Here is the key to the new ambulance that Pariata Hospital will have. It is the first ambulance obtained in Petro – I give it to you.”