Venezuela’s President Maduro has ordered government services to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. The announcement was broadcasted to the whole nation from the Miraflores Palace, as it usually does.
“I order the payment of consular services in all embassies and consulates of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the world, [and] all consular services in the country, in the petro currency or in any cryptocurrency,” said President Maduro.
In this way, the National Association of Airlines will be able to pay with virtual currencies or using the Petro. Furthermore, he has ordered the creation of a manual “for the payment of tourist services in the country throughout the Petro or any other virtual currency.” Hotels, tourist services and other related businesses have asked for authorization to charge in cryptocurrencies.
Another important topic was the discussion of an international gasoline service at the border. Maduro explained that he is going to to charge in petro for all the fuel sold at the border between Venezuela and Colombia. Service stations charge in international prices and the intention is to regularize the situation.
“In the revitalized gasoline services plan to combat the smuggling of gasoline at the border, we will proceed to charge in all cryptocurrencies, especially the petro,” he said.
If one national cryptocurrency was not enough, a second one may be being developed. Apparently, the government will launch the petro-gold that will work side by side with the petro. “We already have 36 exchanges houses in the world that are working with Venezuela and the petro,” said Maduro during an event on Wednesday.
At the moment, the Petro does not have big supporters in the cryptocurrency community. Indeed, it has received more critics than good comments. The country has the highest inflation in the world and is suffering from several economic measures imposed by several countries. With these new cryptocurrencies, the government may be trying to avoid the international sanctions imposed.
The Venezuelan economy does not have positive outlooks for the future unless the communist regime will change. In April 2018, elections will take place and there is a slight chance that the opposition will win this time. During last elections, there have been several fraud complaints from different political parties.