Venezuela's national cryptocurrency Petro was launched at the end of February and, as stated in its technical documentation, is backed by the country's oil reserves. The currency has previously been considered controversial due to its alleged evasion of US sanctions, with the Venezuelan president even sarcastically calling it “the kryptonite that will help the country fight Superman.”
Now, after the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB) awarded Petro with the Satoshi Nakamoto Prize in recognition of its “outstanding contribution to the development of the blockchain industry,” the controversial opinion about the cryptocurrency has only worsened.
A report published by Time says that the Russian government helped Venezuela issue a national cryptocurrency to circumvent US sanctions. The involvement of the Russian government is confirmed by the participation in the development of Petro by two intermediaries, Denis Druzhkov and Fyodor Bogorodsky, who were part of the team and whom Venezuelan President Nicolas Madur thanked for his invaluable contribution, the report said.
Russia is a supporter of Petro due to its desire to circumvent US sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. With Petro, Russia is trying to influence the dominance of the US dollar in world trade, a goal that Russia has been pursuing for a long time.
The United States is one of the most vocal opponents of Petro, the government The United States has warned its citizens not to buy Petro and any other digital tokens offered by the Venezuelan government. The US Treasury believes that participation in the Petro sale is a continuation of the loan to Venezuela, which is prohibited under current US sanctions against the country.
Venezuela has no plans to stop and has even announced plans to create a Petro Gold token, the value of which will be secured by the country's gold reserves. One can only guess what impact Petro will have on the Venezuelan economy.
According to https://themerkle.com
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