The Downfall of Venezuela’s National Cryptocurrency: The Petro Faces Closure Amid Financial Crisis

2023-06-17 12:01:44

For five years he fought to stay alive, but now it seems that Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency, the Petro, has thrown in the key for good. According to insider information, the final closure will be carried out by the Venezuelan Crypto Assets Supervision (Sunacrip). Sunacrip is responsible for the virtual asset sector in the country. The Petro is a cryptocurrency that is pegged to oil and mineral prices in Venezuela.

The Petro is moving faster and faster down the slope

There have been quite a few scandals around him, the most recent one being when he was involved in a corruption deal with the country’s state oil company. This only increased distrust towards the blockchain, the operation of which, by the way, stopped completely for a few days at the end of May. Before the unexpected shutdown, the owners could see in the PetroApp that the value of Petro had lost almost 50% of its value. All this despite the fact that, according to the government’s official website, one Petro coin is worth $60. So, planning is currently underway on how to withdraw the Venezuelan state crypto and how to settle the state debts owed to Petro’s creditors. These lenders include large supermarket chains that have integrated Petro as a payment method.

According to the most likely plan, the debts would be assessed and settled at the exchange rate of the local fiat currency, the bolivar, which would have an even more devaluing effect, since the bolivar is completely worthless compared to the dollar. The decision to terminate the Petro is likely to have something to do with negotiations aimed at ending the socio-political crisis in Venezuela. Crypto first appeared as an alternative payment method and could be used in several critical transactions. However, it remained a domestic settlement tool, even the allied states did not participate in Petro-transactions. As a result of the aforementioned corruption scandal, several crypto exchange accounts were suspended along with crypto mining activities. In the chaotic situation, the Petro blockchain stopped for a few days. And although after a few days it started working again, the already diminished trust in him completely collapsed.

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