Venezuela hopes to open access to "petro" within a month and a half

The Government of Venezuela expects to open in a maximum period of one and a half months access to the "petro", cryptocurrency launched by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, and backed by the country's oil reserves, authorities announced.

The population "will be able to buy their petros within a period no longer than a month and a half," said Sunday the national superintendent of the Cryptocurrency, Carlos Vargas, during an interview on VTV.

On the other hand, with the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Venezuela, it is possible to generate between 20 and 200 million dollars monthly, in a maximum period of 24 months.

Maduro, who assures that the initiative will bring "new forms of financing" before the sanctions of the United States that prohibit its citizens and companies from negotiating debt of the Venezuelan Government and its oil company PDVSA, announced that the "first issue" will be 100 million .

The value of the petro, according to the president, will be equal to one barrel of crude oil.

The price of the Venezuelan oil basket closed this week at 59.06 dollars per barrel (dpb), after an average of 46.66 dollars in 2017.

Analysts believe that the economic distortions of Venezuela, with declarations of default for late payments of debt, high public spending and hyperinflation, erode the possibilities of success of the petro.

"It would be the first virtual currency issued by a Central Bank and not any Central Bank, but one that has generated hyperinflation," Jean Paul Leidenz, an expert in cryptocurrencies, told AFP.

"It is not a cryptocurrency, it is a simple debt title, with an 'underlying asset': oil," said economist Luis Oliveros.