CARACAS: Venezuela's cryptocurrency will launch within days and be backed by 5.3 billion barrels of oil worth US$267bil (RMtril), in a bid to offset a deep financial crisis, the socialist government said on Thursday. President Nicolas Maduro surprised many earlier this month when he announced the "petro" cryptocurrency, to be backed by OPEC member Venezuela's oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves. Despite the scepticism of cryptocurrency experts who do not think Venezuela has the wherewithal to pull it off, communications minister Jorge Rodriguez said the first petro offering would come within days. "Camp one of the Ayacucho block will form the initial backing of this cryptocurrency," Rodriguez told reporters, referring to part of Venezuela's southern Orinoco Belt. We're talking about backing of US$267bil (RM1tril)," said Rodriguez, adding that differentiated the petro from other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Source: The Star December 29, 2017 07:18 UTC