The Venezuelan government has launched a free cryptocurrency training course to teach its citizens how to buy, sell and mine digital currencies, particularly the oil-backed Petro that has been recently issued by the state, local news outlet Telesur TV reported on Saturday, Feb. 24.

The opening of the “Granja Laboratorio Petro” in Caracas takes place days after the launch of the oil-backed national cryptocurrency of Venezuela Petro (PTR) on Feb. 20.

Carmen Salvador, a teacher of cryptocurrency trading at the newly established training course, comments that the school offers “a completely free training,” noting that “in any international market a trading course cost more than $500 to $800.”

“Many of our young people here find it impossible to have this amount of resources, [but] the Venezuelan state is guaranteeing that all can participate through these plans," Salvador said.

Venezuela launched its own oil-backed cryptocurrency in order to attract foreign investors, bypassing the economic sanctions that are enforced against the country by the United States and the European Union.

Since the beginning of the pre-sale (ICO) of Petro on Feb. 20, at least $735 mln worth of investments have allegedly been secured, according to a tweet posted by president Nicolás Maduro. Another report by the Venezuelan news outlet Actualidad claims that a total of $1 bln has been raised in the first two days of the Petro sale.