The Venezuelan government launched the pre-sale of the world’s first national, oil-backed cryptocurrency Petro (PTR), Financial Times reports Tuesday, Feb. 20.

82.4 million Petros are already available for purchase for fiat currencies and top cryptocurrencies, although not for Venezuelan Bolivars.

The government intends to attract foreign investors from countries like Poland, Denmark and Norway, as well as skirt the US and EU sanctions, according to Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Trade and International Investment José Vielma Mora.

Previously, President Nicolas Maduro had ordered the issue of 100 million Petros with the value of a single barrel of oil each. The president hopes to raise a total of just over $6 billion via the sale of PTR.

To buy and trade in Petro, investors need to download a digital Petro wallet, developed by the Venezuelan government. Once acquired it will generate an address you can provide to anybody who wants to transfer PTR to you.

The catastrophic drop in the value of the Bolivar made the country’s government search for alternative ways to save the economy from a meltdown. In the last 12 months, the inflation in Venezuela totaled 4,115 percent and the Bolivar lost up to 96 percent of its value, which sent the country's economy into a downward spiral.

What do you think? Will Venezuela be able to outperform the entire ICO market of 2017 by securing $6 bln during the sale of Petro?

#CT_questions ? Venezuela has officially launched the pre-sale of its #Petro cryptocurrency, first such issuance done by a government. The value of all tokens is equal to $6 bln, more than all 2017 #ICOs combined.



Will Venezuela manage to collect such a massive sum? — Cointelegraph — Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News (@Cointelegraph) February 20, 2018

Ana Heide