The Venezuelan government officially launched the pre-sale of its controversial "petro" token, according to a report.

The tanker was announced in early December 2017 by President Nicolas Maduro as a way to circumvent US sanctions, against a backdrop of economic crisis and falling value of the bolivar. The token would be supported by commodities, including oil, of which the country has significant reserves.

According to the Latin American news source Telesur, 82.4 million tokens are initially available. The president has already said that 100 million petroleum would be issued, worth more than $ 6 billion.

President Maduro reportedly said at a launch announcement:

"Petro was born and we are going to have a total success for the well-being of Venezuela … The largest and most important companies and blockchain in the world are with Venezuela, we are going to sign agreements"

A "manual" describing how to acquire the petrol will now be available in several languages ​​in the states of Telesur.

The official in charge of token management, Carlos Vargas, reportedly said that the pre-sale and the initial offer will be exchangeable for hard currency and cryptocurrencies, but not against the fiduciary currency, the bolivar.

Although it may seem logical that a cash – strapped country is trying to bring in new funds via such a symbolic sale, the petroleum has been controversial from the start.

The congress of the Venezuelan opposition declared shortly after the announcement of the illegality of the petro. The legislature argued that the issuance would actually borrow against the country's oil reserves, thus violating laws stating that Congress must approve government borrowing.

Saying that the plan was "tailor-made for corruption," said lawmaker Jorge Millan, "This is not a cryptocurrency, it's a Venezuelan oil futures sale."

At the end of January, US Senators Marco Rubio (R.-Fl) and Robert Menendez (D.-NJ) also denounced planned cryptocurrency in an open letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

.

Rubio and Menendez wrote at the time: "It is imperative that the US Treasury Department be equipped with tools and enforcement mechanisms to combat the use of cryptocurrency to escape. to American sanctions in general, and in particular in this case. "

Building of the National Assembly image via Shutterstock

Leader in blockchain information, CoinDesk is an independent media company that strives to achieve the highest journalistic standards and adheres to a strict set of editorial policies. Do you have any breaking news or a tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at news@coindesk.com.

