Venezuelan President Maduro ordered the delivery of the first 100 million Petros, a national cryptocurrency backed by oil. He also said that each Petro would have the value of a single barrel of oil. He said:

"I ordered the issuance of 100 million Petros, based on national wealth.Every Petro will have the value of a barrel of oil Venezuelan. "

The first national meeting of Petro miners will take place on January 14, with the publication of the white paper. The announcement is in line with Maduro's previous statements that the country would issue a cryptocurrency.

The country's massive hyperinflationary problems have led to a widespread lack of confidence in the national currency, the Bolivar. This has caused much of the population having access to the appropriate technology to pursue Bitcoin as a means of stable transactions – called "Bitcoinization" by some economists.

Other countries including Zimbabwe have also seen the widespread adoption of Bitcoin in the face of financial instability.