The Venezuelan Petro is a cryptocurrency like no other. Riddled with speculation and hints of corruption, the oil backed currency has hit headlines for all the wrong reasons of late. Moreover, recent speculation questions the sort of involvement Russia have within the rollout of the Petro. Overall, it is a cryptocurrency with few fans and at the moment, very little promise as the Petro, ignores may of the key attributes of a cryptocurrency. News out this morning however suggests that the Petro is about to head in a new direction after the Venezuelan Head of State, Nicolas Maduro has announced that the government will establish a new ‘youth bank’, for around 20Million Petros, or around $1.2Billion. According to such reports, Maduro is also set to approach Universities to ask them to establish mining activities and rigs to support the maintenance of the Petro and to allow it to begin to flourish in the country. The true nature of this youth bank network has not yet been revealed. Although, we should consider that this announcement was made in front of a young audience, suggesting that in itself, this has really just been designed to mask the fact the Petro is still considered to be a tainted currency, with it’s true underlying intentions yet still unknown. The ultimate goal for the Petro is to replace the Bolivar, a sovereign currency used within Venezuela. The Venezuelan Bolivar is valued at $0.000014, recent reports actually now show that the Bolivar is technically worth less than a currency used in the computer game ‘World of Warcraft’ (WoW), this is based on the rate of exchange between the US Dollar and the WoW currency, which can be used to make in game purchases and extend gaming time etc. Therefore, the need for a new currency in Venezuela is soaring, as the Bolivar continues to drop, as it gets weaker and weaker, the economy really needs a boost that in theory, the Petro can provide. We should consider however that given the air of corruption surrounding the Petro, the government are going to need to do more than set up a few youth banks in order to allow the Petros secretive past to be forgotten. The Petro may very well be able to clean up its act and of course, the introduction of a Petro based Youth Bank should at least start to provide a format for Petro circulation. For now, we should keep an eye on this and see how things develop, will the Petro become a serious contender for cryptocurrency adoption , or is it just a side tactic, established to aid the oil and mineral industries.