President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela recently assigned a new value for the Petro – the country’s controversial state-issued cryptocurrency. The Venezuelan leader also announced a minimum wage increase as part of the government’s efforts to stimulate the country’s battered economic condition.
Petro Now at 9,000 Bs.s
In a broadcast to the nation on Thursday (November 29, 2018), President Maduro announced a new value for Petro – the national cryptocurrency. The President fixed the price of the Petro at 9,000 sovereign bolivars (9,000 Bs.s).
This new value represents a 150 percent increase from the previous value of 3,600 Bs.s assigned by the government back in August 2018. The announcement comes even though there isn’t yet a wallet for the cryptocurrency. Purchasers of the digital currency have only received certificates as proof of ownership of the virtual currency.
Petro Keeps Sinking into ‘BS’ Territory
Most cryptocurrency purists will most likely find the idea of a government assigning a value to a virtual currency token as being laughable. Surely, the Petro cannot be a cryptocurrency if President Maduro can decree a price for it.
When the President Maduro-led government introduced the sovereign bolivar in August, it pegged it to the Petro. At the time, the assigned value of the cryptocurrency stood at $60 (3,600 Bs.s).
This latest announcement isn’t only antithetical to cryptocurrency tokenomics; it is also essentially another devaluation of the Bs.s. Usually, token prices come about based on market factors like supply and demand, but not the Petro. Venezuela’s national digital currency runs on its special kind of “tokenomics.”
In November, Live Bitcoin News reported that the government planned to use the Petro as a unit of account for international crude oil trade. It’ll be interesting to see how that plan works with this new announcement.
President Maduro Decrees Salary Increase
During the broadcast, President Maduro also announced an increase in the national minimum wage. According to the Venezuelan president, the wage hike is part of the government’s economic recovery plan which it launched in August.
The wage hike like the new Petro value was an increase of 150 percent. The President also said that workers would receive three bonuses in December as well as 20,000 tons of pork.
Venezuela continues to battle with hyperinflation and severe economic crisis. Citizens have taken seriously to cryptocurrency as a way of escaping the dire financial situation in the country.
Do you think the Petro qualifies as a cryptocurrency given the fact that the President can unilaterally decree its value? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com.