The launch of Venezuelas Petro token sale is official

President Nicolas Maduro introduced this cryptocurrency in December 2017 as a way to circumvent the US sanctions, amid an economic crisis and a plunge in the value of the bolivar. The token is said to be backed by commodities, including oil, of which the country has notable reserves.

Initially, 82.4 million tokens and a “manual” in several languages setting out how to acquire the petro will be available, according to Latin American news source Telesur. The president has previously said that 100 million petros will be issued, valued at over USD 6 billion.

The official in charge of managing the token, Carlos Vargas, reportedly said the pre-sale and initial offering will be exchangeable for “hard currencies” and cryptocurrencies, but not the domestic fiat currency, the bolivar.

However, while it might make sense for a cash-strapped country to try and bring in new funding via such a token sale, the petro has been controversial from the get-go, the online publication adds. Venezuela’s opposition-run congress declared soon after it was announced that the petro would be illegal.