Venezuela announces termination of operation of Petro currency

Venezuela officially announced the end of the operation of the Petro cryptocurrency. The currency was launched by President Nicolas Maduro six years ago to bypass U.S. sanctions, but it did not circulate widely and was involved in corruption scandals. According to a message from the only Petro trading platform, Patria, all Petro wallets on the platform will be closed on January 15th and the balance will be converted into the local currency, the Bolivar.

The Petro cryptocurrency was launched in February 2018, with Venezuela's huge oil reserves as its support, and the initial price was set at $60 per unit. Faced with U.S. economic sanctions, Maduro vowed that Petro would "open up a new form of international financing." However, citizens generally had difficulty understanding its use and it was marked as a "scam" by some risk assessment agencies. In 2020, Maduro tried to revive the cryptocurrency by requiring flights departing from Caracas to pay for fuel with Petro and forcing it to be used to pay for national service fees (such as processing new passports).