The US Treasury Department has cautioned investors that Venezuela’s Petro could be in violation of Washington-imposed financial sanctions.
In December last year, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announced that his government would be creating a digital currency, the Petro. In a country that is rapidly spiraling into a financial abyss, Maduro sees the state-controlled cryptocurrency as a sanction workaround and subsequently, a way to improve the country’s deep economic problems.
During his annual message on the 15th of January, President Maduro stated:
The center of financial policy will be the consolidation of the Petro. This cryptocurrency is the future of humanity. Venezuela has entered the future.