From now henceforth, it will be easy for anyone to walk into any Banco De Venezuela branch and execute a crypto-based transaction through Petro via the bank. This is after President Nicolas Maduro gave the bank an explicit order during its 10th-anniversary nationalization ceremony. Through the order, all of the 790 Banco De Venezuela branches will open Petro desks to serve all customers.
The order is part of President Maduro aggressive plan to fast track Petro adoption in Venezuela. Furthermore, the move is also helping him push his fight against the imposition of sanctions on his country by Donald Trump, US President. President Trump also barred US citizens from purchasing or selling Petro (PTR).
Apart from the above, Maduro has also set plans in motion to distribute crypto wallets to one million Venezuelan youths. Through that, President Maduro hopes to fast track the acceptance of crypto in Venezuela.
The crypto wallets will come with an undisclosed amount of funds in crypto for the youth to initiate crypto transactions. For the latter exercise, President Maduro has set aside 924 million bolivars, which is $92.5 million. At the center of the whole exercise is Venezuela Digital Bank of Youth and Students tasked with opening the Petro wallet accounts.
As Maduro aggressive plan gets implemented, his order has stirred some activity in Petro leading to it surging 25 percent into the green. Traders were paying 0.005 BTC for Petro tokens on the market. The previous price was 0.004 BTC. Apart from the positive market activity, President Maduro also got positive remarks from José Angel Alvarez, the president of the National Cryptocurrency Association (ASONACRIP) who said:
“To issue an explicit order to Banco De Venezuela for Maduro this a bold move. The move pushes Venezuela forward to a hybrid economy where the dominant currency fiat currency competes at the same level besides cryptocurrency.”
For Venezuela, the above initiatives are its way of fighting sanctions which have caused a lot of harm in the country’s economy. As President Maduro pushes Petro into massive adopting in Venezuela, his primary goal is to replace over-reliance on fiat currency while still fostering economic growth.
