Venezuela's Controversial Petro Sale Starting November, Maduro Claims

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has appeared on national television to announce the official launch of the national cryptocurrency Petro, according to a brief summary of his speech posted on Venezuela's government website Monday, October 1.

Maduro stated that the official website for the Petro has already been launched, and the official Petro wallet is also available in Google Play.

Maduro also stressed that Petro will be available on six major crypto exchanges starting Monday, October 1.

The Venezuelan president has stated that all the oil purchases in and out the country must now be paid with Petro.

Petro's brand new white paper states that the currency is backed 50 percent by oil, 20 percent by gold, 20 percent by iron, and 10 percent by diamond assets.

All state measures meant to restructure the Petro come late, an expert of Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies told the AFP news agency.

Maduro then announced Petro would be used as the unit of account for local salaries, goods, and services as the national fiat, sovereign bolivar, kept struggling with hyperinflation.

The national leader most recently stated that Petro would enter international markets this October.

Despite Maduro's statements from Venezuela, experts remain sceptical on Petro.

A report by Reuters published back in August claimed there was no sign of Petro existence in Venezuela, while American culture magazine Wired called the Venezuelan coin "a stunt" that aimed to cover up the government's failure to recover the national fiat.