USD 3 Billion Supposedly Raised in Petro Pre-ICO

Venezuela’s petrol-backed national cryptocurrency, the petro, has raised USD 3 billion in the first week of its presale, claims Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. As TeleSUR reports, it has received 171,015 certified purchase offers so far from 127 countries.

During a speech, first aired by the Venezuelan Television State Channel, Maduro said, “The petro will influence the future of the economy, production, commerce and finances in our region, in South America and the Caribbean.” By his claims, 40.8% of the offers were placed in USD, 33.8% in BTC, 18.4% in ETH, 6.5% in EUR and 0.2% in CNY (Chinese yuans).

Maduro spoke at the Cantaclaro Theater in Caracas on Tuesday, as part of his upcoming presidential candidacy speech, having been endorsed by the Venezuelan Communist Party. Claiming that the offers for petro were made by 87,284 internet users, of which 3,523 are legally registered companies and more than 83,000 are individuals simply interested in investing in the petro, he called for firm belief in the success.

“I call for no one to doubt the petro. The petro is the future of the cryptocurrency monetary system and Venezuela is on the lead. It’s the first country to create a digital coin, a state-backed cryptocurrency,” he said.

Having had economic sanctions imposed by the US, the petro is Venezuela’s claim to a greater economic sovereignty and a way to bypass these sanctions. The presale was launched on February 20th and, according to Maduro, had raised around USD 735 million within the first day. There is still no evidence forthcoming to support these numbers.

However, the news about the success of Venezuela seems to have prompted other governments to consider doing the same, as reported.