Maduro unveils aggressive plan to fund Venezuela’s economy in petro cryptocurrency

The government of Venezuela is making a strong push to further legitimize the country’s state-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, and end its dependence on the U.S. dollar.

Late last night, President Nicolás Maduro announced during a state broadcast that he will soon create several government funds, denominated in petros, as a way to encourage economic development. Additional resources will also be granted to the administrative division of each state in petros, Maduro said.

“I am assigning 1 million bimonthly petros as of November to all the states and the protectorates—through the corporations we are going to create—as an investment modality for their free use in the attention of their priorities,” Maduro said during the broadcast. 

“In concrete terms, this means, my compatriots, that we are assigning between 1,354,000 euros and 3,249,600 euros to governors and protectorates,” he said.

The announcement follows Maduro’s acknowledgement that his government owns an…