Venezuela news: Oil-backed cryptocurrency Petro RELEASED to prevent economic MELTDOWN | …

In July, five zeros were slashed from the value of Venezuelan Bolivar in a bid to bring it back under control, prompting suggestions of the use of cryptocurrency to ease the nation’s financial woes. 

And in August, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the inflation rate in the country would reach one million percent, although experts believed the figure was exaggerated. 

Two million citizens have fled Venezuela to seek economic refuge elsewhere. 

According to a statement posted on the Venezuelan’s government’s official site, President Nicolas Maduro appeared on national television and announced the official launch of the Petro cryptocurrency yesterday. 

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. 

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