Venezuela — rife with double-digit inflation, civil strife and signs of imminent economic collapse everywhere — has seen the future, and it's in cryptocurrency.
Now, it just has to convince elements of its own citizenry, as well as the rest of the world.
Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the government plans to float nearly $6 billion in a new unit called "petros," a cryptocurrency that would leverage its vast oil reserves as money. Just last week, the South American nation sent a high-level delegation to Qatar, in order to court investment.
Yet the plan has encountered immediate resistance, not least of which comes from Venezuela's opposition-run parliament — which nearly two weeks ago declared the cryptocurrency illegal — and the U.S. Treasury Department. Last week, a Treasury spokesperson told Reuters that petros could violate sanctions, and help "prop up" the embattled Maduro government.
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