By
Steve Muchoki
April 23rd, 2024
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the government will pay half a Petro to 4,500,000 retirees and 3,500,00 public workers as Christmas bonus.
It seems Venezuela will have a little bit merrier Christmas after all, at least if it’s to believe the country’s president Nicolas Maduro.
Public sector workers, retirees, and the military will all, according to Maduro, set to receive a Petro token handout this Christmas. The only thing they have to do is simply register for the state’s crypto payments platform.
Last week Maduro said mentioned groups would be airdropped 0.5 Petro (said to be worth $30) as a holiday bonus this week.
Citizens should sign up for PetroApp if they want to be considered eligible for the airdrop. This is the official government crypto wallet that launched back in May and the only platform that supports this oil-backed cryptocurrency. Also, PetroApp is made to enable users to buy goods and services from their phones, as well as for traditional transfers.
Through PetroApp, users can also trade with other cryptocurrencies. That means that, if the user decides, he can use this app to exchange his Petro for Bitcoin, Litecoin or Dash that are all supported on this app.
Maduro explained that this airdrop should present another opportunity to the nation, in order to encourage them to switch to the Petro, which has been publicly available since October 2018. If you consider the fact that the national minimum wage is less than $10 a month, this could mean a huge boost for the app, considering the users’ possible number. One thing is sure – eligible citizens will be strongly motivated to register for the app. It is predicted that the government will give out approximately $240 million, according to the valuation given to the state cryptocurrency.
Maduro added that more than 500,000 Petros would be paid out from the state’s own supply in order to support the town and local governments across Venezuela.
This is the latest in a series of attempts to make Petro be adopted on the state level. In September, Maduro ordered future funding for a social housing project to be paid out in Petros. He also went on to ask the Bank of Venezuela (BoV), one of the country’s largest banks, to make the token available to its customers. Also, it was reported that the government has been paying state pensions in Petro for the past year.
The current Venezuelan government is exhausted by the corruption and a humanitarian crisis but also the U.S. and others who hit Maduro’s administration with biting economic restrictions in recent years.
These sanctions seem to be staying for a while now. That is why Maduro in the first place announced his regime’s plans to launch a national cryptocurrency, the oil-backed Petro.
Last month he revealed that around 30 million barrels of oil sitting in storage tanks would serve as backing for the Petro, which has been sanctioned by the United States.
And let’s not forget why Maduro is doing this. Without help from the U.S., the inflation rate is becoming worse each day. To make the economy stable again (at least to try), Maduro’s socialist government is heavily promoting its usage.
Be it as it may, the fact is that Venezuela is rich in oil and Maduro is definitely making the most of that. However, other countries might follow.
One of them is Russia that used to reject offers from Petro-based Venezuela trade deals, but now there are rumors that this Eurasian country could create its own oil-based crypto that could be similarly focused at busting sanctions as well.