For nearly a year already the world has been monitoring the situation with Venezuela’s own cryptocurrency called the Petro. According to the country’s president Nicolas Maduro, their state-owned digital asset is able to help the country to recover after its economic collapse and to get over the financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.
Pensions in Petros
The government in Venezuela is doing its best to make people use this controversial cryptocurrency. Some measures seem to be really too radical and unfair. According to the local media, the country has begun to covert pensioners’ monthly payments into the Petro.
Earlier, these payments were made in the country’s traditional fiat currency known as bolivar. Nevertheless, now the usual sum in bolivars will be exchanged to the Petro automatically regardless the desire of elderly people.
The financial situation in the country still remains very difficult. Especially for pensioners, it’s really hard to make both ends meet. A year of hyperinflation has made people too dependent on their monthly payments.
The government sends these bonuses to people via the specially created pension portal that is known as Carnet de la Patria system. Normally, when the payments were made in bolivars, citizens could transfer these sums to their bank accounts and withdraw the fiat from a local branch (nevertheless, quite often it could be not so easy as it sounds, people needed to spend the entire day in the bank in order to get their money).
Now, these sums will be automatically swapped into the Petro. But to get at least these funds people need to connect their Petro wallets to their pension portal accounts.
Moreover, it looks like the government is too optimistic about their cryptocurrency, as they even offer people to enjoy the benefits of a new savings plan option. They offer citizens to convert their bolivars into petros with a view to keep them safe from the hyperinflation.
Nevertheless, it is very important to note that the Petro still can’t be used. But as it is reported this digital currency can be exchanged back to bolivars.
Maduro revealed the plans to integrate the Petro into the country’s pension system four months ago during a televised event.
Other Petro Promoting Initiatives
But this controversial idea with pensions is not the first one that the government has tried to implement. In August the country introduced its new accounting system with the Petro as the second official currency,
This autumn, Coinspeaker also reported about the country’s plans to make it obligatory to pay for passports using the Petro.
But the freshest news that has wowed the community is Maduro’s speech in which he stated that according to a new program that would enter into force in 2019, the country would take payments for its oil production in the Petro.
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