Maduro Ordered the National Bank to Conduct Operations with El Petro

For a long time nothing was heard about the fate and further development of El Petro: now ST Market reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas MADURO ordered the Bank of Venezuela to start accepting national cryptocurrency.

It is reported that Maduro announced the initiative during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of Banco de Venezuela as the country's national bank. Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement in support of this idea. A post on Twitter claims about "the express order to open Petro desks in all the branches of the Bank of Venezuela."

Maduro has for some time been trying to introduce Petro as an alternative currency for a nation suffering from hyperinflation and a sharp economical crisis. So far, overall adoption has been slow, despite efforts to create a regulatory framework for the development of infrastructure for the cryptocurrency. It is still unclear what the fate of Petro will be, but if the government continues to offer it as an alternative to the Bolivar, then the cryptocurrency has a chance to become a means of value storage and payments across Venezuela.

Image courtesy of CCN Markets