Venezuela shifts subsidies to the El Petro digital currency

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has ordered social payments to be made in the national digital currency El Petro, according to сообщает RIA Novosti.

The initiative is designed to shield subsidies from hyperinflation.

“I have accepted the proposal that will serve financial and economic stability, to ‘petrolize’ social payments for employees of the centralized, decentralized state administration and the public sector,” Maduro said.

Earlier, the El Petro digital currency, allegedly backed by oil extracted in the country, appeared in early 2018.

A number of Venezuelan enterprises have obliged to conduct deals in El Petro. Later, Nicolás Maduro said that a new system of salaries and prices tied to the national digital currency would be in effect.

The national digital coin is not in demand among the population. Retailers refuse to accept it as payment. Bitcoin’s popularity is growing in the country.

According to LocalBitcoins, in 2020 Venezuelan citizens ranked second in trading volume of the first cryptocurrency on the p2p platform.

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