Venezeula President Maduro Certifies 16 Cryptocurrency Exchanges For Petro Cryptocurrency

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has recently taken extensive measures in order to promote the controversial Petromoneda (Petro), Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency. Reportedly, Maduro has officially permitted 16 different cryptocurrency exchanges to legally operate in Venezuela. The politician stated:

“The certification of these 16 exchanges is a demonstration of confidence in the system of the Petro, as a cryptocurrency, and will allow liquidity and solid transactional volume.”

Just this weekend, Venezuelan authorities shut down two cryptocurrency exchanges, ordering them to suspend operations as part of a crackdown against the growing bolivar-to-bitcoin market. On the same day, Venezuela’s Prosecutor General seized 1,382 bank accounts with balances exceeding $10.6 million.

At this point, however, there’s no official confirmation about whether the exchanges will be required to list the Petro cryptocurrency, but it appears that they will be going ahead with the certification process.

This is not the only step that the Venezuelan president has taken to promote the Petro, which has been heavily criticized by the country’s opposition party. Notably, the so-called rogue state tried to lure India into accepting the Petro cryptocurrency by offering it a substantial 30% discount on crude oil if it does.

These recent developments have come at a time when the pre-sale of the Petro cryptocurrency has made its final rounds. Maduro announced at the opening of the nation’s Power Expo 2018 that the state-backed crypto has accumulated approximately $3 billion in digital currency. Now, it seems that by allowing these 16 crypto exchanges to legally operate, the president is trying to promote Petro transactions in the $400+ billion global crypto market.

Also Read: Venezuela’s Petro Cryptocurrency Brings In $5 Billion, Claims President Maduro

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