NEW YORK -- A Venezuelan congressman has called Venezuela’s oil-based state cryptocurrency “Petro” a scam.

Meeting the press in the “Consensus 2019” blockchain conference held in New York Wednesday, Armando Armas, a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, affirmed that Petro is not a cryptocurrency.”

According to Armas, Petro is hardly used in Venezuela. “No one wants to use Petro. Petro is just a model the Maduro government created to avoid American economic sanctions,” he said. Armas said Petro might be used more widely under suppression from the Maduro government but warned people not to judge by appearance alone, noting the lack of Petro’s liquidity.



Rather, it seems that more Venezuelans mine Bitcoin and buy cryptocurrencies. In fact, major crypto exchanges operating in Venezuela are in their heyday amid surges in transactions.

However, Armas claims that the Maduro government is not overlooking this. “Venezuelan police officers suppress Bitcoin miners and their families or businesspeople allowing cryptocurrency for transactions,” said Armas, adding that they have to hand over their Bitcoin to officers to be released. /yjk@decenter.kr

사동석 기자

sahds@dcenter.kr