Venezuelan President Calls For Joint Partnership With OPEC Countries To Jointly Develop Crypto Platform Backed By Oil

Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela has announced plans to bring cryptocurrency and the oil industry together. He has even revealed that he plans to call upon the OPEC countries to work together towards creating a platform through which oil-backed cryptocurrencies will be traded.

Maduro's plans also highlight the fact that Maduro has also revealed that his country is interested in going towards the cryptocurrency direction. This is interesting considering that some countries such as China have recently been waging war against cryptocurrency and have even banned cryptocurrency trading. This demonstrates the different attitudes from different countries on cryptocurrency.

In a quoted statement, the Venezuelan president said this: "I going to officially propose to all OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries that we adopt a joint cryptocurrency mechanism backed by oil,"

This is not the first time that Maduro has flaunted the idea. He reportedly came up with the proposal in 2017, with the aim of having cryptos backed by commodity reserves such as precious stones and oil. However, the idea received a lot of criticism from lawmakers in Venezuela as well as other countries. Bob Menendez, a lawmaker in the U.S particularly speculative on whether Maduro was supporting the use of cryptocurrency so that Venezuela would circumvent financial sanctions. Some of the Venezuelan lawmakers have also flagged the move as illegal.

Jorge Millan who happens to be a legislator described the move as a forward sale on the country’s oil disguised as a cryptocurrency shift. The Venezuelan president made the announcement about the launch of a cryptocurrency at the end of January this year. He also revealed that there would be a token sale before the launch of the cryptocurrency.

Maduro also stated that he plans to not only invite OPEC countries but also any non-OPEC country that would be interested in participating in the joint engagement. In one of his statements, the Venezuelan president stated that he wants the OPEC-Non-OPEC Monitoring Committee to continue operating for a minimum of five years considering that they have already achieved a lot of things.

Maduro’s suggestion might also be part of his plan to set his country's economy on a recovery path considering that it has been in an economic downturn for the past few years.  The country recently released a white paper for an oil-backed digital currency called Petro for which it plans to hold a private sale on February 20 and an ICO to follow in March.