The Petro pre-sale has started

The oil backed crypto-asset issued by the Venezuelan government has entered its private pre-sale phase that will be followed by an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) next month. The Petro runs on the Ethereum blockchain, with 82 million tokens currently available and a planned total supply of 100 million tokens, allegedly backed by 100 million barrels of oil reserves.

The Bolivar, Venezuela's fiat, suffered 2,000% inflation during 2017. Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, portraits the Petro as a way for Venezuela to boost its economy by attracting external investments.

Venezuela was sanctioned by the US government during 2017, banning any US bank or investor from acquiring new debt emissions issued by the country. The US treasury has warned investors about the legal risk to approach the Petro, since it might be considered as an extension of credit to the Venezuelan Government.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s opposition-run parliament disproves the new cryptocurrency, describing it as illegal and unconstitutional. The parliament also warns investors that the asset would become worthless once Maduro leaves the office. Elections will take place this April and Nicolás Maduro is running for re-election. The outcome of the elections will play a major roll on the future of the Petro.

The Petro was already one of the most controversial cryptocurrencies before its launch. Only time will tell how successful this project ends up being.

How volatile will it be compared to traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum?