Venezuelans dump the government-issued Petro, a cryptocurrency backed by barrels of oil, and offer it for half its value, or about $30, on peer-to-peer exchanges like LocalBitcoins.

The situation has worsened over the past few weeks, as the government hastened to tame the price of the US dollar against the bolivar, by closing off the liquidation routes.

At the time of writing, 50,000 bolivars are valued at $1, while 1 petro is worth $60.

The Maduro-led government asserts that each currency is more than just a means of value, as it is a crypto-asset like bitcoin in an economy plagued by economic turmoil and global inflation.

Venezuela’s Petro is half worth on LocalBitcoins:

According for sources In Venezuela, the government transferred 0.5 petro to government workers and retirees, and the number of beneficiaries reached 6 million people.

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As a crypto digital asset, the government’s likely goal was to market the currency among its citizens to further increase the currency’s adoption.

But it soon emerged that people used the petro currency that was distributed to buy ordinary things through the places that accept them.

The government intervened and blocked the avenues to exchange the currency, paving the way for its holders to get rid of it on peer-to-peer exchange platforms such as “LocalBitcoins”.

Each petro was set at $30, 50% of what the government had set.

This is due to the large supply versus demand, as many holders of the “Petro” want to sell it to bring the price down to about $30, i.e. a 50% drop. Of course, the government does not like this, as it is keen to keep its price at $60.

Some people use LocalBitcoins to offer Petros, but at the market price of $30.

Casino accepting petro in Caracas:

last week, Approved The Venezuelan government on the “Humboldt” hotel, which has a casino that supports the “Petro” currency in Caracas, the country’s capital.

However, the government has not specified which coins will be used to purchase the Petro for use in this casino.

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It is possible that Bitcoin, Dash, Litecoin and other officially supported cryptocurrencies will be allowed to be used by the Petro wallet.

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