According to a report from Bloomberg on Friday, Venezuela’s said that minimum salary will now be 50 percent connected to the country’s native cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR).
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has set up a new monthly minimum salary of 126 bolivars ($28). This equates to an 18-fold increase in the national minimum wage, which would be tied to Petro, the government’s cryptocurrency, to 50%.
The Venezuelan administration did not immediately react to a request for more information at the time of writing.
Petro is likely to be the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that is constructed on top of the DASH blockchain and is focused around government issuance.
Since Petro’s advertised block explorer is unavailable, little is known about it. While the WayBack internet archive shows that a block explorer was available in April 2020, the page has remained blank since then.
In theory, PTR can be purchased with bitcoin and litecoin through the Venezuelan central bank or local markets, although the pricing between the central bank rate and the private exchange rate are vastly different.
According to reports, most Venezuelans use PTR out of necessity rather than choice. Pension payments, for example, are given in PTR.
Due to Trump government sanctions, it is also prohibited for U.S. residents to own or trade PTR.
