Two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro surprised analysts and the cryptocurrency world with his idea to launch an oil-backed cryptocurrency, the socialist president said early on Tuesday that Venezuela had just launched its El Petro that would strengthen the country’s economy, while the U.S. mulls over oil sanctions, and the Venezuelan economy and its oil production continue to slide. In early December, Maduro shocked analysts who follow both the country’s flirtations with default and the cryptocurrency community by announcing that Venezuela would launch the Petro cryptocurrency, backed by oil, diamonds, and gold reserves, to help the country to “advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.” Last month, Maduro said that the 5 billion barrels of oil reserves at the Ayacucho block 1 in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt would back the cryptocurrency. The Petro, which Venezuela touts as the first cryptocurrency issued […]