Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s president, called on workers in his country to save money in gold and his cryptocurrency ‘The Petro’ during a salary shake-up Thursday. According to the local news source Noticiero Digital, in the next few weeks workers will be receiving their bonuses in the Petro coin, instead of fiat.

Nicolas Maduro and The Petro

Maduro said:

“In the coming weeks the payment schedule of the bonuses will be fulfilled with the new salary tables set in the petro, which is from the economic recovery program that started 58 days ago on August 20 and will begin to pay all the bonuses as it should be, and if you think about the future, think about saving […] think about the gold and petro savings plan.”

Since the very beginning, the Petro has been receiving negative feedback, from both inside and outside Venezuela. The digital currency is seen as a desperate attempt to pull the country out of its economic crisis, by having others pay for the country’s debt.

Just recently, the technology publication Wired led an investigation piece and described it as a “scam on top of another scam.”

“You could say that desperate times with a starving population result in desperate action,” says Jonathan Fry from Team Blockchain. “What is any fiat currency but a promise to pay its debts or at least to pay the interest on its debts.”