Venezuela launches Petro Coin today – almost 84 million tokens are initially available for sale. The government expects to circulate 100 million tokens in total, in a bid to generate over $6 billion.

Several virtual currencies claimed to be back by the dollar, but backing Venezuela’s Petro coin is crude oil.

Carlos Vargas, the official in charge of managing the token, said investors could buy these tokes against “hard currencies” and cryptocurrencies, excluding fiat currency such as the bolivar.

Petro Coin Is Developed to Raise Cash

Though President Maduro faced a lot of criticism from opposition parties, he looks optimistic to support the nation’s cash position by offering oil backed tokens.

He said, “Petro is born, and we are going to have a total success for the welfare of Venezuela. … The largest and most important companies and blockchain in the world are with Venezuela, we are going to sign agreements.”

Venezuela has been suffering from a severe financial crisis, and the government isn’t in a position to fulfill even basic necessities for its people. The minimum monthly wage declined to $1, while the inflation level is expected to reach 13,000 percent by the end of this year. The U.S. sanctions and the plunge in oil prices were blamed for the social unrest. Thus, the government is taking initiatives like this Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise the cash.