Venezuelan Currency Comparison Tool
Compare the Petro's claimed value with real-world cryptocurrencies Venezuelans actually use. See why Petro failed while Bitcoin and USDT became essential for daily transactions.
Venezuelan Currency Comparison
| Petro | Bitcoin | USDT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust & Verification | |||
| International Acceptance | |||
| Daily Transaction Use | |||
| Liquidity | |||
| Sanctions Impact | High | Low | Low |
Petro Value Calculation
Why Venezuelans Don't Use Petro
- Real-world value No market value
- Exchange accessibility No major exchanges
- Trust No verification of reserves
- Daily use Bitcoin and USDT widely used
The Petro was never meant to be a free-market cryptocurrency. It was designed as a tool for survival - a digital lifeline for a government under siege. When Venezuela’s economy collapsed under hyperinflation, foreign debt, and U.S. sanctions, President Nicolás Maduro turned to blockchain not to empower citizens, but to bypass the world’s financial system. Launched in February 2018, the Petro was sold as a digital asset backed by the country’s oil, gold, and diamond reserves. But seven years later, its reality is far from the promise.
How the Petro Was Supposed to Work
The Petro was announced in December 2017 through Presidential Decree 3196. The government claimed each token was tied to the value of one barrel of Venezuelan crude oil - roughly $60 at the time. The plan? Issue 100 million Petros, raising over $6 billion to fund the state and stabilize the collapsing bolívar. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, the Petro wasn’t built on a public, permissionless blockchain. Instead, it ran on a federated system controlled entirely by the Venezuelan government. That meant only state-approved nodes could validate transactions. No decentralization. No open mining. No user sovereignty. To enforce its use, the government created the Superintendence of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (SUPCACVEN) in April 2018. This agency became the gatekeeper - managing token issuance, tracking miners, and collecting fees. It also set up four "Petro Zones" - Margarita Island, Los Roques, Paraguaná Peninsula, and the border area near Colombia - where businesses could accept Petros and benefit from tax breaks on mining equipment. Import duties on servers, GPUs, and air conditioning were waived for two years. The goal was to turn these zones into crypto hubs, attracting miners and foreign investors.Why the Petro Failed to Gain Trust
Even before it launched, experts doubted the Petro’s legitimacy. A leaked document from Venezuela’s crypto advisory group, VIBE, revealed the government planned to sell $2.3 billion worth of Petros in private deals at discounts of up to 60%. That’s not a sign of confidence - it’s a sign of desperation. If the Petro was worth $60 per token, why offer it at $24? The answer: no one believed the backing. Oil reserves were in decline. Gold reserves were unverified. The bolívar had lost over 99% of its value since 2013. The opposition-controlled National Assembly declared the Petro illegal in March 2018, calling it an illegal debt issuance. The U.S. government didn’t wait for legal debates - it acted. In March 2018, the Treasury Department banned U.S. citizens and companies from dealing in Petros. By 2019, sanctions under Executive Order 13857 expanded to include all Venezuelan cryptocurrency activity. Congressional bills like S.37 sought to make these restrictions permanent. The message was clear: the Petro was a sanctions evasion tool, not a currency.Forced Adoption, Not Real Usage
By January 2020, the government made Petro payments mandatory for government services - passports, driver’s licenses, even airplane fuel. But forcing people to use something doesn’t make it useful. Venezuelan citizens didn’t flock to the Petro. Instead, they turned to Bitcoin and USDT (Tether), stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. Why? Because those currencies traded openly on exchanges. Their value was transparent. Their supply wasn’t controlled by a regime under international sanctions. In Caracas, you won’t find a café accepting Petros. In Maracaibo, no vendor lists Petro prices. Even in the so-called Petro Zones, reports of actual usage are scarce. The tax incentives for mining equipment may have brought in some hardware, but there’s little evidence of meaningful mining activity. The government claims millions of Petros are in circulation. Independent analysts say most are stuck in state wallets, unused.
The Legal and Technical Paradox
The Petro exists in a legal gray zone. The government says it’s legal. The National Assembly says it’s not. International banks refuse to touch it. Major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase don’t list it. No reputable wallet supports it. The federated blockchain - meant to give the state control - also made it useless for anyone who values decentralization. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts avoid it because it contradicts everything blockchain was built for: openness, censorship resistance, and trustlessness. Even the technical structure is questionable. The Petro’s blockchain isn’t public. There’s no transparent ledger you can verify. No block explorers. No node count. No developer activity. Unlike Ethereum or Bitcoin, where you can see every transaction in real time, the Petro’s blockchain is a black box. That’s not innovation - it’s obscurity.What Happens to the Petro Now?
As of October 2025, the Petro remains a state-controlled instrument with no real market value. It’s not traded. It’s not used. It’s not trusted. The four Petro Zones still exist on paper, with tax exemptions still listed in official decrees - but no one’s building mining farms there. The Treasury of Cryptoassets, created to manage the Petro, is just another bureaucratic layer in a government that’s run out of options. Venezuela’s economy hasn’t recovered. Inflation is still above 200% annually. The bolívar is still worthless for most purchases. And the U.S. sanctions? Still in full force. The Petro was never going to fix that. It was always a political statement dressed in blockchain code.
What Venezuelans Use Instead
If you ask a Venezuelan how they pay for groceries, send money to family abroad, or save their earnings, they won’t mention the Petro. They’ll say Bitcoin. Or USDT. Or even PayPal, if they can get access. These tools work because they’re global, liquid, and independent of state control. The Petro doesn’t offer that. It offers bureaucracy, risk, and uncertainty. Some businesses in Venezuela have started accepting crypto payments - but only because they can convert Bitcoin to dollars via peer-to-peer platforms like Paxful or LocalBitcoins. The Petro doesn’t have that liquidity. You can’t trade it for anything real outside Venezuela. And even inside, no one wants it.The Bigger Picture
The Petro isn’t just a failed cryptocurrency. It’s a warning. It shows what happens when governments try to co-opt decentralized technology for centralized control. Blockchain isn’t magic money. It doesn’t fix broken institutions. It doesn’t replace sound economic policy. And it certainly doesn’t make sanctions disappear. Countries like El Salvador tried Bitcoin as legal tender - and struggled. But at least they didn’t claim it was backed by oil. They didn’t lock it behind a government firewall. They didn’t force citizens to use it. The Petro did all three. And that’s why it’s dead in the water.What’s Next for Venezuela’s Crypto Experiment?
Without lifting sanctions, without restoring trust in institutions, and without letting the market decide, the Petro will stay a footnote in crypto history. It might survive as a symbolic tool - used in state propaganda, mentioned in speeches, printed on official documents. But it won’t survive as money. If Venezuela ever wants to rejoin the global financial system, it won’t be through a state-controlled token. It’ll be through transparency, rule of law, and real economic reform. The Petro was never the answer. It was the symptom.Is the Petro cryptocurrency still active in Venezuela?
Yes, but only on paper. The Venezuelan government still lists the Petro as legal tender and requires it for certain government services like passports and fuel. However, there’s no evidence of widespread use. Most Venezuelans avoid it. No major exchanges list it. International banks won’t touch it. It exists as a bureaucratic relic, not a working currency.
Can you buy or trade Petro cryptocurrency outside Venezuela?
No. The Petro is not listed on any major cryptocurrency exchange like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken. It has no public market price. Any site claiming to sell Petros is either a scam or a government-controlled portal with no real liquidity. Even if you could acquire one, you couldn’t convert it to dollars, euros, or Bitcoin through normal channels due to U.S. sanctions and lack of market infrastructure.
Why did the U.S. impose sanctions on the Petro?
The U.S. government viewed the Petro as an attempt by Venezuela to bypass financial sanctions. By creating a state-backed digital asset tied to oil reserves, Venezuela hoped to access international financing without using the U.S. dollar or SWIFT system. The Treasury Department banned all U.S. persons from transacting in Petros in March 2018, calling it a tool for evading sanctions. Congressional bills like S.37 later sought to make these restrictions permanent.
Is the Petro backed by real oil or gold reserves?
There’s no verifiable proof. The government claims each Petro is backed by one barrel of oil, plus gold and diamond reserves. But Venezuela’s oil production has dropped by over 70% since 2016. Gold reserves are unverified by international auditors. Independent analysts and leaked documents suggest the backing is largely fictional. The $6 billion valuation was never confirmed by market activity - only by government decree.
Why don’t Venezuelans use the Petro for daily transactions?
Because it’s not useful. The Petro has no open market, no exchange rate, and no way to convert it into goods or services outside government channels. Venezuelans use Bitcoin and stablecoins like USDT because they can be traded for dollars on peer-to-peer platforms. These currencies hold real value. The Petro doesn’t. Forcing people to use it doesn’t change that.
Are the Petro Zones actually functioning as crypto hubs?
There’s no credible evidence. The government created four Petro Zones with tax breaks for mining equipment, hoping to attract miners and businesses. But reports of mining activity, business adoption, or economic growth in these zones are nearly nonexistent. The zones remain largely symbolic. No independent audits, no public data, no visible infrastructure. They’re more like policy theater than real economic zones.