Cryptocurrencies as Asset-Backed Instruments: The Venezuelan Petro

Abstract

This paper explores the notion of cryptocurrencies as asset-backed instruments, examining the purported creation of Petro, a device intended to supplement the Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte and backed by the country’s extractive reserves of oil and gas. This allows for an examination of the possibility of deploying cryptocurrencies as complementary currency instruments which are backed by real assets, in terms of the consequences therein for international monetary exchange, extractive industries, and governance/accountability issues.

Keywords: Monetary Policy, Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Central Bank, Accountability, Development, Political Economy