Maduro decreed that this week will begin a «new stage of economic and social protection» within the Venezuelan economy, referring to the delivery of half a Petro to Venezuelans.
With a total of 4,500,000 retirees and 3,500,000 public workers, Maduro said in a speech on Dec. 15 that he expects to deliver half a Petro to more than 8 million Venezuelans this week. This follows up on remarks Maduro made in mid-November.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that this week the government will pay half a Petro to Venezuelan retirees and public workers as Christmas bonus.
With a fixed value of $60 established by the Venezuelan government, the average Petro bonus that each Venezuelan will receive will be equivalent to $30. It is estimated that the government will give out some $240 million, according to the valuation given to the state cryptocurrency.
The president expressed in a direct way that «they have been building the Petro (…) for almost 2 years» and added that «the first thing he did with the Petro was to place 5 billion barrels of oil as support», concluding that they are already producing those barrels of oil to have them «only for Petro». However, he also mentioned later that they already have «30 million barrels of oil» that are part of «the direct physical material wealth that sustains the Petro for whoever wants to claim it».
Maduro also specified that he has already signed agreements with «50,000 merchants in the country» to accept Petro as a form of payment within their establishments.
Given the Venezuelan government’s history of not delivering on promises related to the Petro, Cointelegraph advises readers to approach news on the subject with skepticism.
Bitcoin News Summary – July 8, 2019
eToroX, the specialized blockchain division of social trading platform eToro, has announced the launch of the first five of 120 ERC-20 tokens. ERC-20 is a technical standard that sets rules for tokens launched on the Ethereum or related blockchains. The new tokens include two eToro stablecoins and three crypto assets: Maker, Basic Attention Token and OmiseGO.
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank will impose stricter rules and monitoring on bank accounts related to any crypto trading. A string of hacks and fraud related to crypto exchanges in the country was cited as the motivating factor.
Fujitsu Laboratories has announced the development of a digital identity exchange technology. The blockchain based tech makes it possible for individuals and businesses involved in online transactions to confirm the identity of the other parties.
A 2019 global blockchain survey from Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte reveals that 73% of Chinese firms believe that blockchain is a top 5 strategic priority for their nation. 53% of responding companies in the United States held the same view, which is an annual increase of 10%.
And finally, free speech social media platform, Gab.com, has opened crowdfunding for the development and decentralization of its Twitter-like platform, Gab Social, and its new web browser, Dissenter. Gab’s Dissenter browser is forked from Brave but allows commenting on any web page and uses Lightning Network BTC payments to reward users who view ads.
