As of the beginning of next week, the citizens of Venezuela will be required to pay for the passport fees by using the Petro which is the Crypto coin backed by the national government and which has been said to be backed by the nation’s oil reserves among a selection of other natural resources.
Higher Cost Of Registering And Renewing Passports
This announcement was made public, ahead of the official launch of the digital token slated to take place at the beginning of next month, by the nation’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez during a press conference held on the 5th of October. This announcement as also made in the wake of another press release held by the president Nicolas Maduro, where he announced that the controversial digital token will be used in the purchase of the nation’s oil products.
Going by the announcement made by Rodriguez, in order for one to acquire a new passport they will be required to pay two Petros. Renewals will cost citizens half that prize. Bloomberg has reported that this new prize for registering for a passport is quadruple the current minimum wage in the nation (which is around 7,200 bolivars) meaning that getting a passport for the average Venezuelan citizen will be virtually impossible.
Upon the enforcement of these new rules, it will be that much harder for Venezuelans to travel outside the country. As for those living outside the country, the cost of registering for a new passport will be $200 and the cost of renewing and extending the passport will be $100.
Cushion Against Economic Crisis Through Use Of Cryptocurrencies
Venezuela has been experiencing the effects of hyperinflation for the last four years which has seen the government devalue the national fiat currency in an effort to reel in the runaway inflation within the country. As a means of filling the negative space resulting from the nosediving bolivar, many Venezuelans turned to Cryptocurrency including Bitcoin and Dash, later on settling on Dash as it was seen as a more reliable medium of exchange and store of value. This step was taken to cushion the value of whatever reserves citizens still had of the bolivar and as a means to survive in the current economic crisis.
Once the government saw the increasing popularity of Cryptocurrencies in the nation, and especially the popularity of the Dash, it decided to develop its own digital coin backed by the nation’s oil reserves and dubbed the Petro late last year.
Although the development of the government-backed Petro has created an environment where decentralised tokens could thrive in the country, it has also come with a fair share of controversies and oppositions from various factions within as well as without the country.
Dash Still Leading In Adoption
In his announcement on the impending launch of the Petro president Maduro stated that six major Crypto exchanges will be listing the Petro, which has been termed by Joey Zhou to be a blatant duplication of Dash. The adoption of Dash remains high in the nation however with the CEO stating that Venezuela is its second largest market.
