Introduction

The socio-economic and political crisis that has been wreaking havoc on oil rich Venezuela since 2010, coupled with low oil prices starting from 2015, has generated hyperinflation on an enormous scale, rising to 500,000% in September 2018, and likely to reach 1,000,000% by the end of 2018. In response to its economic woes and hyperinflation, on February 20, 2018 the Venezuelan 'Petro' was officially born. The Petro, Venezuela's new government-backed 'cryptocurrency', is a financial instrument whose value is pegged to the Venezuelan oil barrel and which attempts to create an ...