Venezuela is definitely pushing fast with its plans to launch a national cryptocurrency. The South American country has previously announced the release of Petro, its national cryptocurrency that will be backed by oil reserves.

Now, the president of the country, Nicolas Maduro, revealed that no less than 100 million petros will be released. Maduro confirmed once again that the petro will be backed by the country's large oil reserves. Maduro has personally revealed in a state television broadcast that he ordered the launch of 100 million petros.

Maduro also said that each of the newly launched petro will be backed by a single barrel of oil. Currently, local media reported, the price of one barrel of oil is at around $60 per barrel. This means that the new cryptocurrency will have a total value of $6 billion. If the plan will go as scheduled, Venezuela will be the first country to launch a cryptocurrency.

And without a doubt, it seems that the country had made a lot of preparations for the launch. It has been revealed that the country's authorities have also set a date for the first meeting of petro miners. This meeting will be taking place on January 14, this being the date when the petro will also be officially presented.

How will the launch of the petro go?

Local media reported that the 100 million petros will actually be launched through some virtual currency exchanges. Apparently, some exchanges have been selected and they currently are in a trial period, local media revealed. However, for the moment, that is all that has been revealed.

The first announcement on Venezuela's intentions to release a national cryptocurrency was actually made by Maduro himself back in December. At that time, he said that a national cryptocurrency would help the country avoid economic sanctions. Subsequently, Maduro revealed that two authorities were created with the purpose to oversee the launch and operation of the new digital currency.