Venezuela’s president airdrops Petro to the country’s doctors

Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, is back with another program to try and promote his failed coin, Petro. As many may remember, Petro is Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency, launched in February 2018. But, while the president’s plan was for the country to start using the coin instead of bolivar, it never became popular.

As a result, the president attempted to enforce its use by demanding that certain services only accept Petro as payment. He also used it to pay people’s bonuses, and alike. Petro still did not see an increase in use, as most people would only sell it, either for bolivar or another crypto.

Venezuelan doctors to receive a Petro token in the pending airdrop

Now, he has announced that he will gift Petro to the country’s doctors amid the coronavirus pandemic. The new move is part of the ‘Doctors of the Homeland’ initiative. Basically, every doctor will receive one oil-backed Petro.

The announcement of the move came yesterday, April 2nd, via one of the country official’s Twitter account.

The president supposedly aims to share the tokens via the Patria System. This is a platform that the government launched for bypassing the failing banking system within the nation. At the same time, it can use it to issue subsidies and bonuses via its token.

Each Petro is worth months of minimum wages

Petro price, which is tied to the country’s oil, has crashed quite a bit during March 2020 due to coronavirus fears. In fact, oil prices crashed to their 18-year low. Now, however, it appears that the recovery is taking place, with a 20% growth. The price per barrel is currently at $27, and it may continue to surge further up.

Petro itself is worth around $60, according to Maduro administration. Meanwhile, trading platforms that deal with the coin put its price to around one-third of this amount. They value it roughly between $20 and $26. But even so, the average Venezuelan monthly minimum wage is currently at $3.61. In addition to that, people also receive $2.89 in food stamps, while even the doctors earn only a bit more than that.

In other words, owning one Petro, even if its price is only one-third of what the president claims, could be equal to several months of work.