Citizens of Venezuela can now purchase property including houses using the new Venezuelan cryptocurrency, the petro. Reports say that real estate sales in petro are set to be authorized next month, April. The Venezuelan government also plans to construct about 23,000 homes using funds obtained from the pre-sale of petro.
Economic zones will accept crypto payments

A local media outlet, the Notica al Dia quoted President Nicolas Maduro to have said that Venezuelans and all legal entities should be able to purchase the national digital coin via its website and that soon; they can spend the petros as well. Deals of real estate with the oil-backed digital currency will start from 20th April 2017.

President Maduro has also conveyed that government authorities and agencies are going to set up four special economic zones which will stimulate circulation of the new digital coin. The four economic zones will be at Paraguana, Margarita Island, Roques, and Urena. Goods and services in these zones shall be priced in the government-issued crypto.

Online media reports last month revealed that President Maduro had authorized the country’s savings banks to use the new Venezuelan cryptocurrency. Later, reports revealed that even states institutions that are involved in foreign exchange had also been authorized to use the petro.

The president recently announced that over 200,000 orders from about 133 countries have since placed within the thirty days of pre-sale of the petro. In an interview with a local TV station, Maduro said that the said orders amount to USD 5.25 billion. He stated that the digital currency can now be bought using fiat currencies such as Chinese Yuan, Turkish lira, Euro, and the Russian ruble. Other digital coins like Bitcoin, NEM, and Ethereum can also be used to purchase the petro.

3 million new homes set to be constructed with the petro

President Maduro, earlier this week, revealed that an estimated 82.5 million Petros have already been bought since the national crypto was launched in February this year. The government plans to use part of the funds collected from the sale (USD 735 million) to finance the building of at least 236, 000 new homes.

Authorities say that by 2019, they intend to have built up to 3 million new housing units through the Grand Housing Mission that was launched seven years ago. The construction of the units will entirely be financed with monies obtained from selling the oil-backed national digital currency. Insiders have revealed that a presidential decree will allocate up to 14, 000 hectares of land owned by the government to the housing project.

The Venezuelan President talked about his rejection of sanctions that the U.S government imposed on his government. A few days ago, President Donald Trump signed an order barring U.S citizens from using the petro in any transactions. President Maduro said that “Venezuela repudiates this measures taken against the petro,” adding that those measures are intended to harm Venezuela’s economy.

President Maduro has also recently announced that Venezuela will host a major global blockchain and crypto technology event in Caracas in mid-April.