Russian startup Zeus helps Venezuela issue first cryptocurrency

MOSCOW, Feb 27 (PRIME) -- Russian startup Zeus has helped Venezuela to issue the Petro cryptocurrency and become the first country in the world whose payment unit is backed with oil, Alexander Ruchyov, a startup investor and president of group of companies Osnova, told reporters on Tuesday.

“Ccryptocurrency issuance implies the creation of a bourse, an ecosystem. (Zeus) helped create this ecosystem,” Ruchyov said.

“(The startup) passed platform Smart Valley, and we invested in it, and it actively develops now on the world stage.”

Venezuela issued the Petro on February 20. Present Nicolas Maduro estimated preliminary sales at U.S.$735 million, saying that investor interest from Columbia, Brazil, Japan, China and Spain amounted to over $1 billion. Maduro promised to issue a gold-backed currency, gold Petro, this week.

Zeus is an online bourse, which trades shares of the world’s biggest companies for cryptocurrencies. It is connected to the classic U.S. exchanges under a contract with a brokerage.

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