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Venezuela Launches Oil-Backed Cryptocurrency (bbc.co.uk)
Venezuela has launched a cryptocurrency backed by oil in an attempt to bypass tough economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. "The 'Petro' is intended to bolster the country's crumbling economy, which has been suffering from hyperinflation and devaluation for years," reports the BBC. "Venezuela claims it is the world's first sovereign cryptocurrency." From the report: Critics say the move is a desperate attempt by Caracas to raise cash at a time when Venezuela lacks the ability to repay its $150 billion of foreign debt. Opposition leaders said the sale constitutes an illegal issuing of debt, while the US Treasury Department warned it may violate sanctions imposed last year. The government says the currency aims to circumvent US sanctions on the economy. President Nicolas Maduro has said each tokens will be backed by a barrel of Venezuelan crude. The Latin American country has the world's largest proven oil reserves. A total of 100 million Petros will be sold, with an initial value set at $60, based on the price of a barrel of Venezuelan crude in mid-January. The official website published a guide to setting up a virtual wallet in which to hold the cryptocurrency, but did not provide a link for actually doing so on Tuesday.
A few thousand deaths for any reason is inconsequential in a population of +370,000,000. For those close to those killed it is devastating but that is still a very tiny amount of people when compared against the entire population of a country and the world. Even with all the killing and destruction currently raging non-stop across the planet the number of humans on the planet continues to grow. The one constant throughout the history of human civilization has been the human propensity to use violence and mayhem in endless conflicts waged to control the masses. Every international border on the planet has been drawn and re-drawn in blood. The same genetic traits that helped our species to evolve are the same traits responsible for the violent survival instincts hiding in our DNA. The potential for violence is always there but those tendencies can be consciously managed and mitigated up to a point. The world is flooded with real world violence and killing but we still create outlets where we can indulge our violent tendencies without the associated body count. Sporting events and video games are two such outlets.
And our violent tendencies go hand in hand with our propensity to turn everything into a conflict. We use the internet to feed and nurture our conflicts which will serve as the match to fire off our violent tendencies.
I know it is silly but guns do not kill people the human pulling the trigger kills people. A gun is just one of the countless tools you can use to kill someone. And new gun regulations will not change anything. There are already too many firearms in circulation to create a new law and expect people to just hand over their guns when the government comes knocking. And as the population increases resources become scarcer. As resources become scarcer a war is inevitable and the world already has the weapons to destroy the entire world many times over. In WW2 all the combatants were in an ongoing R&D race during the war to build better weapons and the US reached the pinnacle first. When the next war starts there are already enough nuclear, chemical, and biological weapon systems ready to deploy on a moments notice.
Well, after becoming the first democratically elected national leader, Chavez was reinstated by the same military that executed a three day coup to oust Chavez. Turns out that the all Shell Oil exec government that was to replace Chavez was not to the liking of the military. Then there was how Chavez made overtures to other OPEC members to end the US dollar's position as the default currency of oil trading. Then Chavez made some grandstanding to embarrass the US during some natural disasters.
I think it had to do with the attempt to challenge the US dollar as the default oil currency. Really the dollar as default is a huge disaster that will eventually happen whenever it ceases to be the default. All those dollars freed and coming back to the US with the expectation of value in return. Ouch. It's like we invented a financial self destruct device and handed the switch to China.