Local merchants in Venezuela are speaking out against the government’s crypto coin Petro claiming that the project is a scam.
According to a report by Venezuelan media platform Tal Cual, local retail merchants are refusing to accept Petro as a form of payment, in part due to the massive hyperinflation that devalues the coin upon liquidation. Retailors say the Bank of Venezuela has refused to pay them according to the price of petro made during a sale, which has led to their money being devalued during liquidation.
Octavio Páez Malavé, a merchant from Bolivar state, said,
Inflation does not wait for maintenance … It is impossible for merchants to offer biopayment when you do not pay. There is not a single supplier that accepts petros.
Josefina Salvatierra, executive director of Consecomercio, said that merchants are being ripped off due to the discrepancy between the Petro’s price at the time of sale compared to what banks are paying during liquidation. The entire process has been exacerbated by Venezuela’s ongoing hyperinflation.
She said,
The few [merchants] who are liquidating are doing so to the indicator of the moment in which the sale was made, which obviously aggravates the situation even more because in a hyperinflationary process it is very difficult to sell on credit without practically indexing the debt.
The spokeswoman continued, putting the merchants’ view towards Petro bluntly saying it’s “devalued money.”
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