Exit scam? Venezuela’s Petro remains a mirage

The Petro has yet to make any real appearance, even as Venezuela's crypto agency starts disappearing. There's no sign of the Venezuelan Petro nor the oil that's meant to be backing it, Reuters says, leaving many to wonder whether the world's first national cryptocurrency and first national ICO was also the world's first national cryptocurrency exit scam. The Petro was meant to go live in the week of 20 August, but has so far done nothing. Meanwhile, the oil reserves which Venezuela's President Maduro has said will back the coin are similarly hard to find, with officials only pointing at Venezuela's Atapirire region, where experts say there's no good chance of extracting enough oil in the near future. More…