Venezuelan Government Opens Cryptocurrency Training Center

Announcements, Education | February 27, 2018 By:

The government of Venezuela has opened a crypto training center in the country’s capital city, Caracas. The announcement came after the government announced the launch of its oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro.

Called Granja Laboratorio Petro, the crypto training school was established to educate interested citizens on how to buy, sell, and mine cryptocurrencies, as well as illustrate the inner workings of the crypto economy. The training center will also offer courses on the Petro cryptocurrency to Venezuelans for free.

Carmen Salvador, a Venezuelan teacher of cryptocurrency trading, told Reuters in a video interview Friday that “What we hope to do with this, primarily, is to make knowledge accessible, like any new methodology or technology.” Salvador explained that the government is guaranteeing free access for all to participate, noting that these courses often cost most than $500-$800 internationally.

“Many of our young people here find it impossible to have this amount of resources,” Salvador detailed, emphasizing that “We’ve designed this plan with a completely free training.”

Venezuelan Youth and Sports Minister Pedro Infante, for his part, explained that the school will include a mining farm and a mining laboratory where attendees will be taught how to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies, as well as how to “diversify the investments that are generated.”

“All our technological and computer youth can start a process of training in everything that has to do with the crypto economy, specifically with the Petro, the Venezuelan cryptocurrency,” Infante said.

Last week, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro claimed that the Petro cryptocurrency had received $735 million on the first day of its pre-sale. However, some people doubt that Venezuela has raised any money at all from the pre-sale of the Petro.

The goal of the cryptocurrency’s introduction is to allow Venezuela to combat economic sanctions that are enforced against the country by the United States and the European Union.