According to Iran's oil minister a week ago, no country is willing to cooperate with Iran in the field of oil and natural gas. At the same time, oil exports have also dropped to the lowest level in decades. As of January, exports have decreased by 90% to US $10 billion, reaching US $100 billion a year in the past.

According to the latest monthly report released by OPEC, As of February, Venezuela's oil production has also dropped to 330000 barrels a day, far lower than the 3 million barrels a day 10 years ago. Since 2019, the oil export volume has dropped by 32% again. According to the data of the US Treasury Department, Venezuela has lost 19 billion US dollars in oil revenue in a few months. This is due to the continuous restrictions of the United States on the economy and oil industry of the two countries, which has led to the decline of Venezuela's oil production Fiscal revenue has shrunk seriously.

Venezuela is a country with a single economic structure. Its fate depends on the crude oil that it can't control. Its fragile economy can't resist the international market. When the economic crisis comes, Venezuela immediately becomes the dish of the financial giants of the United States.

With the downturn of global oil demand, Venezuela's foreign reserves are sharply reduced. At this time, it can not borrow US dollars, resulting in a soaring fiscal deficit, insufficient foreign exchange for importing necessities of life, resulting in a shortage of domestic materials, the outbreak of debt crisis, and further leading to runaway inflation (currently the highest inflation rate in the world), economic recession, etc.

Now Venezuela's money Bolivar has lost most of its value, and the paper cost of importing and printing banknotes is also more valuable than banknotes. According to CNBC's report in early March, the Central Bank of Venezuela said that it will issue three new banknotes with a face value of 1 million Bolivar (about US $0.05 at the current exchange rate) from March 8.

According to the data of the Central Bank of Venezuela, the inflation rate will reach 2959.8% in 2020. Since April 2019, the Iranian rial has experienced a sharp depreciation of more than 60%. According to the latest monthly data on consumer prices released by the Iranian statistical center on March 20, the inflation rate has risen to 36.4%, and the food price has increased by 66.6% on a point-to-point basis. However, in fact, the inflation rate in Iran is rising Inflation has reached 260%, almost seven times the official announcement, as swift, the global exchange rate system, has restricted the intervention of the Iranian central bank.

IMF's annual GDP forecast for Venezuela

These new data show that Iran and Venezuela, which mainly rely on oil, will have a serious impact on their fiscal revenue and foreign exchange market. Under such a severe environment, Iran and Venezuela are seeking economic reform and another monetization way for their oil exports.

Venezuela has officially sold and settled its oil in the international market in petro currency, according to the Venezuelan national newspaper last week. It also requires airlines taking off from Caracas to pay for fuel in cryptocurrency of petro currency. The petro currency of each unit is linked to the price of a basket of oil. It has signed some agreements to sell oil, steel and aluminum The contract has become an alternative financial means for us dollars. At present, US $4.2 billion has been sold in advance, and it is planned to issue 100 million pieces in the future. If calculated according to the exchange rate of US $60 per barrel of oil agreed by the Commission, the total value of these oil coins will exceed US $6 billion.

The establishment of petrocurrency will promote monetary sovereignty, facilitate financial transactions and break the US dollar financial blockade, and allow Venezuela to continue to support economic and social development through abundant minerals, and can be used to save, circulate and pay wages. Even at a time of tight global food supply, the Venezuelan authorities have issued a loan of 560000 petrocurrency to finance agricultural production.

Venezuela has proved that its cryptocurrency is very popular as a safe haven against hyperinflation. In addition, crypto assets such as bitcoin and Ethereum are now widely accepted in gas stations and many supermarket chains. Subway users can also use smart cards paid in cryptocurrency to take the subway. In addition, Venezuela's oil company has provided services to Indian buyers Different customers in China have asked to pay for crude oil in petrodollars. This also means that Venezuela hopes to quickly become rich from poor and get out of economic difficulties by issuing oil currency. It also means Venezuela is the first country to settle commodities in cryptocurrency.

In response, CNN said that Venezuela's plan to use its cryptocurrency to sell mineral resources will take off in 2021. According to Maduro, the cryptocurrency has proved to be successful in daily use, although many experts object to it.

The executive secretary of Venezuela's blockchain observation center further explained that he believed that petrocurrency would have a positive and obvious growth effect on the country's economy in 2021, because petrocurrency, as a cryptocurrency, will not lead to economic inflation. As a secure cryptocurrency with strategic resource endorsement and multiple functions, it cannot be stopped by the bank clearing system of the United States At the same time, the country is also studying the issue of "digital Bolivar". Then, according to the latest speech of Russian satellite news agency earlier quoting the president of Venezuela, once the epidemic prevention situation permits, it will soon go to Iran to sign agreements on energy, finance, agriculture and other fields.

At the same time, with the continuous decrease of foreign exchange reserves, Venezuela has even reached the point of selling all its gold and drawing rights. According to Reuters, a few weeks ago, Venezuela hoped to transport back the gold in the United States and Britain from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England, but the central banks of the two countries blocked it on the ground of "unclear intention".

However, the latest signs show that things are turning for the better, and Venezuela's economy may turn from poor to rich. On the one hand, the US financial website zerohedge recently quoted a survey report from the Bloomberg News Agency, which shows that hundreds of millions of dollars of cash have been shipped from Russia to Venezuela, providing a lifeline for Venezuela's economy. The report details the transportation from Moscow to Venezuela Up to six transport aircraft in Caracas, the capital, carried us $315 million in US dollar and euro notes.

This means that although Venezuela's relevant accounts disclosed to the public are limited by the US dollar dominated system, Venezuela has enhanced its liquidity in terms of cash. On the other hand, the report says that Venezuela's other ways to evade the US dollar and obtain money also include secret gold sales and cryptocurrency. It is learned that Venezuela is also considering expanding Russia's control over cryptocurrency Venezuela has also issued a sovereign cryptocurrency based on its own oil, which is considered by analysis to be a sign that Venezuela may bypass the US dollar limit and realize the transition from poor to rich.

In fact, the issuance of cryptocurrency and petrocurrency in Venezuela may be just the beginning. From the current market data, Venezuelan petrocurrency is obviously one of the most popular examples, and their purpose is also very clear. Through cryptocurrency, they can simplify the transaction process or bypass the settlement restrictions of US dollars.

Teheran, Iran

Following Venezuela's launch of petrocurrency, new news shows that Iran will also use cryptocurrency to bypass the sanctions loopholes of Bank of America, and use strategic resources such as crude oil and gold as physical collateral. At present, relevant Iranian institutions are negotiating with Germany, Switzerland, France, Britain and Russia to carry out financial transactions of digital currency. In other words, Iran and Venezuela are looking for another way to monetize their oil exports. Then, two other big countries will also formally announce that they will follow the example of cryptocurrency to achieve the goal of decentralization of the US dollar.

According to a follow-up report quoted by Reuters last week, officials from Japan's Ministry of Finance and Department of finance also advocate De dollarization in the field of transactions with Iran. According to a person familiar with the matter, Japan's banking giants plan to set up a committee for digital currency, establish an international network for cryptocurrency payment in the world, and realize de dollarization Heart.

In addition, according to the daily telegraph, Russia will also use bitcoin to replace part of its US dollar reserves and try to minimize the interference in the US dollar denominated payment flow of oil. The action of using bitcoin to support foreign reserves may start as early as the second half of the year. At the same time, the Russian authorities are also studying the establishment of a digital currency system anchored by gold to support cross-border trade So far, progress has been made.

Not only that, at present, South Korea, Cambodia, Switzerland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Singapore and other countries have also indicated that they will try to develop their own cryptocurrencies or cryptocurrencies that have been issued to anchor strategic resources. For example, according to the At the beginning of this year, national said that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have further announced plans to create a joint cryptocurrency to simplify the means of payment between the two countries. On February 8 last year, Israel also announced that it would issue cryptocurrency based on diamonds. Immediately after that, the Royal Mint of the UK also launched its own cryptocurrency RMG with gold as guarantee.