But could the petro do more than that, and actually catalyze government-controlled cryptos around the world?

President Trump signed an executive order March 21 banning all transactions involving digital currency issued by the Venezuelan government, after it began pre-selling its own cryptocurrency, the petro, in February.

The petro differs from other cryptos because, according to the Brookings Institute, "The price of one petro is pegged to the price of one barrel of Venezuelan oil…" and "the petro/bolivar exchange rate … includes a discount factor determined by the Venezuelan government."

By making that distinction, the Venezuelan government is now responsible for managing multiple currency systems simultaneously, creating what Dash Force News Editor Joël Valenzuela described as "an accounting nightmare."

But isn't cryptocurrency supposed to make accounting for transactions easier?

Well, actually it's not the cryptos but the tech they're built on. A few episodes back, we discussed how cryptocurrency is backed by radical transparency due to the power of the blockchain.

Rather than being backed by radical transparency and being a "trustless system", as Valenzuela called it, the petro is essentially "fiat crypto."

"When you back it with something that doesn't have transparency, you have to trust the party that is providing the assets that back the coin," according to Valenzuela. "It ruins its original value proposition."