More than two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his intention to launch the world’s first state-sponsored cryptocurrency to try and help Venezuela raise some badly needed foreign capital, the Petro – backed by 5 billion barrels of oil that are still waiting to be pumped out of a local oilfield – is now a reality.

Venezuela first tipped its hand at its intentions over the summer, when it appointed what we believe to be the world’s first “superintendent of cryptocurrency.”

The Venezuelan government has been saying for months that the Petro would be available for sale beginning Feb. 20. According to Bloomberg, it’ll be a few weeks – if not months – before we know anything about the cryptocurrency.

Developed in secret, the project was spearheaded by a 27-year-old blockchain engineer who, according to Bloomberg, earnestly believes in the power of crypto to rescue one of the world’s most repressive regimes from one of the worst economic disasters unfolding anywhere…

However, it turns out that the sale is the culmination of months of work, much of it done quietly by top bureaucrats loyal to Maduro. Working alongside them has been a 27-year-old Venezuelan technology entrepreneur named Gabriel Jimenez, who says he’s spent months helping develop the concept of the Petro and remains certain of its power to fix what ails Venezuela. “This is a lot more ambitious than just a cryptocurrency. It’s a project which I, along with a national and international team, have worked arduously to benefit this country,” says Jimenez. He says he hasn’t been paid for his work and will be compensated only in Petros if the token succeeds.

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