Venezuela’s Central Bank Unveils Android App for Bolivar to Petro Conversion

In a bid to push its new digital currency, the Banco Central de Venezuela, the country’s central bank, has recently launched an Android app. The app, known as “Calculadora Soberana”, allows users to convert their old Bolivar to the newly coined Bolivar Soberano, which is pegged to the country’s controversial Petro cryptocurrency.

“El Calculadora Soberana”

The app, apart from conversion, also grants users access to the “latest information and information on currency conversion.”

According to a (roughly translated) tweet from the official account of the Central Bank of Venezuela:

“The Sovereign Calculator is a tool for all and all Venezuelans, it is the best ally that the people will have to understand and assimilate the monetary reconversion process.”

The tweet also gave a link for users to download the new app. Since its launch, the app has had over 10,000 downloads and a positive rating on the Google Play Store.

Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, introduced the Petro primarily as a means of bypassing sanctions by the U.S. and the United Nations. Maduro controversially asked several states within the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America to adopt the Petro as an official currency. This action caused the U.S. government to impose new sanctions on Venezuela.

Government Orders Banks to Adopt Petro

In a related story, President Nicolas Maduro has recently ordered banks to adopt the Petro “as a unit of account”. All private and public banks shall henceforth reflect financial information in both bolivars and Petros.