Inspired by Petro, Cambodia's Own Cryptocurrency, Entapay, on the Horizon

Inspired by Venezuela's newly-released cryptocurrency, the Petro, Cambodia is now contemplating the development of its own digital coin called Entapay. A proposal for the new cryptocurrency is expected to occur at a blockchain summit that will be hosted in the Southeast Asian capital of Phnom Penh on Wednesday, according to The Telegraph.

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A press release describing Entapay said that the cryptocurrency would serve as “the connection between integration payment of encrypted currency and the real world. It has the great potential to even replace Visa as the new mainstream payment mode.”

The statement also mentioned the Petro, saying that it was a means to “assist” Venezuela in “avoiding the Western world’s economic sanctions.”

Threatened with sanctions by western governments, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen may view the launch of Entapay as an economic survival tactic for the future.

On Feb. 20, Venezuela officially launched the Petro, the first cryptocurrency backed by oil reserves. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the goal of the digital coin is to combat sanctions and the "economic war" waged by the United States government and its junior partners against his country and advance "on issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade."

Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and his Republican counterpart, Marco Rubio, have co-authored a letter denouncing the Petro, and requesting that the U.S. Treasury Department closely monitor its progress. The lawmakers also made suggestions on measures the agency can take to undermine the success of the digital currency.

The Petro has attracted attention from investors in several countries, including Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, China, Palestine, Japan, Turkey, Qatar and even the United States.