Venezuela begins selling oil-backed cryptocurrency

Venezuela formally launched its new oil-backed cryptocurrency on Tuesday in an unconventional bid to haul itself out of a deepening economic crisis.The leftist Caracas government put 38.4 million units of the world's first state-backed digital currency, the Petro, on private pre-sale from the early hours.The Latin American country has the world's largest proven oil reserves but is facing a crippling economic and political crisis.