US Senators, Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez, have condemned Venezuela's recent proposed digital currency in an open letter.

Directed to Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, the letter questions how the observation of Venezuela's planned cryptocurrency is taking place. Venezuela previously revealed they were launching an oil-backed cryptocurrency and Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's president, explained that the move would ensure that the country could avoid US sanctions.

The letter also asked how the treasury department will stop Venezuela using the petro to avoid sanctions and highlighted that the country had seen a huge number of economic emergencies. The senators also wrote that they had severe concerns over whether Venezuela could confidently and safely introduce a cryptocurrency.

Venezuela's planned launch of the petro has resulted in a number of critical responses from around the globe. Furthermore, critics from within the nation's congress have also provided a hostile response with a resolution being passed which called the petro 'illegal'.

At the beginning of January, a reported white paper for the proposed coin was offered on social media but it was later declared false by Venezuela's central government. They then went on to confirm that the official white paper would be revealed by Maduro at a later date, although it is still yet to be released.