Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced hours ago that banks in the country must join the Sistema Patria, an online platform that issues savings certificates (in gold as well as the cryptocurrency Petro) and that distributes subsidies to Venezuelans. Minister of Industries and National Production, Tareck El Aissami, is set to meet with the Venezuelan Banking Association in the coming days to discuss the banks’ inclusion in Sistema Patria.

Maduro believes making private as well as public banks adhere to the digital platform will benefit citizens, by centralizing access to banking, the take-up of benefits and the purchase of savings certificates. On the last of these, the Venezuelan President has pointed out that those with savings certificates in Petros will be able to exchange them for any foreign currency until December 31, 2018.

The measure is part of Venezuela’s Recovery, Growth and Economic Prosperity Plan. This Maduro-driven initiative seeks to resolve the grave economic crisis engulfing the country since last year. Other important developments in recent weeks are the modifications to the Petro, the start of the sale of Petros in sovereign bolivars (the official Venezuelan currency), and the replacement of the dollar by the euro as the reference currency in the exchange market.