Pablo Escobar's Family Launches Bitcoin Offshoot

The family of Pablo Escobar has entered the cryptocurrency market with a new form of money called Diet Bitcoin.

Escobar's brother, Roberto de Jesus Escobar Gaviria, released Diet Bitcoin, or DDX, as a cryptocurrency built on the same code as Bitcoin itself, the open-source currency that so many people have been raving about. The Medellin cartel pioneer spoke to reporters from The Blast, expressing his excitement in the project.

"I made over $100 billion in profit throughout my career," he said. "Buy as many dietbitcoin's as you can afford, the value will be very high soon."

Gaviria was the accountant behind his late brother's $200 billion empire when he was running the Medellin cartel. Nicknamed "El Osito," or "Little Bear," he has also openly admitted that he worked as a hitman for the organization. Gaviria was arrested in 1993 and served over ten years in prison.

Since his release, Gaviria has channelled his skills into a corporation called Escobar Inc. The 71-year-old isn't done, as he's now spearheading the creation of the new online financial resource.

Diet Bitcoin is known as a "hard fork" of the Bitcoin main network. Gaviria told The Blast that it is faster and lighter than the original, and that it will be the next big investment in the burgeoning online market.

"dietbitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of dietbitcoins is carried out collectively by the network," reads the currency's official website.

"dietbitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls dietbitcoin and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, dietbitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system," the site adds.