[2018-03-10] Venezuelan President Claims Petro Pre-Sale Raked in $5 Billion

[nickbelski]

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed the pre-sale of the country’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), has raised $5 billion and recorded over 186,000 certified purchases, according to local news source TeleSUR. The announcement came during a meeting with members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in Caracas.

During the meeting, Maduro explained that the money raised from the cryptocurrency’s pre-sale will be used to “service everything our country needs.” Per his words, the money is part of a wider “economic solution” the Venezuelan government put together.

Additionally Carlos Vargas, the country’s cryptocurrency superintendent, revealed that over 83,000 individuals from 127 countries attempted to purchase the oil-backed cryptocurrency. Among them, were 3,523 entrepreneurs. As previously covered by CCN, the country had received 171,000 pre-registrations for the token sale, and Maduro claimed it raised $735 million in only a day.

The Petro was created as a way to bypass US sanctions, while Venezuela deals with a steep recession, that’s forced its citizens to rely on cryptocurrencies to survive. While Maduro’s words seem to show the Petro’s pre-sale has been a tremendous success, there’s little to no evidence pointing that out.

A NEM wallet believed to belong to the Venezuelan government has yet to distribute any of the 100 million Petros the country’s president ordered. Nevertheless, Maduro recently stated that the Petro aims to improve the country’s “monetary sovereignty,” while also helping it “make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.”

Petro shrouded in controversy

While the Venezuelan leader claims the Petro is a step forward, various Venezuelan lawmakers seemingly don’t agree. The country’s opposition-run congress has said the Petro’s sale is an “illegal and unconstitutional” instrument to mortgage the country’s oil reserves. The country’s National Assembly denounced it as a fraud and claimed it could be a risky investment.

On the other hand, Chinese credit rating giant Dagong claimed the Petro “may help the global currency system.” To bolster adoption, Maduro has ordered the country’s airlines to accept the Petro and other cryptocurrencies for tickets.

Despite the controversy, Venezuela is set to auction the Petro to private companies via its Dicom foreign exchange platform. Last month, Maduro claimed a Petro Gold – a cryptocurrency backed by precious metals – was going to be launched “next week.”

Source: https://www.ccn.com/venezuelan-president-claims-petro-pre-sale-raked-5-billion/

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[Harlot]

With that  kind of opposition the Venezuelan President is facing both foreign and local authorities I don't think it is safe to buy this PETRO coins. Even though a lot of people attempted to buy it at its pre-sale I don't want to get my money involve in such thing as being de-listed is a top possibility. If this project is proven unconstitutional the Token would be shut down in no time. But for people who are interested in a high risk high reward type of token this should be their game as the speculation surrounding this altcoin is big.

[Betwrong]

So now it will be Petro Gold, c'mon! I personally don't trust a word from Venezuelan President. $5 Billion he says? How can we verify that information? Petro is not even listed on Coinmarketcap and reading the wiki page dedicated to it we can see some bad news for the coin:

... the white paper shows no method as to how the Venezuelan government will base the petro on oil prices, concluding that the currency is a worthless token

In the United States, the Department of the Treasury warned that participating in Venezuela's proposed initial coin offering for the petro cryptocurrency could violate U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, because it "would appear to be an extension of credit to the Venezuelan government"

I'm wondering what traders who've bouhgt Petro are going to do with it? How can you really exchange it for something valuable unless you live in Venezuela, where you can pay taxes and buy airline tickets with it?

[Leyss]

The idea of ​​the President of Venezuela Maduro with his national crypto currency. provided by oil, in general it is interesting, but the decision of the legislative body of this country to recognize El Petro illegal, drove the situation into a dead end. Such a decision can greatly affect the price of this coin. The struggle for power, implicated in such money, is a very explosive mixture.

[1Referee]

It's simple, if the public isn't able to verify how much funds have actually been raised, and the government itself doesn't release anything that even remotely shows proof of these finances, then it just didn't happen. Seriously, how much of an ill minded person do you need to be in order to financially support a system that goes against everything humanity stands for? It's heartbreaking how that government is responsible for babies and little childeren to starve to death because their parents can't buy any food because they don't have any money, and in case they do have a small amount of money, there isn't any food to buy or other resources to buy. People literally fight for every crumb of bread they can find, it's horrible.

I strongly hope that the current exchanges have enough moral standards and principles, and respect for humanity, so that they won't be listing any of this ICO crap. If they do anyway, people should immediately stop using these exchanges and let them bleed till they can no longer maintain their operations. What the Venezuelan system is doing is called genocide.

[bbc.reporter]

Lies. If their presale really reached more than a billion then it should have moved NEM in the top 5 in Coinmarketcap.

Also as the article mentioned, the Petro is violating US sanctions. I am interested in what the NEM development team might do if the platform is threatened by the full might of the US government hehehe.

[vit05]

I think this will be the escape that he and other members of the government were looking for to wash the money they take out of government. I do not seem to have any indication that the population will benefit. It's a pump and dump scheme that will fail miserably.
Fortunately, the Venezuelan population still has other means of buying Bitcoin and investing in cryptocurrency.

In addition, people mined Bitcoin with a certain frequency. Because the energy is one of the only things that are still cheap.

[bbc.reporter]

@vit05. Anything the government does, it always does so for its own benefit at the expense of the people they swore to serve. If history taught us something, it is the fact that all governments are run by the few, supported by the elite, to oppress the rest of the population.

The Petro might fail, but it will serve its purpose.

[seoincorporation]

Absurd. $5 million and no ways to demonstrate the accuracy of his speech. As usual, corrupted governments and tyrant ones trying to create a smokescreen about what's really happening in their countries (all the human rights being attacked, people starving to death, war and misery). I just can't stand looking those ones celebrating a fake victory where there is only injustice.
Petro is only in the pre-selling stage. This is not even in poloniex or another serious exchanger. So Maduro is announcing smoke. What kind of exchanger with the blockchain technology would ever support a dictator??
Now, the fundamental base of petro was supposed to be oil. Nevertheless, there is not even a tiny fundament of how much oil do they actually have, how much coins are they actually going to produce and so. This is just a circus
As Romans used to say: "Panem et circenses", but, sadly, in the case of Venezuela there is not panem (bread).
This is just more and more "circenses" (circus) in order to maintain their external politics looking good, despite the suffer from their own people.
I would never buy such an aberration as petrol, even less in their current political situation.
Just... outrageous... absurd... oppresive...

[bbc.reporter]

Lies. If their presale really reached more than a billion then it should have moved NEM in the top 5 in Coinmarketcap.

Also as the article mentioned, the Petro is violating US sanctions. I am interested in what the NEM development team might do if the platform is threatened by the full might of the US government hehehe.

It happened. Trump orders US sanctions against Petrotoken.

Read https://www.coindesk.com/trump-orders-new-sanctions-against-venezuelas-national-cryptocurrency/

This will be a real test on NEM's immutability and permissionlessnes. The price shows that investors are scared. While the rest of the cryptospace is recovering losses, XEM is being dumped.

The Venezuelan government was smart not to use Ethereum. They know Vitalik can censor them hehehe.

[bigNoizboo]

Remember the cheat in star craft where you get a boost on your available resources - Show Me The Money! Everyone should be skeptical of any statements coming from Maduro and whoever fronts as his mouthpiece. Talk is cheap and the the Petro developers have not actually shown any tangible evidence to support their wild claims. I hope there is a more straightforward way to review Maduro's claim and claims made by similar enterprises. We would be much better off with some transparency on how well these investments really are.