After launching its initial going offering (ICO) pre-sale of its very own state-backed cryptocurrency, Petro, Venezuela has managed to raise $735 million in its first day alone. The Venezuelan government has also published a buyers manual which states that investors can purchase the cryptocurrency either in fiat currency or cryptocurrency, but they do not accept payment in Bolivars.
Petro pre-sale launches
Petro is one of the first cryptocurrencies to be backed by a tangible asset, which in this case is oil. According to Petro’s whitepaper, the private pre-sale would have been launched on February 20. However, at midnight on February 20, the Venezuelan government announced that the pre-sale had already been launched and that they released a buyer’s manual in addition to an AML compliance guide.
The whitepaper states that during the pre-sale, 82.4 million petro tokens would be for sale. Earlier this week Venezuelan vice-president Tareck El Aissami stated both Venezuelan nationals as well as foreigners were eligible to purchase Petro tokens.
According to Telesur TV, Carlos Vargas, who serves as the Venezuelan Superintendent of Cryptocurrencies, stated that purchase of petrol tokens can be conducted in fiat currencies as well as cryptocurrencies, but not in Bolivars, as the government seeks to uphold the integrity of the Petro.
Prospective investors can place private orders for the Petro token via the Etherdelta platform by using an Ethereum address that Vargas provided. However, there are currently no matched orders or any price charts available. This could be due to a number of reasons such as system glitches or a JavaScript code error which is preventing investors from successfully completing their orders.
Hugbel Roa, the Venezuelan Minister for University Education, Science, and Technology stated that shorted after the launch of the pre-sale, website traffic to the official Petro site increased four-fold.
Despite these glitches, Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro confirmed that the Petro pre-sale has already raised $735 million.
Petro’s detailed buying instructions
The Petro website states that buyers simply need a digital Petro wallet. The website adds that once the user opens their wallet, it immediately generates an automatic address which the user can share with anyone to conduct transactions.
The Venezuelan government released a detailed buyers manual when they launched the Petro pre-sale which includes detailed instructions on how to access the Petro wallet.
The manual warns users to ensure that their private keys are protected makes no mention of the public key. In addition, there is the curious fact of the Petro using the NEM blockchain network.
NEM is notorious for its centralized nature. The blockchain uses only centralized servers in addition to a closed-source code. This network has been receiving bad press ever since the Coincheck scandal in Japan, and could deter investors from the Petro.
