Petro (cryptocurrency)

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Petro
Petro (cryptocurrency) logo.png
symbol PTR
Publishing year 2018
Blockchain Yes
Mining No
Website www.petro.gob.ve

The Petro is according to a statement of the authoritarian, Chavista government of Venezuela a state cryptocurrency Venezuela. Comments mostly doubt that it is a cryptocurrency and there are no known transactions. According to the Venezuelan government, the Petro should be secured with one barrel (159 liters) of the crude oil reserves, but it can "not even theoretically" be redeemed in this way. In an optimistic reading, the government's aim is to stabilize Venezuela's economy and thus contain the economic and supply crisis. Alexander Busch from the NZZ sees it as an attempt by the corrupt caste of the military and government officials to get their money out of the country. Venezuela's regular currency, the Bolívar Fuerte , is suffering from hyperinflation , so on August 20, 2018 it was replaced by the Bolívar Soberano, which is said to be pegged to the Petro. A link to a currency at an exchange rate set by a government by decree completely contradicts the basic functioning of a cryptocurrency.

background

The background to the project was the longstanding economic crisis in Venezuela. The socialism of the 21st century proclaimed by the government led to a collapse in the supply of the population, the world's highest inflation and de facto a Venezuelan national bankruptcy .

At most, the launch could also have been an attempt by the government to displace other cryptocurrencies: A comment in the investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta pointed out that not only the population was trying to avoid the national currency Bolivar, but that the government was also trying to avoid it tried to say goodbye to it with the creation of Petro. Another explanation is that the Petro was created only and precisely for the purpose of destroying trust in crypto currencies, especially the Dash , which served to avoid the state currency among the population. The fact is: "The subject of cryptocurrency would never have become topical in Venezuela if the authorities had not forbidden citizens to use freely convertible money." Interestingly, it turned out that the world's leading Bitcoin was not suitable for Venezuela because the technology was too complex and Dash was used instead: A system was provided there that could also work via SMS for people without a computer, tablet or smartphone.

While the Russian central bank rejected the introduction of a cryptocurrency to the ruble in order to evade western sanctions due to concerns about the stability of the ruble, Venezuela was encouraged and supported by Russia to take this step, according to statements of an opposition parliamentarian as a guinea pig .

history

The alleged sale of 38.4 million out of a total of 100 million digital coins started on February 20, 2018. The price of a Petro would be the same as that of a barrel of oil, but is set by the Venezuelan government. An oil field that was not even developed was defined as security. As of February 2018, the new cryptocurrency would have been worth a total of 6 billion dollars based on the government. On the first day of sale, according to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, $ 735 million was earned. After the first phase of sales, another 44 million petro should be put into circulation on March 20, 2018, while the remaining 17.6 million petro should remain in the hands of the Venezuelan state. After the month-long pre-sale period ended in March, Maduro said the state raised $ 3.3 billion in April. About $ 1 billion of the sales were to be deposited in the country's central bank reserves and also used for currency auctions. In May 2018 teachers in the country received instructions to extol the advantages of the Petro. On the other hand, the Minister for Higher Education Hugbel Roa said in the summer of 2018 that no one had received tokens, it was only a matter of reservations.

A gold- backed variant called Petro Gold was also announced by Maduro for the end of February 2018.

The US has warned against the purchase because it is a loan for the Venezuelan government and thus a violation of US sanctions. In March 2018, all business with the cryptocurrency in the USA was banned by US President Donald Trump .

The National Assembly declared the project to be three times illegal. According to the Constitution of Venezuela of 1999 , the National Assembly has the right to budget and there is also a ban on the creation of alternative means of payment. However, the freely elected National Assembly, in which the opposition has a two-thirds majority, is completely disempowered by the regime. Since the petro is also secured with natural raw materials, it also violates Article 12 of the constitution. The constituent assembly (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente), determined without the participation of the opposition, decided on April 4, 2018 to approve the introduction of the Petro.

According to observers, the Petro was not accepted anywhere in Venezuela, even in the almost completely cash-free everyday life, although the artificial money was advertised on huge Caracas advertising spaces.

Due to the different roles assigned to him by the government, two different values ​​of the Petro developed. More than a cryptocurrency, it evolved into a bond .

technology

According to contradicting statements, blockchain technology is based on the cryptocurrency NEM . There will be no mining - as is the case with NEM. In contrast to NEM, however, it is not intended to replace the block generation with Proof of Importance . The Hash X11 algorithm should be used with both proof of work and proof of stake. In the fall of 2018, it was revealed that Petro's concept paper may have been copied from Dash's.

criticism

Right at the start of the Petro, the concept was criticized because it lacked the usual requirements of decentralization and transparency, which would result in "pretty much the opposite" of a crypto currency. Doubts were also expressed as to whether the Petro is even a cryptocurrency, as it should fluctuate parallel to the oil price and not be based on supply and demand. PetroChina is also no hedge on oil, since it can not be redeemed for oil and oil production of Venezuela already for years for loans from Russia and China invested is. Former Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez called the Petro a "government fantasy". Suspicions have been expressed that the primary aim is to anonymously bring money from the corrupt power elite outside the country.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Alexander Busch: Potemkinscher Petro. NZZ, February 21, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Phillip Horch: Venezuela: Petro is the first state crypto currency, ICO starts on February 20th. BTC-ECHO, February 1, 2018, accessed on February 16, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Special Report: In Venezuela, new cryptocurrency is nowhere to be found , Reuters, August 30, 2018
  4. ↑ Sustainable economy creates jobs , SRF business magazine Trend, minute 6
  5. ↑ Klaus Ehringfeld: Hyperinflation and food shortages - Venezuela's great emptiness. In: Spiegel Online . January 14, 2018, accessed February 21, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Holger Zschäpitz: Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro couples Bolivar to the crypto currency Petro . In: The world . August 20, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed August 21, 2018]).
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Bolivar does not beat Bitcoin , Novaja Gaseta, March 25, 2018 (Russian)
  8. ↑ About petro - Why is this project scam? , icoindex.com, November 18, 2018; " There is a reasonable suspicion that Maduro is trying not only to raise more money through Petro but also push other cryptocurrencies from use."
  9. ↑ Exclusive: Russia Secretly Helped Venezuela Launch a Cryptocurrency to Evade US Sanctions .
  10. ↑ Venezuela starts selling cryptocurrency. n-tv, February 20, 2018, accessed February 20, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Venezuela starts advance sales for the state cryptocurrency Petro. (No longer available online.) The Standard, February 16, 2018, archived from the original on February 16, 2018 ; accessed on February 16, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / derstandard.at
  12. ↑ Venezuela allegedly has millions of its own cryptocurrency. Der Standard, February 21, 2018, accessed February 21, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Costs as much as a barrel of oil: Venezuela launches its own crypto currency. Focus Online, February 20, 2018, accessed February 20, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Here's What Maduro Has Said of Venezuela's Petro Cryptocurrency. Bloomberg, August 20, 2018, accessed November 12, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Venezuela wants to issue more cryptocurrency next week. In: The Standard. APA / Reuters, February 22, 2018, accessed February 22, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Venezuela is serious about the Petro. boerse.ard.de, February 16, 2018, accessed on February 16, 2018 .
  17. ↑ USA prohibits trading in Petro cryptocurrency. heise.de, March 20, 2018, accessed on March 20, 2018 .
  18. ↑ TO declaro nula la emisión del Petro y todas sus Obligaciones. Asamblea Nacional, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Nikolas Kessler: Venezuela: "Petro" crypto currency declared illegal. The shareholder, January 10, 2018, accessed on February 16, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Venezuela Introduces Crypto Money - The Currency Nobody Believes In. In: TAZ of January 14, 2018, online
  21. ↑ ANC de Venezuela aprueba Decree comercial sobre el Petro; in: telesurtv.net from April 4, 2018
  22. ↑ Nothing to eat, but free gasoline , SPON, February 5, 2019; "The government is behind it, I don't trust it."
  23. ↑ Heterodox and Orthodox Economics in Venezuela: A Conversation with Luis Salas (Part I) , venezuelanalysis.com, April 26, 2019
  24. ↑ ETH or NEM? The Confusion Surrounding Venezuela's 'Petro' Token Blockchain , ccn.com, February 22, 2018
  25. ↑ WHITEPAPER BETA. (No longer available online.) February 20, 2018, archived from the original on February 21, 2018 ; accessed on February 22, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.elpetro.gob.ve
  26. ^ The Petro - Seeding tech sovereignty. Retrieved January 28, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Venezuela's Petro Copied Dash, Claims Ethereum Developer , October 4, 2018
  28. ↑ staple oil nation - markets feared sovereign default Venezuela , mirrors, November 3 2,017th
  29. ↑ A Swiss solution to Venezuelan-Russian problems? , NZZ, April 5, 2018