What is Petro Coin – How & Where to BUY

Petro Coin (PTR) also known as EL PETRO will be the first government backed Cryptocurrency based on ERC20 Ethereum Token. Venezuela initiative to back a cryptocurrency and set 1 token at the price of 1 barrel of oil  (which is currently at $60) is simply genius. Lets dig deep and see if this coin has an potential and where one buy it what this coin proposes .Presale of Petro Coin has been announced officially by the Vice President Vzla

El Petro sale a la preventa https://t.co/zmDGsWrpsM

— Vicepresidencia Vzla (@ViceVenezuela) February 20, 2018

What is Petro Coin

A Venezuelan cryptocurrency called Petro Coin which is being officially introduced by the government making it first of its kind, as per the official statement

The PETRO (PTR) will be backed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the wealth of its large crude oil reserves. More importantly, the Petro has been created in an innovative manner, using the highest standards in block chain technology and information security, thinking of a future where electronic asset-representations will enable more direct trade as well as government work within the framework of true financial and economic independence.

Petro Coin has its Whitepaper available for users reading, which also addresses an important question “Why Petro Coin” and how will it help the country

Petro (PTR) has its origin in the idea of president Hugo Chavez of a strong currency backed by raw
materials. Its background dates back to proposals for global financial and monetary coordination prior to the hegemony of the US dollar, which resurfaced after the financial crisis of the late 1990s

Due to the imposition of the US dollar as the international backing currency and the subsequent replacement of the gold standard with the fiduciary model, the world economy has suffered from uncertainty and instability caused by the foundation in a currency without a gold backing, which has been particularly harmful to emerging economies

Social Media is filled with write-ups where they are opposing this coin but technically speaking I do not see any drawback, as their country is a struggling economy and the nation is trying to get out of petro-dollar monopoly with their own held reservoirs of Crude Oil, Petro Coin has a huge potential and will be a coin which might actually “do something” in terms of practicality.

How to Buy Petro Coin

To buy Petro Coin you will need to participate in the Pre-Sale which is currently going live. The website is unsecured and its in Spanish so you will need to use some translator.

• Step 1 : Open Petro Coin Pre Sale Website (Update Oct 2018: Closed for outside of Venezuela)
• Step 2 : Select “Persona Juridica” if you are applying as a company or “Persona Natural” if you are an individual.

  

• Step 3 : Enter your Full Name, Passport Number after selecting “Passport” from the ID drop down menu and Email Address. Select google captcha and you will be registered and told to check your inbox
• Step 4 : Click on the link given in the email
  Update – 24 February 2018 : Registration links and emails have started working so lets go ahead with the tutorial.
• Step 5 : Website will open with “Offer” as its title and it will list Badge and Cryptocurrency as Type of Currency, select cryptocurrency
  
• Step 6 : After selecting Cryptocurrency as your type you will be given BTC and ETH under Coin menu, select which ever you want to proceed with
• Step 7 :  In Minimum and Maximum amount enter your bidding of how much you plan to buy, select “I declare that the origin of the funds is lawful” (ironic) and select captcha to proceed
  
• Step 8 : You will get an email with subject “Data update :: Petro” from “[email protected]” with a link which will take you to Documentation Screen. You will need to provide your Cell Number , Passport & Identification Card images and press “Accept” (Wait for the server to respond after clicking as it takes time)

  

• Step 9 :  A page will load which will show all your information including your email,passport,cnic with a declaration “I declare that all the documentation provided is completely reliable” , select “SI“[yes] and click “Accept”

  

• Step 10 : You will get another email telling you about successful registration and a code through which you can check the status of your application
  

  Dear user, we inform you that on 21-03-2018 you have successfully registered in Petros pre-sale system.
  To verify the status of your application enter the portal www.elpetro.gob.ve placing the following verification code: XXX XXX

• Step 11 : Wait for Approval of your application from Consultation Request Status , by entering the verification code you received in above email

  

• Step 12 : A success confirmation prompt will come on the screen and that’s it, you will now again need to wait for another email where they setup a wallet and account , will update as I receive the same.

How to Invest in Petro Coin ?

Currently Petro Coin is not available on any Crypto exchange so you can not buy it from any exchange and many users are telling that their official ICO websites are no more accessible to people outside of Venezuela , latest reports are that we might see El-Petro Coin on exchanges by end of November 2018. Buying will be possible when Petro Coin reach crypto exchanges. Its a wait and watch game for now.

Petro Coin Roadmap

As per the roadmap given on the website, private sale was suppose to begin in March while the ICO was planned in start April although the presale is already live on their website. Reasons are unknown about the early start, maybe they developed things earlier ? which is unlikely.

Technical details about Petro Coin and ICO

• 100,000,000 Coins Total.
• 44% Public ICO at international Oil Barrel Price, 1 Barrel = 1 Coin.
• 38.4% Private ICO at Fixed $60 per Coin.
• Discount for Masternodes. (Details not available)
• 17.6% Reserve for the Government.

Profits of the ICO will be distributed in:

• 15% Research & Development
• 15% Smart Contracts Development
• 15% To Road Map.
• 55% to Government Funds.

Private ICO: 20 Feb 2018,
Public ICO: 20 March 2018

Official Sources of Petro Coin

Scammers never miss out an opportunity and are already scamming people with fake twitter accounts and posing as Petro Coin.

@PetroOfficial on twitter is one example of an ongoing scam and using 0xdc867fcbba6442888d6cf8eedc0f569bb58a664f Ether wallet address , stay alert.

I will be listing official sources of Petro Coin and as will add them as they are shared

Official Website : http://www.elpetro.gob.ve/
PreSale Website: http://regpetro.mppeuct.gob.ve/ (NOT ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE OF VENEZUELA ANYMORE)
Twitter : @blockchain_ve
Telegram : NONE

Is Petro Coin a SCAM

My favourite question, Is Petro coin a scam or legit. Before I answer this I would like to know how many times have we participated in coins which we have no idea about, no knowledge about actual team behind a coin and no activity on their code and a missing whitepaper. I have covered so many of such Cryptocurrency.

Petro Coin has shared a Whitepaper, a working idea and roadmap and how ever the country might be this coin is supported by a “Country”. I can not speak about the human element no one knows the government runs away with the money but if they had to do this they wouldn’t have gone to such lengths by creating a Blockchain Observatory.

Venenzula is trying to solve their issues by the help of blockchain and I hope they use it in the best of manner.

Yesterday (1st October 2018) Petro Coin made some interesting changes, their whitepaper now just has 1 page which has an image of petrocoin , their Windows Wallet is an empty zip file and the yes you guessed it right : their User Manual is also blank.. They did port to a new domain so maybe they are porting and in their country it might be slow. Who knows right  ?

http://www.elpetro.gob.ve/descargas/Petro_whitepaper_eng.pdf – well, just the cover page, a new wallet (http://www.elpetro.gob.ve/descargas/Wallet_petro_Windows_eng.zip – an empty zip file) and a new user guide (http://www.elpetro.gob.ve/descargas/Manual_usuario_win_eng.pdf – or just the cover page).

Is Petro Coin Controlled by the Government

No, Petro Coin is backed by the government of Venezuela but not “Controlled” by the government. Controlled coin is like Ripple which even when in your wallet can be rendered useless. Petro Coin Whitepaper also states the same that the coin is “Non-Control”

Security Issues

The Official Website of Petro Coin is not using any sort of encryption so if you must participate in the ICO please ensure you are not using any public internet connection as things can get very risky.
Note : After posting the article they have added HTTPS to their ICO Presale page

Their Website error message also discloses their home directory, which is not a good practice. Source code directory is located at

/var/www/registro_petro/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/

while their production site directory is

var/www/registro_petro/public/

Buy Petro Coin Using USD

Uptil now Petro Coin has not been listed on any exchange nor there is a dedicated exchange for Petro where you can deposit dollar or other fiat currency to get Petro in return, This place will be updated as and when it is made available.

What is your opinion about this coin ? will you invest in this coin ? Let us know your thoughts

Post Updated on 2nd May 2019