The Venezuelan government published several guides on Tuesday in support of the presale of its "Petro" cryptocurrency.
By announcing the oil-backed record as a legal currency that can be used to pay taxes, fees and other public needs, the Venezuelan government described its plans and expectations for Petro in a new website created for the cryptocurrency, which launched on Tuesday, February 20, with the beginning of the token presale.
The website is hosted by the Ministry of Popular Power for University Education Science, Technology (MPPEUCT) of the country.
The price of Petro will depend on the price of a barrel of Venezuelan oil the previous day, according to the government website.
The presale, which was announced last month, was launched on Tuesday morning, as previously reported by CryptoTendence. Although more than 100 million petros are expected in the end, initially, only 82.4 million will be disbursed.
It is the first digital currency issued by a federal government, however, the initiative itself has attracted criticism, even from legislators inside and outside the country.
The buyer's manual explains how users can set up digital wallets and buy the token, as well as a warning about wallet security.
For full details on how the token works, the government published the complete white paper (a remarkable release given that the government, just over a month ago, was ruining the launch of what it said were false details).
Although the third embedded document is entitled "Guidelines for the internal control manual for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing", the complete file is only a table of contents and does not include the guidelines that the Venezuelan government plans to follow.
NEM or ETH?
The release of the document also offers a new vision of a key detail: what chain of blocks Petro's token will use as a means of payment. In fact, the white paper confirms that, initially, Petro will exist as a token on top of Ethereum, based on the ERC20 token standard.
"The pre-sale will begin on February 20, 2018 and will consist of the creation and sale of an ERC20 chip in the blockchain of the ethereum platform. This process will promote and guarantee the demand for Petro's initial offer, which will be made later, "said the relevant officials at that time.
But remarkably, the buyer's manual states that "the PTR token will work in the NEM block chain" during its presale, referring to the blockchain network launched in 2015 that was hacked and later stolen more than 500 million dollars in its cryptocurrency from the Coincheck exchange platform in late January.
According to the buyer's guide, "the purses and the programming elements are related to this technological platform".
It is not entirely clear why there is a discrepancy between the two documents. It is possible that the Petro is built on top of the NEM network, only to be exchanged later by those based on ERC20 once the sale is in full development.
Alternatively, Venezuela could be using some type of NEM derived code to have a totally new accounting book. A representative of the NEM Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Looking to the future
With the sale launched, the observers will have to wait and see what kind of attention attracts.
According to a roadmap published on Petro's website, Venezuela plans to launch an exchange for the chip next month, when a private sale of the token will also begin. The government also aims to complete the necessary adjustments for its network by the end of March, with full use of the currency expected to begin in April.
However, the controversial criptomoenda, as mentioned above, has attracted its share of opponents, including members of Congress controlled by the opposition in Venezuela. In previous comments to the media, a legislator called it "illegal" and accused him of being a vehicle for corruption.
In the United States, some senior lawmakers have expressed concern about Petro's use to avoid the economic sanctions that have been imposed on the country. Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez asked the US Department of the Treasury. UU in January to control and restrict the token.
