Venezuela Says Its Cryptocurrency Raised $735 Million -- But It's a Farce (arstechnica.com) 89
Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed that a new state-sponsored cryptocurrency called the petro raised $735 million on the first day of its sale. ArsTechnica dives deep on the matter to suggest that it's all a farce. From the report: The government hasn't provided any way to independently verify that $735 million figure. And there's reason to doubt almost everything the Venezuelan government has said about the project. Moreover, there's little reason to believe that the petro will maintain its value over time. The Venezuelan government has portrayed petro tokens as backed by Venezuela's vast oil reserves, but they're not. The government is merely promising to accept tax payments in petros at a government-determined exchange rate linked to oil prices. Given the Venezuelan government's history of manipulating exchange rates, experts say investors should be wary of this arrangement. Moreover, the petro scheme has been opposed by opposition legislators in Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature. They say that the Maduro government is essentially issuing oil-backed debt, and legally that can't be done without approval from the legislature. If Maduro falls from power in the future, his successor might refuse to honor petro redemptions.
It's a Farce? (Score:3)
Didn't I say that YESTERDAY when we discussed this new crypto currency?
What a bummer! (Score:4)
I should have read your yesterday comment. I bought 734,999,995$ worth of petros, flew to Venezuela and now I am here to collect my oil :(
What a bummer!
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Pretty much so. Crypto-currencies are built basically on 100% hot air. Well in actual reality they are built on vacuum.
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Good for you.
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The US, where you can send your daughter to UNC Chapel Hill and she gets killed by scum who rode the bus over from Durham.
You see, things are not much different in REAL LIFE, son.
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The US, where you can send your daughter to UNC Chapel Hill and she gets killed by scum who rode the bus over from Durham.
You see, things are not much different in REAL LIFE, son.
Bad things happen everywhere and the USA is no exception. All senseless killing is to be condemned.. However..
In Venezuela, senseless killing is a lot more common these days, as is politically motivated shooting of opposition candidates. Venezuela has never been the paragon of safety, but there isn't a place in the USA which is as dangerous as walking down the street in Caracas these days. These people have NO food, medical care or prospects for finding any. The government is literally controlling EVER
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Yeah, the only difference being that the odds of anything like that occurring to an individual in the US are miniscule in comparison to Venezuela, so when it does happen here, it's all over the media because it's so rare, unlike the 650 people who were murdered in Chicago last year...that's not newsworthy. CLUE: Stay outta shitholes, and you don't have much to concern yourself with.
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Yup, 57 murders per 100,000 people in Venezuela last year. The US rate?...4.88
Stick it troll.
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It is not a new crypto currency, that is a lie, it is an energy backed crypto currency and that is a world apart from empty marketing backed crypto currencies, no comparison. The reason of course it fails, is no business method for an international exchange offering a range of crypto currencies with independent mechanism for monitoring and ensuring the energy backing does in fact exist, can be supplied and will be honoured. No international and national exchange business method and no effective energy backe
And so, it has come to this (Score:5, Funny)
1. Announce new cryptocurrency
2. Get "investors"
3. ???
4. Profit!
5. Flee country
Re:And so, it has come to this (Score:5, Funny)
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Step 3 is "Blockchain, Blockchain, BLOCKCHAIN!!!"
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Lambos and moons! HODL!
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1. Announce new cryptocurrency
2. Get "investors"
3. "WE GOT HACKED!"
4. Flee country
5. Profit!
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You can revise step 5 when you ARE the country.
There's little reason to believe the Venezuelan... (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary says there is reason to doubt what the Venezuelan government has said about the 'petro". Well, of course there is. There is reason to doubt anything said by the Venezuelan government.
Re:There's little reason to believe the Venezuelan (Score:5, Insightful)
There is reason to doubt anything said by ANY government.
Fixed that for you....
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I don't think Her Majesty's Government would do anything that was in any way underhand or less than honourable.
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There is reason to doubt anything said by ANY government.
Fixed that for you....
No there's not. Many governments around the world some level of accountability that makes them trustworthy in a lot of things they say. Now there's no reason to trust any government universally on every topic, but that's a big separation from doubting every(any)thing.
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There is reason to be skeptical of ANY government. But you can't just paint them all with the same broad brush. There's a big difference between that shithole and it's "leadership", and the vast majority of others.
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There is also reason to doubt anything said about cryptocurrencies. That's why I bought in. Two negatives make a positive, right? Right?
Umm, one other thing. Anyone here know how to reverse a PayPal transfer? This, umm, friend, ordered a computer or something off eBay and it never arrived.
Re:There's little reason to believe the Venezuelan (Score:4, Funny)
Sure, I believe them--but there was an error in transcription.
It wasn't actually 735M USD, but 735M Venezuelan.
The dictator tried to buy lunch with it, but had to settle for a small soda . . . :)
hawk
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The idea itself *almost* has merit.
Ween OPEC countries off the US dollar as a trading currency, reinvest the profits in new industries that help diversify oil-state economies when electric vehicles become the norm thus helping fight climate change by reducing the global demand for petrol.
Alas, it's Venezuela, where the cult of Hugo seems to have spiralled out of control in Mugabean proportions.
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Ween OPEC countries off the US dollar as a trading currency [...]
Actually, as an aside, that's one of those things that can easily put you on the US list of "evil" countries.
Iraq accepting euros instead of dollars? They're evil and we must invade!
Iran accepting euros instead of dollars? They're evil and we must have sanctions!
Venezuela accepting euros or yuan (or trade) instead of dollars? They must be stopped!
Meanwhile, if you trade your oil in dollars, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want.
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Nice strawman, when's the movie come out?
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welcome to cryptocurrency HELL (Score:4, Funny)
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And I don't think it had anything to do with Iran. At the time, Bush/Cheney hated Saddam. We had the WTC attack by the Saudi's/Afghans and Cheney morphed it into Saddam's fault. Then there was the whole charade of WMD that Iraq did not have. It was all about getting Saddam. That turned out quite badly and spawned ISIS as a real power.
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Don't forget that Saddam tried to assassinate Bush Sr. Bush Jr. was responding to that.
Re: do you want americans to liberate your country (Score:3)
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Technically the second Iraq war occurred because Saddam violated every provision in the surrender agreement they signed to end the first Iraq war. Factor in numerous countries who used the UN to circumvent the oil for food program and the second Iraq war was on solid legal ground. People fixate on the WMD claims and totally ignore Iraq's blatant violation of the surrender terms laid out to end the first Iraq war. Surrender terms that were signed off on by all the countries that participated in the first war
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That turned out quite badly and spawned ISIS as a real power
ISIS spawned because of the power vacuum left behind thanks to the previous administration, and the stupid Iraq government's refusal to come to an agreement on status of forces.
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Oil was not the sole reason, but a largest contributer. To say otherwise is to turn a blind eye on motivations behind military-industrial complex.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19... [cnn.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/en... [theguardian.com]
http://www.washingtonsblog.com... [washingtonsblog.com]
By your logic since Iraq was next door to Iran for invading Iraq, we should invade Kazakhstan(or any neighboring state) and China to engage future warfare with Russia and North Korea, respectively? Why not invade Iran directly instead of surrounding it? Also, since P
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Saddam was happy to sell us cheap oil as long as he got to stay in power. Going to war destabilized that and lowered the supply, raising prices. Also, we didn't keep any oil once we took over. We put Iraqis back in charge of it right away. So we didn't get free oil or cheap oil out of it. That's obvious to everybody but a self-important Liberal who has been fed propaganda his entire life and thinks he's smarter than everyone else.
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[citation-needed]
Is that the Sunni/Israeli worldview where the world's evils are perpetrated by a minority Shia sect? I myself don't know the facts but am wary of partisan propaganda.
Wouldn't you just invade Iran then? Dubya mumbled something about Saddam's imagined WMD at the time, while Iran was allegedly building actual nukes.
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Iraqi oil was already flowing on the world market [...]
Yes, but they were selling it for euros--not dollars--and that is unacceptable!
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We don't want Venezuelan oil. It's dirty and high in sulfur and not compatible with our refineries.
The only refineries in the world that can handle Venezuelan oil are in Venezuela ... and they're all a bit out of order at the moment. Talk about strangling your golden goose.
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WTF?!?!! Venezuela is a "progressive" hell-hole (Score:2)
What the fuck are you trying to do, distract from the "progressive" Socialist government of Venezuela running the country with the largest oil reserves on Earth into a poverty-stricken hell-hole with massive starvation? [reuters.com]
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty, according to a new university study on the impact of a devastating economic crisis and food shortages.
The annual survey, published on Wednesday by three universities, is one of the most closely-followed assessments of Venezuelans’ well being amid a government information vacuum and shows a steady rise in poverty and hunger in recent years.
Over 60 percent of Venezuelans surveyed said that during the previous three months they had woken up hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food. About a quarter of the population was eating two or less meals a day, the study showed.
Last year, the three universities found that Venezuelans said they had lost an average of 8 kilograms during 2016. This time, the study’s dozen investigators surveyed 6,168 Venezuelans between the ages of 20 and 65 across the country of 30 million people.
...
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela
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The Venezuelans I've met a) would like the US to liberate their country and b) and very pissed off it shows no sign of doing it.
That's of course not a reason for the US to do this. The US needs to do things because they're in its interests, not out of charity to a bunch of non citizens.
analysts (Score:1)
Doesn't matter (Score:1, Offtopic)
Even if they raised $7.35B with a capital B, it would be wasted and transferred out of the country by the corrupt People's Cadre running the country.
In related news, the ANC has announced that they plan to seize white-owned land in South Africa, but they'll be smart this time and won't "hurt the economy." (This puts us on the right into the awkward position of pointing out that Mugabe is corrupt, not stupid. He didn't intentionally set out to burn his agriculture sector to the ground. It's just a byproduct
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He's certainly smart enough to know what country he's president of.
Or rather, was president of.
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Rhodesia, right?
If it's real lets see the results (Score:2)
I say, let them claim they raised any amount they like. 10 billion? Fine by me.
Then of course, the question is what happens with all the money supposedly raised? Will Venezuelans start getting food and toilet paper in stores? Will government workers start getting paid regularly again? Will they have functioning hospitals once more?
No? Well then, what happened to all that money...
The more they claim the more guilty they look later when it's gone.
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This. What happens with the money? Will we actually see Venezuelans not having to eat their pets, or will there be more Rolls Royces for the party in charge?
Opposition Controlled?! (Score:1)
Moreover, the petro scheme has been opposed by opposition legislators in Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature.
Maduro's party is IN CONTROL of the legislature (and the courts). That's like saying Pelosi opposed Obama.
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There are two elected bodies. One that has existed for a long time and is run by maduro opponents after an election blow out a few years ago.. When that happened maduro created a new legistlature and had his supporters elected to it. Both these bodies claim to be the true representatives
I am SHOCKED! (Score:1)
Are you saying a fake currency with no value backed by non-existent resources is a farce?
Next thing, you'll tell me my South Sea shares are worthless and my tulip futures are at best 1 peso a bulb!
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Bitcoin is backed by hopes and dreams and hype.
This is a significant improvement over being backed by Venezuela.
Waking up to the realities of socialism, kiddies? (Score:1)
Are we now waking up to the realities of socialism, kiddies?
Wages in the US are now going up after 8 years of Obama "recovery".
Black unemployment is at an all-time low - a mere year after Obama's "recovery" ended and a real recovery started.
But, hey, you can always tout the Socialist weight-loss program! [reuters.com] Venezuelans have lost an average of 20 lbs each under Chavez and Maduro! Yeah, if you're a kid under 20 lbs, you probably starved to death, but PROGRESS!!!!
reserves are useless... (Score:3)
Distrust (Score:2)
They say blockchain currencies are based on trust, but can you trust anything Maduro says? Venezuela is another proof point as to why Communism and Nepotism are usually found together. Maduro will undoubtedly funnel what's left of the treasury to his family as they exit the country, just as Chavez did.
Translation: (Score:1)
i don't like venezuela because the news tells me its bad and its failures are due to its leader not to the crippling sanctions placed on it for being a sovereign nation independent of most western influence
Obvious (Score:2)
No need for a deep dive here, anyone who knows anything that has been happening in Venezuela for the past decade or so would know this petro thing is just another scam bullshit.
If people are not aware of this, the Maduro proto-dictatorship already "nationalized" (read stolen) a whole bunch of stuff:
Petroleum companies that had a whole ton of American investment:
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/0... [nytimes.com]
https://venezuelanalysis.com/n... [venezuelanalysis.com]
Toys from private business:
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/1... [cnn.com]
General Motors factory