Venezuela has announced that the first day of the pre-sale for its oil-backed cryptocurrency, Petro, generated $735 million. According to the project’s whitepaper, the private pre-sale was scheduled to begin on February 20 in the morning local time, but the government declared the sale open at midnight instead and simultaneously published a buyer’s guide and an anti-money laundering compliance manual.
Pre-sale structure and fundraising claim
The whitepaper states that 82.4 million Petro tokens were allocated to the pre-sale phase. Vice President Tareck El Aissami said the token would be available to both Venezuelan citizens and foreign buyers. Carlos Vargas, the country’s superintendent of cryptocurrencies, added that the pre-sale and initial offering would be conducted in hard currencies and cryptocurrencies, excluding bolivars. He said the goal was to place Petro in the “best hands” first, after which a secondary market would emerge.
Government officials also pointed to strong public interest. Minister for University Education, Science and Technology Hugbel Roa said traffic to the Petro website increased by five times after the global announcement of the launch. Even as reports surfaced about technical issues in the purchase process, including a Javascript error that prevented some users from completing transactions, President Nicolas Maduro claimed the offering had already brought in $735 million on its first day.
Wallet setup and blockchain questions
According to the Petro website, buyers first need to open a digital Petro wallet. Once created, the wallet generates an email address that can be used to receive and deposit PTR tokens. The official buyer’s manual provides step-by-step instructions for registration and wallet installation, requiring users to download a zipped installation package that is designed to self-destruct after setup is complete.
The manual also advises users to protect their private keys, but it does not clearly explain the generation of a public key, which is normally essential for crypto deposits. Questions were also raised about the project’s technical foundations. The government said the state-backed blockchain includes robust security mechanisms and that its programming elements are connected to the NEM blockchain. That reference drew attention because NEM had recently been linked to the high-profile Coincheck hack in Japan, where roughly $539 million worth of funds were lost.
Petro’s launch therefore arrived with both a major fundraising claim and notable uncertainty. While Venezuelan authorities highlighted investor demand and the token’s oil backing, the buying process, technical transparency, and system reliability remained central issues for observers assessing the credibility of the project.