“Looking for the Petro” could become a fantasy film.
The tokens, announced by the Venezuelan Government as the national currency, have not yet entered in circulation, or rather no one has seen them yet.
Reuters, in one of their investigations, denies the presence of both the Petro and the barrels of oil to which the crypto is linked. Even for Latin American crypto and blockchain experts, today the Petro is like a unicorn.
This has also been confirmed by Jorge Farias, a Venezuelan crypto entrepreneur: he is the founder of Cryptobuyer, a company founded in 2015 that creates solutions to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies in South America. They have 40 thousand users to date and agreements with South American payment services such as Mercado Pag. In an interview, he shares his opinion on the Petro and talks about a token they are working on to help his compatriots.
The European media are increasingly concerned about the situation in Venezuela, with prices for basic necessities increasing worryingly…
Yes, what the media are saying is true. In the last month alone, the price of food has risen by 200%.
Do you think the Petro will be adopted by people?
Frankly, we are all waiting for the first Petro. Personally, I have not seen one since the government announced it. My fellow Members have not seen it either. If and when it starts circulating we will see how it performs.
Moreover, experts from NEM confirm that the Petro cannot be found on the blockchain. Even NEM’s founders seem to have turned their backs on the project…
It is known that the use of NEM for Petro has been officially announced, then the same founders of the blockchain have lost interest in the project. The use of a crypto on a blockchain is not an endorsement by its creators. To put it plainly, if Petro was created on Ethereum, it would not mean that Vitalik approves or supports the project.
Petro to combat inflation, do you think it could work?
Hypothetically, yes. Having a currency that is complementary to the current one, which is devalued, is a move that has worked in Brazil with the introduction of the URV, 20 years ago, for example. I repeat: let’s wait for it to circulate in order to understand its real effectiveness.
In a recent interview with Wired, you talked about a crypto that your company is about to launch. How will it work?
In three years Cryptobuyer has created various infrastructures (ATMs, an exchange and applications) in various South American countries. Today, our goal is to integrate our entire ecosystem into smartphones. The token we will launch, called PLATA, will allow every user to send and receive money, to buy gift vouchers on Amazon, pay bills and services, and exchange it for other cryptocurrencies quickly and cheaply, all through their phone. Using PLATA, people will have discounts in participating stores and will benefit from lower commissions than bitcoin and ether.
What is the future of cryptocurrencies in Latin America?
Andreas Antonopoulos (one of the leading crypto experts) at a recent event we hosted on the subject, said that we will be the first continent to adopt this technology for two reasons: the high number of unbanked and the massive use of mobile phones. We will succeed if entrepreneurs and investors focus on simplifying the use: everyone wants to use cryptocurrencies, but few know how to do it and where to spend them.
