UK regulatory authorities have started looking into the impact of digital assets on the country’s economy, with the view to regulating the crypto ecosystem in a way that will be advantageous to all stakeholders.

Regulation that Supports Innovation

According to Investment Week, the investigation will study the effect of virtual currencies and blockchain technology on financial institutions as well as other areas of the economy.

The inquiry will also carefully formulate guidelines that will protect businesses and consumers without “Stifling innovation.”

The exercise will also cross-examine the regulatory stance of the government and key authorities like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England.

Nicky Morgan MP, chair of Treasury Committee said, “People are becoming increasingly aware of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but they may not be aware they are currently unregulated in the UK, and there is no protection for individual investors.”

She also noted that:

“Striking the right balance between regulating digital currencies to provide adequate protection for consumers and businesses, whilst not stifling innovation, is crucial. As part of the inquiry, we will explore how this can be achieved.”

Cryptocurrency is a Double-Edged Sword

MP Alison McGovern, a member of the Treasury committee, opined that the government needs more enlightenment on crypto because as bitcoin and other digital assets offer great gains to investors, there is also a substantial level of risk involved.

In her words:

“This inquiry comes at the right time, as regulators and governments wrestle with recent events in cryptocurrency markets. New technology offers the economy potential gains, but as recently demonstrated, it may also bring substantial risks. It’s time that Whitehall and Westminster understood cryptocurrency better and thought more clearly about the policy environment for blockchain technology.”

Regulation is Inevitable

While the chairperson of the Treasury committee and some members are on the same page concerning the fair regulation of the blockchain ecosystem, some other officials see cryptocurrency as a distraction that needs to be taken care of as fast as possible.

Regulation Counsel at law firm Ashurst Lorraine Johnston reiterated that the inquiry, “Signals yet another step towards the what-seems-like inevitable regulation of digital currencies,” adding that, “Yet again the conflicting interests of supporting innovation versus consumer protection are being put under scrutiny, this time by the Treasury. But surely this is a crypto-conundrum that no country has yet solved adequately? I wouldn’t, however, bet against some form of quasi-regulation of digital currencies coming out of this.”

Meanwhile, the CEO of BrokerNotes, a trading comparison site, Marcus Taylor, is of the opinion that the virtual currency market is a distraction:

“The cryptocurrency market is, quite frankly, a distraction. Until we move beyond viewing cryptocurrencies purely as a tradable asset, to understanding the different applications of the underlying technology and the potential to make cryptocurrencies a viable alternative to fiat currency, it’s going to be difficult to make any meaningful progress.”

He also stated, “The UK has a great opportunity to embrace blockchain technology and lead the way in building innovations that can help the UK economy. The is inevitable with or without government intervention. However, with the right level of regulation, funding and support the government can certainly make things happen faster.”

A fair regulation of the crypto market is a step in the right direction as trying to stifle the growth of the virtual currency ecosystem might be met with stiff resistance from the masses, just as it happened in South Korea, where the Justice Minister was petitioned for initiating a ban on virtual currencies.

Bitcoin and altcoins are slowly but steadily becoming a part of life especially for the younger generations and blockchain technology only make the crypto revolution a more achievable feat.

The post U.K Government Set to Create Favorable Regulations for Cryptocurrency appeared first on CryptoVila.

No aspect of a cryptocurrency project is more representative of its worth than its whitepaper. It acts both as a symbolic milestone and carefully designed laying out of objectives. Those familiar with the market and blockchain projects should have an educating experience when reading whitepapers. However, whitepapers remain largely unapproachable, due to their esoteric nature and a broad inability to express technical concepts in terms accessible to the average reader.

The whitepaper is undoubtedly one of the most critical aspects of a blockchain project as it comprehensively sums up the goals, techniques, processes and resources necessary to run it successfully. Despite the important role it plays, in the vast sea of cryptocurrencies that are now flooding the market, there is a disconcerting number of projects that do not effectively communicate their raison d’etre in their whitepapers.

Oftentimes, such basic errors as spelling, grammar and contradictory information will be present – a sure sign that something is not quite right with the project. The task of constructing a whitepaper is a difficult one – it must cover the technical aspects of a project in detail while also remaining relatively comprehensible to the general public. This is especially true for cryptocurrencies, where many of the readers are not trained to deconstruct academic writing, and are only fresh enthusiasts seeking to gain knowledge about a particular technology.

Balancing these needs is one of the major challenges for those tasked with writing a whitepaper. To help both writers and readers of whitepapers, we examine the characteristics of a solid whitepaper and identify the necessary pillar elements that simultaneously educate and enlighten potential investors on the key information of a cryptocurrency project.

What is A Whitepaper?

Broadly speaking, whitepapers are detailed guides to a project, product or service that places an emphasis on technical and industry-specific details. It is not intended for the lay audience, but for one more familiar with the particular industry. It is a report that presents an unresolved challenge with solutions to overcome it.

In cryptocurrency, a whitepaper is a comprehensive report, often highly technical in nature, that a project usually releases in the lead-up to their ICO, though it may be released at any point. While the details may vary from project to project, it is ordinarily composed of technical, commercial, financial and employee information, presenting the reader with a complete overview of what the project sets out to accomplish, and how and why they plan to do it.

In the blockchain world, whitepapers can be found at various points on the readability spectrum. Some may be far too academic in nature, limiting itself to all but the most educated of readers, while others may omit critical technical information and instead read more like a marketing brochure. Ostensibly, this is for the convenience of the less technically-oriented audience, and to possibly attract a larger readership.

Ideally, whitepapers should be given much thought as they act as an everlasting repository of information for all of the essential details of a cryptocurrency project. As far as investment consideration is concerned, there is nothing more significant than the whitepaper and the wise investor knows that no decisions should be made without a thorough analysis of it.

You will notice how highly projects value their whitepapers by the heavy efforts put in to publicize them. Whitepaper links are proudly displayed in noticeable spots on the website, Twitter is used to announce that the whitepaper is released and excited discussions on Reddit is encouraged.

Why Investors Scrutinize Cryptocurrency Whitepapers

What specific role does a whitepaper play from an investor’s point of view? This will give a better perspective on the ideal whitepaper, as investors form the bulk of the intended audience.

A whitepaper forms the deepest impression, indicating a team’s willingness to sincerely communicate its very reason for existence. A good whitepaper will reveal how well-prepared a team is and the conviction placed in the project. A whitepaper is a document that a team must stand by as it undergoes vigilant examination from its backers and potential investors.

Ambiguous wording and misleading information will not survive public examination from the devoted cryptocurrency community. Several ICOs have already fleeced naive new investors, and there has been growing discontent from both inside and outside the community with regards to the exploitable loopholes of ICO launches. Whitepapers serve as a bulwark against this unethical behaviour.

Veteran cryptocurrency participants know that one can sense the smell of anything fishy from a whitepaper. It is easy to discern the logical, commercial and financial sensibility of a project from its whitepaper. Questions relating to the financial demands of an ICO, robustness of technological architecture and the sheer common sense practicality of a project are all made clear in the documentation.

These latter points prophesize the potential success, or lack thereof, of a project; they are criteria that must be soundly addressed if a project is to be taken seriously.

For these reasons, the experienced investor scrutinizes whitepapers with a magnifying glass. Granted, it is not easy for a beginner to sift through the technical jargon that fills the documentation. However, the technical language of cryptocurrency is something that a crypto enthusiast will learn over time. And one begins to sense, roughly, the adequate technical capability of a project and team by second nature in due time.

Thus, whitepapers are persuasions that a team must convincingly construct to mark off the criteria of logical existence, commercial viability and technical robustness. These criteria must be met, at the very least, to earn investor trust – and much more, if it seeks long-term survival in the long marathon that is the cryptocurrency race.

Of course, this is far from simple, because, as we said, a whitepaper must juggle authoritative information on the project while also remaining accessible to the less knowledgeable minds of public investors. It serves both as an introduction and as an encyclopaedia.

How do we do that? Let us examine what is necessary for a good whitepaper and how to write it.

The Format of a Cryptocurrency Whitepaper

A whitepaper is a formal document that follows a strict format. The general outline is typically as follows:

• a problem being presented
• solutions to the problem
• the technology
• platform and processes that execute the solution
• the applications (use cases) of the solution,
• the team
• resources

Verifiable statistical information is greatly valued and adds authority to a whitepaper. It is not uncommon to see complex mathematical and scientific calculations in whitepapers. These are likely to only be understood by a select few.

However, it is a sign of further commitment by the team to stand by their project, as the calculations are not easily faked proofs. You cannot expect to fool discerning readers with false calculations.A

A whitepaper should generally be formatted as a PDF. This is because PDF files can be distributed, yet are difficult to edit. It compels the author(s) to expend energy and pay attention to its construction, for if a mistake is made, it suffers a blow to its reputation. The work is likely to have been disseminated and the PDF format does not lend itself to easy corrections.

The length of a whitepaper is dependent on the information there is to offer. It is not necessary to have a lengthy whitepaper in excess of 30 pages – more words does not mean better information. Quality of information is paramount and often it can be condensed to a reasonable length. It is easy to spot fluff and redundancy.

To reach the broadest audience possible, it would be helpful to provide the whitepaper in multiple languages. This can be a time-consuming process, but if a little extra is spent on professional translations, the whitepaper would receive much appreciation from the community, particularly from those who do not speak English fluently.

Common languages are Mandarin, Korean, French, German, Spanish and Russian. This is also another indication that the project is making a strong effort to be heard. It is essential to be as accessible as possible in every aspect of the whitepaper, without having to compromise on the technical details.

As for the tone of writing, it should not veer too much in either direction. It is true that technical jargon and academic phrasing suit the nature of whitepapers better, but there should exist some consideration for more plain exposition.

Academic explanations by their very nature suit technical architecture and solutions better, but the essence of it should also be summarized and communicated in comprehensible analogies or newbie-friendly wording at some point in the paper. It would be remiss to limit the understanding of a critical part of the project to a select few readers.

It goes without saying that a whitepaper must not be plagiarized. It is lazy, dishonest, and a disservice to the readers. Even if it’s to recap some popular facet of whitepapers, such as blockchain basics or history, it does not do well to plagiarize.

One would assume that the team has the expertise and writing competence to explain what a blockchain is, given that they have experience and knowledge in the space. The crypto community is not easily fooled, and sheer laziness and incompetence will be picked up on quickly.

Key Elements of a Cryptocurrency Whitepaper

A more detailed outline of the format of a whitepaper is listed below. These are the elements that make up a whitepaper. A cursory scan of a few whitepapers will showcase variance from one to the other. The form and style will largely depend on the nature of the talking points but, for the most part, the following elements are common to all whitepapers.

Abstract

In a research paper, an abstract sums up the purpose of the project, problems and solutions in the field, and the techniques employed to achieve that solution.

Abstracts are not present in every whitepaper. It is a more formal inclusion, present in academic papers, and is often missing from cryptocurrency whitepapers. A notable exception is the Bitcoin whitepaper, written by Satoshi Nakamoto, which included an abstract that succinctly addressed the problem of centralized systems, solutions to the double-spending problem, a brief description of the method and how it works.

While it is not absolutely essential, an abstract offers readers a quick overview of the bare basics of a project’s problem and solutions. If it piques their interest, they may choose to continue reading the entire whitepaper. These opening statements save a lot of valuable time and lend credibility to your project.

Introduction

It is helpful to brief the reader on the particular industry that the project is operating in. While some may know the technology supporting the project, perhaps being tech-insiders themselves, far fewer are likely to know about the dynamics of the industry. This includes its current standard of operations, the challenges it faces, revenue models, global market share and so on.

The introduction can inform readers of the status quo of the industry and the obstacles for growth. The case for blockchain technology is made here, and should include how it would eliminate the hurdles and help the industry flourish. Specificity and factually correct information are necessary. Naturally, there must be evidence to back up any claims.

Listing the specific factors that hinder the growth of the industry and explaining them in a manner that is accessible gives potential investors a sense – of the common sense kind – of the use of the project. A solution to the problem in brief, without going into the technicalities, can also be included.

The introduction doesn’t call for an academic tone. Rather, it is used to gently inform readers of the outline of the problem and possible solutions, and table detailed technically-worded expositions for a later section. This will help the reader gain a general idea of what the scenario is like and will make the technical aspects more approachable.

Ripple’s whitepaper on its consensus protocol is an excellent example of an introduction balancing information and accessibility. On the whole, Ripple’s paper is short and sweet.

Definitions

To further aid understanding, it is recommended to define a list of significant and commonly occurring terms in the whitepaper. These will be the technical terms and/or those unique to the project in question. This will act as a sort of appendix for the reader, who can return to it for clarification when reading the technical sections of the whitepaper.

For example, the definitions of the specific components involved in the platform’s processes would be listed here. ICON’s (ICX) definition of the NEXUS and C-Rep are well-written definitions that clearly define their roles and functions while also being quite readable.

For an instructive lesson on how to tackle this deftly, consider how Zcash has defined terms both formally and informally in their whitepaper. It gets quite heavy on the mathematics, but they have also included simpler definitions for the lay reader.

Consensus Algorithm

As an essential part of a blockchain network, the consensus algorithm requires detailing in the whitepaper. This section is typically written in a technical manner, with mathematical proof accompanying it. If a consensus algorithm is unique in any way, it can be compared to other algorithms, allowing its salience to be highlighted. The advantages can be emphasized.

This section should also describe the actual working mechanism of the algorithm – how the agreement is reached. Other concerns include how the system protects itself from externals attacks, such as a 51% attack. If the project is fortified against these in some way, then it is relevant to communicate them.

Solutions

This is where the real technical speak begins. Every blockchain project has different elements which make up its overall solution to the problem at hand. This section, put under the umbrella term “Solutions” will need subsections which deal with each individual component of the solution.

IOTA academically runs through their solutions in their whitepaper. Dense with technical terms, even an expert in the field will need much re-reading to make sense of it.

OmiseGo’s whitepaper (OMG), on the other hand, juggles clarity and technical exposition. Pay particular attention to how they have used a step-by-step example in the section “Bitcoin Clearinghouse” to explain the transaction process. It is preceded by what a clearinghouse is and why it exists, along with its role in the project’s platform.

This section is an examination of the research and technical proofs. A solid project, like IOTA, confidently explains all of its mechanisms with scientific and mathematical arguments – something which cannot be faked.

There is no dressing up of concepts here – just an explanation of the facts. If there is room for a simplified and reasonably diluted translation, it is worthwhile to communicate.

Technical Architecture and Platform Operation

After having offered the solutions to the problem, it is time to present how they will be applied in an actual system. The core components of the network protocol and each of their functions are to be discussed, with the motivations for their existence. Not every project goes into detail about the exact architecture of their network, but all of repute do so.

The previous two sections conclude the bulk of the technical material of the whitepaper. This can now be followed with an explanation of how the platform works between the various stakeholders in the ecosystem.

It would be good to list the stakeholders and components of the ecosystem. Diagrams can help make it easy to understand the flow of the system. How are the tokens involved in facilitating interactions between the various stakeholders?

IOTA is again a good example of technical architecture well explained.

Token Information

To ensure complete transparency, projects often list their funding sources and allocation in their whitepapers. Investors get to see where their money will be spent and the details of the token system.

This portion of the whitepaper offers purely financial information about the project. List the details of any financial backing that has been received and go into the numerical figures of the token. Take a look at TenX’s whitepaper, which explains in detail its token sale and funding allocation details.

Roadmap

Having described the project and its technical aspects, it is now time to explain to potential investors the path forward that has been mapped out by the team.

What are the technical and business milestones of the project? How and when are iterative changes to the blockchain being planned? When will the platform go fully public? These are just some of the points to be addressed in the roadmap section.

Golem Network Token offers a nice roadmap section that deserves emulation.

Use Cases/Commercial Application

This is one of the most significant aspects of a whitepaper, and not just because it covers how the project will manifest itself in the real world. It is significant because it is one of the few sections that will be instantly accessible to every reader, and the most attractive as well.

It is imperative to describe how the project will find its way into commercial use. After all, a project may be backed by foolproof technical and mathematical features, but the benefit of that is lost if it is not expressed in a relatable manner, with clear tangible applications. What revenue generating capability does it have? What results, in statistics, does the introduction of the technology bring?

Potential business partnerships that would accelerate adoption and help spread the use of the platform can also be stated, as they are also two very crucial aspects of a project’s potential. Essentially, this is the section that persuades investors from a business point of view.

Team

The community is happy to hear about the individuals behind a project. It helps an investor learn about the experience and expertise of the individuals running the project. This extends to project advisors. Having a group of renowned advisors can raise the credibility of a project in the eyes of investors.

References

This is self-explanatory. The reference section credits the various resources that have been used and is the citation for the statements made over the course of the whitepaper.

Source Code is Like a Second Whitepaper

Many educated members of the community, and certainly the developers among them, know that what makes or breaks a blockchain project is the underlying technology which is built on programming.

Reading the source code is an irreplaceable method of learning about a project. In a sense, a whitepaper exists to translate what is present in computer languages into human language. That said, it’s important to know that there is a lot that can be lost in translation.

In blockchain (and many other industries, given that the world is becoming increasingly digital), knowing programming is an indispensable skill. It offers greater clarity into a project and it helps one spot the inconsistencies between a project’s supposed characteristics and its actual technical buildup.

For anyone writing a whitepaper, remember that the source code of the project functions as a second whitepaper. The source code should reflect the transparency that is claimed and executed in the whitepaper. GitHub can serve as a public profile and it will receive criticism, both constructive and destructive, from those knowledgeable about code.

The point is that the clarity, transparency and approachability people expect in a whitepaper is not limited to just the whitepaper. These are core principles and the team that should reflect these values in all the work they do in the project.

A dishonest project will be caught out on this but a sincere one will exhibit this. Not because they are making a conscious effort to possess these qualities, but because they embody these qualities naturally and it shows in their work. In other words, it is something that cannot be faked.

Why Cryptocurrency Whitepapers Matter

At this point, it should be clear that a whitepaper is an indispensable element of a cryptocurrency project. It is a written commitment, on the permanent and global publication platform of the internet, to the disruptive and future-shaping effects that a project aims to accomplish. It is the act of putting money where one’s mouth is.

From a practical point of view, a whitepaper is meant to attract investors. If a project and whitepaper is solid, it is assured that investors, particulary well-informed ones, will spread the word about high potential projects.

Finally, a whitepaper also acts an effective method of marketing a project. For one thing, the cryptocurrency community demands the existence of a whitepaper to even consider the viability of a project. Given the explosion of the market in the past year, whitepapers have become both a mark of authenticity and a form of validation for new projects.

Whitepapers are also enthusiastically distributed over internet forums and social media, giving a project a scale of outreach otherwise unavailable without one. This is another significant reason to publish a whitepaper when launching a new cryptocurrency project.

Conclusion

Whitepapers may seem like a daunting challenge, but they are very much necessary and basically mandatory in today’s crowded crypto space.

However, a genuine team should have no problem assembling the information they need to construct a whitepaper. With feedback and deliberation, that fine balance between accessibility and technical exposition can be found. To examine different cryptocurrency whitepapers, visit whitepaperdatabase.com, which is an extremely thorough resource.

Fortunately, the development of a blockchain project is quite open and inclusive – it is possible for one to become a blockchain developer and even create a own blockchain in half an hour. While that may be something of a double-edged sword because it raises the probability of low quality and shady projects, it also empowers the individual – any individual – to start a dream project that may just benefit society greatly. In such a case, writing a whitepaper would ease the process of establishing a foothold in the blockchain industry while also educating the general public about the project.

It can’t be said enough: whitepapers matter.

Are you starting a blockchain project that is in need of a whitepaper? Invest In Blockchain can help! Email us to enquire.

Related: How To Run A Successful ICO (Part 1): Should You Even ICO?

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Officials from the Venezuelan and Russian governments discussed the former’s newly-launched cryptocurrency during a meeting in Moscow this week.

Venezuelan Finance Minister Simon Zerpa Delgado was in Moscow on Wednesday discussing collaboration between the two governments, according to tweets published through his official account. According to one missive, the subject of the petro – which was unveiled in December and sparked global headlines with its launch Tuesday – was brought up during the meetings.

Delgado tweeted (according to a translation):

“In this meeting we have reviewed the economic and financial cooperation between the two countries, with emphasis on the new [cryptocurrency] of Venezuela: the Petro. We deliver the Min. Siluánov updated information about our [cryptocurrency].”

En esta reunión hemos pasado revista a la cooperacion económica y financiera entre ambos países, con énfasis en el nuevo criptoactivo de Venezuela: El Petro. Entregamos al Min. Siluánov información actualizada de nuestra criptomoneda. pic.twitter.com/BYSFZvIdaf

— Simón Zerpa Delgado (@SimonZerpaD) February 21, 2018

“Russia and Venezuela will continue to strengthen their trade balance,” Delgado also wrote. “We will continue advancing in the construction of a multipolar and pluricentric world, free of imperial tensions.”

It’s unclear based on the messages whether Russia’s government will play a role in the development of the petro, which Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has pledged will be used to circumvent international sanctions imposed on the country. That said, a Russian company called Aerotrading has been linked to the project, as previously reported.

Venezuelan citizens have had mixed reactions to the launch, with some hailing the currency as part of a “new economic era,” while others have called it a vehicle for corruption.

Simon Zerpa Delgado and Anton Siluanov image via Twitter

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Electric automotive firm Tesla has reportedly become the latest victim to cryptojacking.

Cybersecurity software company RedLock announced, on Tuesday, that hackers had infiltrated Tesla’s Kubernetes console, which wasn’t password protected. As a result, access credentials were exposed to Tesla’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment, which contained an Amazon S3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service) bucket that had sensitive data such as telemetry.

In addition to the data exposure, hackers were able to gain access to Tesla’s computing power to mine for cryptocurrencies. According to the team, the use of more sophisticated evasive measures were employed in this malware attack. Among other things, the team noted:

“Unlike other crypto mining incidents, the hackers did not use a well known public ‘mining pool’ in this attack. Instead, they installed mining pool software and configured the malicious script to connect to an ‘unlisted’ or semi-public endpoint. This makes it difficult for standard IP/domain based threat intelligence feeds to detect the malicious activity.”

The team reported the incident to Tesla, which was rectified.

RedLock claim that they have found hundreds of Kubernetes administration consoles lacking the necessary password protection measures. Aviva, a British multinational insurance company, and Gemalto, the world’s biggest manufacturer of SIM cards, are a few organisations that didn’t have any passwords in place, according to RedLock. As a result, they determined that hackers had secretly infiltrated these companies’ public cloud environments and were using the computing power to mine cryptocurrencies.

With a rising interest in the cryptocurrency market continuing, so too is the threat from hackers. With an advance in technology criminals are shifting their focus from stealing data to stealing computing power in order to mine digital currencies. The start of the year has already shown how this nefarious activity is targeting victims.

Last week Ethereum World News reported that Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab had discovered that hackers were exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Telegram’s messaging desktop app. According to the team, the hackers were using victims’ computing power to mine for Monero, Zcash, and Fantomcoin.

Whereas, the U.K.’s data protection website, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was reported to have taken down its website after it was infected by malware earlier this month. The malware was added to website codes through Browsealoud, a plugin that aids the blind and partially sighted to access the Internet. The software, Coinhive, then used victims’ computing power to mine Monero. More than 5,000 websites were affected as a result.

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Venezuela has announced that the pre-sale of its oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, has attracted $735 million on the first day. The government has also published a buyer’s manual and confirmed that buyers can use “hard currencies and cryptocurrencies, but not bolivars.”

Also read: Indians Look to Buy Bitcoin Overseas as Regulations Tighten

Petro Pre-Sale Starts

The private pre-sale of Venezuela’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, was scheduled for February 20 at 8:30 am (Venezuela time 04:00 UTC), according to the petro’s whitepaper. However, at midnight local time on February 20, the government announced that the petro pre-sale had started and published a buyer’s manual as well as an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance manual.

Petro’s pre-sale launch event.

A total of 82.4 million petro tokens are offered for the pre-sale phase, the whitepaper details. The country’s vice president, Tareck El Aissami, confirmed from Miraflores Palace on Monday, “The petro cryptocurrency tokens can be purchased by Venezuelan nationals as well as other foreign nationals.”

The Superintendent of Cryptocurrencies, Carlos Vargas, was quoted by Telesur TV:

The presale and initial offer will be made in hard currencies and cryptocurrencies, but not bolivars…Our responsibility is to put (the petro) in the best hands and then a secondary market will appear.

Interested buyers can visit the Etherdelta platform to place private orders to the Ethereum address given by the Superintendent. However, at the time of this writing, no orders have been matched and no prices are displayed on the price chart. This could be due to technical glitches in the buying process such as a Javascript error which prevents users from completing their purchases.

According to the Minister for University Education, Science and Technology, Hugbel Roa, the traffic to the petro website “quintupled with the global announcement of the pre-sale of the Venezuelan cryptocurrency,” shortly after midnight local time.

Hugbel Roa’s traffic chart for the petro’s website.

Despite technical challenges, Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, claimed:

Venezuela had received $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale of the country’s “petro.”

Instructions to Buy the Petro

Maduro announcing petro’s pre-sale.

“The only thing needed for the petro is to open a digital petro wallet,” according to the petro’s website. “Once opened, your wallet will generate an email address that you can share with anyone who wants to transfer PTR to your wallet. You will be able to receive and deposit your PTRs in this email address.”

The buyer’s manual details a step-by-step process of how to register and gain access to a petro wallet, which requires prospective buyers to download a zipped, self-deleting installation file. “The data package for the creation of the digital wallet is configured to self-destruct once the installation is complete,” the instructions warn.

Alongside the steps to register and install the petro wallet, the manual goes over protecting users’ private keys but stopped short of asking users to generate a public key, which would be needed for any kind of cryptocurrency deposit. More curiously, however, was the vague announcement regarding the use of the NEM blockchain:

The Blockchain launched by the Venezuelan State has robust security mechanisms since its programming elements are related to a technological platform called: NEM blockchain.

The cryptocurrency NEM, which uses centralized servers running closed-source code, has recently been in the news frequently following the hack of one of the largest Japanese crypto exchanges, Coincheck, which lost 58 billion yen (~USD$539 million) worth of the cryptocurrency.

Do you (still) want to buy the petro? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Venezuelan government.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Venezuela Says Pre-Sale of Oil-Backed Petro Cryptocurrency Has Raised $735 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News.

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Jung Ki-joon, 52, a South Korean official who led the policy-making for the country’s cryptocurrency market, was found dead at home on Sunday.  Korean news outlets are saying he died from a heart attack, and police have opened an investigation into the cause of death.

At this point, no evidence has been reported of any foul-play.  His colleagues have raised the possibility that stress, following from increased pressure from crypto-related duties could have played a role in the decline of his health.

South Korea began stepping up its gaze of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies late last year and sanctioned a ban in late January on anonymous trading accounts.  This led to panic and dropping prices, as Korea is such an enormous market for crypto. However, officials have walked back comments that they might shut down cryptocurrency exchanges and the situation is now far more amicable.

This was also, coincidentally, the last time he made public comment on blockchain regulations.  On January 15^th he made these comments, “We will respond strongly to cryptocurrency speculation and illegal acts, but we will provide support to research and development relating to blockchain technology.”

Choe Heung-sik, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said yesterday that the government “will support [cryptocurrency trading] if normal transactions are made.”

At a meeting with representatives from cryptocurrency exchanges, Choe also said the government will “encourage” banks to work with cryptocurrency exchanges, it is being reported in Korea by Yonhap News.

While brief, the statements will be seen positively by South Korea’s crypto community, as well as world markets, since the option to outright ban cryptocurrency exchanges had been considered by regulators as one way to calm the country’s heated cryptocurrency market and counter money-laundering.

We will continue to monitor this story and make updates if more information as more information comes to hand.

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