Crypto Rating Sites are Already Calling Venezuela's Petro a Scam

(Bloomberg) -- Two weeks after Venezuela's cryptocurrency scheduled sale date, many aspects of the Petro remain a mystery and initial coin offering rating sites are already calling it a fraud.

Rating website ICOindex.com gave the token a "scam status," saying the project was missing critical information, from the description of the mechanism to its technology and supposed oil-backing. “We can discourage people from wasting money on this project,” the site reads. Another rating site, ICObench, rated the Petro 1.6 points out of 5. Other ICO raters, including Cryptorated and ICOreview, haven't even bothered to review the project, Criptonoticias reported.

Last month President Nicolas Maduro announced the sovereign cryptocurrency would be available for public sale on March 23, just days after President Donald Trump banned American citizens from buying the oil-backed currency. The sale followed a month-long private sale, which Maduro said received offers of as much as $5 billion from countries including China, Russia and Mexico.

Yet, there's little public evidence to support the latter. Between website malfunctions and poor directions, those actually interested in investing in the world's first sovereign crypto are left scratching their heads as to how they can get their hands on Petros to begin with.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Cyntia Barrera Diaz

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