Although the Secretary General of the Observatory assured that the national projects that are being carried out in terms of cryptocurrencies can not yet be revealed, he revealed that one of these is the construction of digital mining machines by the local company Vit
In a day of debates called by the Ministry of the Popular Power for Culture on Wednesday, February 7, the Secretary General of the Blockchain Observatory, Daniel Peña, declared that the Petro, the cryptocurrency issued by the Venezuelan government, will be positioned among the ten major digital currencies during this 2018.
The declaration was made during an event that took place in the facilities of the Central Library of Venezuela and that included the participation of the Minister of Culture Ernesto Villegas and several experts in the field of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology.
The day of debate, which took the title: "Cryptocurrency and cultural economy", was made up of the speakers: Pascualina Cursio Cursio, economist, Daniel Peña, Secretary General of the Blockchain Observatory, and José Rodríguez, economist.
In his speech, Peña said that for Petro to position itself as an efficient currency, it is necessary to work for a change in the economic paradigm, which should not be focused on the exchange of foreign currency. "It is necessary to get the chip to change money to foreign currency, convert our money into dollars (...) The Petro will have strength for its usability and not its change," he said.
In this regard, the professor and economist Pascualina Cursio Cursio, warned that the change from "bolivars to petros, and then to dollars, could generate a risk in exchange control", since it could feed a parallel market.
During an intervention aimed at a non-specialized audience in cryptocurrencies, Cursio Cursio made a brief geopolitical analysis of the development of the national economy, from which he presented general considerations about the Petro and where he warned that, regarding the design of the cryptocurrency , care must be taken that it does not lend itself as a "mechanism for the flight of foreign currency".
In addition, the Secretary of the Observatory highlighted that different national projects are currently being carried out in the field of cryptoactives. Although he explained that several of these can not be disclosed yet, he commented that one of the most important was the proposal, carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of Science and Technology, of the production of mining machines by the national company Vit .
During his presentation, Peña also attacked the arguments that denounce the illegality of Petro's support, which is supported by the country's oil reserves. The Blockchain expert explained that a Petro was not equivalent to a barrel of oil, but that only the value of the crude oil was used as a referential point to guide the price of the cryptoactive: "It is only a referential value (...). It's not that you go to PDVSA with a petro and ask to be exchanged for a barrel of oil. "
The Secretary concluded his presentation by reminding that the new economic system that is being developed in the country will only have value for its use cases and for its adoption by the population.
On this subject, the economist Cursio during his presentation, commented on the idea that the Petro could represent a solution for Venezuelans in the face of "loss of confidence in the bolivar" and "manipulation of the exchange rate".
Concerns
At the end of the interventions of the speakers invited to the debate, the cycle of questions opened to the general public began. Among those attending the forum, actors from different sectors of the country's population participated, including artists, students, accountants, public sector workers and other members of the community.
Among the main doubts and concerns that were raised, those related to the sustainability of a cryptographic system in the country stood out, denouncing the weakness of the national technological platforms and the lack of optimal technology equipment. As well as concern was expressed about the weakness of the national electricity system, which would affect the mining projects that have already been manifested by the Venezuelan government.
In this same line, one of the interventions of the attendees expressed concern when he said that "not all Venezuelans have a computer at home, just as we do not all have access to the Internet, this must be taken into account."
On the other hand, the interventions of the public denoted general misinformation regarding the issue of cryptocurrencies, digital mining and Blockchain technology. Some assistants requested in their interventions the dissemination of information brochures, or "an a-b-c", to help understand this new technology, towards which, he said, may be turning our economy.
Faced with this concern, Minister Villegas intervened to clarify that a "democratization of information" project is part of the discussions that the Ministry of Culture is holding together with other institutions. In this way, he commented on the possibility of issuing an information brochure on cryptocurrencies, as well as the possible publication of catalogs and bibliography of the subject on the Ministry's page, whose objective would be to allow the Venezuelan population to be informed about the subject.