Register with one of our recommended partners now

How to Buy Petro (PTR) in 3 Simple Steps

By Ashish Sood - Updated 04 May 2023
Petro (PTR)
Price
...
24hr ...
7d ...
Market Cap ...
Fact Checked
While all our writers independently research and evaluate every product that we write about, this post may contain references to products from our partners that we may earn commission from. This in no way affects how we evaluate them. Find out more about how we test and how we fund this site.

Launched in February 2018, Petro is a cryptocurrency backed by Venezuela’s mineral, oil and natural gas reserves, and issued by the Venezuelan government. It aims to be for Venezuelan Bolivar what Tether (USDT) aspires to be for the US Dollar. 

It uses a hybrid Proof of Stake and Proof of Work system to secure its network and is enabled by its native coin PTR. We have created this comprehensive guide to acquaint you with how to buy Petro (PTR).

Buy Petro in 3 Easy Steps

1

Create a free account

Fill all the requested information using your personal data accurately. Check your inbox for a confirmation email and log in with your selected email and password.

2

Fund your account

Choose your favourite payment method and follow the steps to make your first deposit. The minimum deposit amount might change depending on your location.

3

Buy Petro!

Search for Petro on the list of available cryptocurrencies. Use a "Buy Order", choose the amount of PTR to buy, set up other trade details and confirm the order.

What is the Easiest Way and Best Way to Buy? Compare the Top Petro Brokers

When contemplating the easiest way to buy PTR, you must keep in mind that this crypto is normally available only at the six exchanges authorised by the Venezuelan government. Most of them pair it with Bitcoin (BTC) to enable its purchase. Therefore, before finding out the best website to buy PTR, you’ll first need to locate a platform where you can buy Bitcoin cheap. After you have acquired an ample amount of Bitcoin, you can study any of the six exchanges and upload your funds, to buy PTR easily. Once you have gone through the first iteration, you’ll discover how easy it is to buy PTR actually!

In general, buying cryptocurrency on exchanges can be a complicated experience for the uninitiated. That’s the reason why a large number of crypto investors use broker websites to purchase their coins. These platforms also make available derivatives like Options, Futures and CFDs to facilitate speculative trading on crypto assets. It won’t be wrong to state that brokers would’ve qualified to be the best places to buy PTR online if they were allowed to offer the cryptocurrency.

5 Things to Consider if you Want to Buy Petro

Before you go ahead and buy Petro, you must know that there are multiple factors that may impact your investment. Below we will detail each one of these considerations, so you are fully aware of the process.

1. Carefully choose your preferred secure payment method

Based on where you reside, you’ll be presented with multiple modes of payment to buy PTR. If there’s a good variety available to you, you must analyse each one based on its strengths and weaknesses. In this regard, factors like cost, convenience and speed will come into play. Some of the most popular options include cryptocurrencies, PayPal, bank transfers and credit/debit cards. The transaction fees involved will also vary depending upon the exact payment method used, and the platform you transact on.

2. Will you need to set up your own wallet?

Unlike other asset classes which don’t necessarily need to be stored in some special place, cryptocurrencies have private keys which must be guarded inside a reliable wallet. Owing to the controversies surrounding this cryptocurrency, Google had suspended Petro’s native digital wallet app from its store. Thereafter, the Venezuelan government began issuing purchase certificates, which qualify as temporary ‘Wallets’ and a ‘Proofs of Ownership’ of the cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency exchanges offering Petro as a tradable cryptocurrency may also provide their integrated web wallets to store the coins. However, it’s not considered safe to leave one’s crypto holdings in an exchange wallet, as there have been some major mishaps in the past. Please note, there will be no need of a wallet set-up if you use a CFD to invest in PTR. 

3. Comparing costs

When comparing the costs of investing in or trading cryptocurrency, you must pay close attention to the different fees involved in the process. Each time you transfer a Petro to someone, you’ll need to pay a tiny sum in the form of a blockchain processing fee. This is negligible in the case of Petro. Apart from that, a fee associated with the payment method used to buy Petro may also come into play. Cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges are known to charge some fees for deposits, withdrawals and processing transactions too.

4. Safety and security

Petro uses a hybrid Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to secure its blockchain. It claims to be using the Hash X11 algorithm which it believes to be the safest algorithm out there for cryptocurrencies. The Proof of Stake system requires 100% consensus between the different nodes on the network and hence prevents any potential cyber-attacks and double-spending problems. 

For the majority of crypto investors, since brokers are often regulated and follow strict security protocols, it’s the security of the exchange platforms which is a major concern. When shortlisting an exchange or broker website to buy PTR, make sure it takes all possible security measures including the use of additional security protocols like 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication).

5. Can you understand and navigate the platform?

The amount of technical proficiency required to effectively use an exchange platform is a commonly overlooked aspect in first-time purchases of cryptocurrencies. Despite the fact that cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more user-friendly with each passing year, the complexity of exchanges continues to be a major hurdle for newcomers.

Please ensure that you comprehensively research the exchange platform you’re planning to buy Petro on. Correctly identify and understand the procedures to deposit funds, place buy/sell orders and make withdrawals. In case you find it all very daunting, you can always switch to a crypto broker service and invest in Petro via CFDs, which are far less risky than possibly making expensive mistakes on an exchange.

What is the Best Payment Method for Buying Petro?

When figuring out the best payment method to buy PTR on an exchange, you’ll need to first figure out your priorities with regard to the cost, convenience and speed of the available options. Let’s tell you about a few popular modes of payment for purchasing cryptocurrencies online.

Buying Petro with another cryptocurrency The exchanges that offer Petro as a part of trading pairs tend to usually pair it with popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. You must first ascertain if the platform offers you a pair workable for you and then deposit the corresponding amount of cryptocurrency, depending upon how much PTR you’d like to purchase.

Buying Petro with bank transfer Apart from being the most popular method for depositing funds to the brokerage and exchange platforms, a bank transfer is also amongst the most affordable. The ease with which one can use bank transfers to move funds between the bank account and broker/exchange account offers a high level of convenience, which is missing in other options. Having stated all that, bank transfers take more time to process and you’ll need to be sure that the crypto platform does allow them, before signing up with any.

Buying Petro with credit/debit cards Credit and debit cards enjoy the maximum penetration as a means of online/offline payment throughout the world. In fact, purchases made with credit/debit cards are second most popular after cash purchases. Though they offer a lot of conveniences, and you get additional security in terms of chargebacks, credit/debit cards are also very expensive when it comes to buying cryptocurrency. Not all exchanges offer credit/debit cards as an acceptable payment option, but all the regulated brokers normally do.

Buying Petro with PayPal While PayPal is not very popular amongst crypto exchanges, it’s a globally trusted payment method. Using PayPal for cryptocurrency payments works out to be faster than bank transfers and more economical than credit/debit cards. Regulated broker services are more open to accepting it as a valid means of payment.

What Fees are Involved in Buying Petro?

Depending upon the platform you use to buy PTR and the payment option you opt for, you will be charged certain fees to buy Petro. Such fees serve as an important revenue stream for brokerage and exchange platforms and help them to stay in business. Below we have briefly discussed a few such fees.

Transaction fees Every time you send Petro to someone, you need to pay a very small sum as a blockchain processing fee. This is negligible and can’t be termed as a factor in Petro’s purchase. The exchange or broker website may levy a certain transaction fee too, depending upon the payment method used. 

Deposit fees Almost all the crypto exchanges will charge a small deposit fee for any funds transferred to an account held with them. Brokers on the other hand usually refrain from levying such charges to make it easier for traders to sign up with them. A few which do charge such deposit fees, keep it lower than what’s normally imposed by exchanges.

Withdrawal fees You may be charged a variable or fixed fee anytime you withdraw funds, whether as crypto or fiat currency, from an exchange. Some brokers also tend to charge a withdrawal fee but keep it at a bare minimum, and lesser than exchanges.

Safely Storing Your Petro

In case you choose to buy a crypto coin’s ownership and not use the speculative trading route to exploit its price movements, you will require a piece of software called a cryptocurrency wallet, to store your coins. There are several options available in the market, each one of which we’ll briefly explore and throw light on below.

Web Wallet Perceived as the most accessible means of cryptocurrency storage, web wallets are usually built into the brokerage and exchange platforms. These are mostly custodial wallets, especially when held in a cryptocurrency exchange. They aren’t a very safe way to store cryptocurrencies, as people have lost their entire crypto holdings stored in such exchange wallets, in the past. 

Mobile Wallet As the name suggests, mobile wallets are applications meant for mobile devices. These are becoming increasingly popular today, with more and more mobile devices being actively used for crypto investments and trading. They deliver a higher level of security than web wallets, but being constantly connected to the internet, they can expose your coins if someone manages to hack into your mobile device.

Desktop Wallet Once again, as evident from the name, desktop wallets are software applications that run on a desktop or laptop computer. Their higher security features, especially additional enhancements like Two-Factor Authentication make them safer than their web and mobile counterparts, however, they lag behind mobile wallets in the convenience department.  

Hardware Wallet Unarguably the most secure wallet type in the market, hardware wallets are also referred to as cold wallets owing to their constant disconnectedness from the internet. They come as tiny USB-drive-sized physical devices, which must be plugged into an internet-connected computer or mobile device, to move crypto funds. 

Wallet Combinations It’s always good to spread your risk while storing your crypto coins. Some of the above-detailed wallet types allow for interlinking between them, to offer higher security and convenience to the users. Hence, if possible, you must always spread your coins over multiple wallets, to ensure that even if one gets compromised, the remaining part of your holding stays secure. 

What Other Coins Can I Trade or Use to Buy Petro?

In general, whenever you buy Petro, you will most likely have to exchange it with another cryptocurrency, which in most cases will be Bitcoin. Petro is available as a trading pair with Bitcoin (PTR/BTC) on a select group of exchanges authorised by the Venezuelan government for Petro trading. Hence, you may possibly be able to buy Petro with Bitcoin, and a few other popular cryptocurrencies like Tether, Ethereum, Cardano or Ripple on these platforms.

What’s the Smallest and Largest Amount of Petro I Can Buy?

The minimum unit, which is also referred to as mPTR or Mene, is the equivalent of one millionth of the PTR coin. However, considering the low exchange price of this cryptocurrency, it may not be viable to buy small amounts of PTR. Normally, you’ll have to buy a whole PTR, and a good number of them to make it work for trading purposes. 

It may be possible to buy PTR without a limit on some anonymous cryptocurrency exchange, but it’s not advisable to do so, keeping in mind the risks involved. Apart from that, there may be local government, tax or exchange regulations also in place which may prevent you from buying large quantities.

Can I Buy Petro Anonymously with no ID? Is it Safe and Legal to Buy Petro?

Like many cryptocurrency investors, you may also be wondering—is buying PTR illegal? Or is it safe to buy PTR? Well, the answer to that question will depend entirely upon where you stay. There may be some jurisdictions around the world that may prevent you from legally buying this coin. But on the other hand, there may be platforms too which will allow you to circumvent such regulatory restrictions and buy PTR anonymously. In fact, some of them may even permit you to buy PTR with no verification at all. Be that as it may, you’ll be entirely on your own when you transact on any such portal. In general, it’s only the regulated brokers and exchanges that are considered the best for secure PTR purchases.

Will Buying Petro Make Me Money?

The question which everyone may want to get an answer to at this stage is, does buying PTR make you money? It will essentially boil down to your own skills and how much experience you have in crypto trading. If you are someone who can effectively use his knowledge and gut feeling to predict the next bull or bear run to some extent, you could become a successful investor. If you’d like to go through Petro’s price history, learn about its overall outlook and also ascertain the best price to buy PTR today, you must visit our detailed PTR Price Page. 

How to Spend your Petro

The places where you can spend your PTR are fairly limited, especially at the international level. The Venezuelan government has tried to give the cryptocurrency a push time and again, by expanding its use cases. In Venezuela, you can use Petro to pay for the issuance of passports, usage of port services, availing annual bonuses, and purchases at Traki, the Venezuelan version of Walmart. 

How to Sell your Petro

At the time this guide was written, the best places to sell Petro remained the cryptocurrency exchanges authorised by the Venezuelan government. If you have some Petro to sell, you will need to create an account with any of these portals, deposit your coins and then post a ‘Sell’ trade to pitch to prospective buyers.

On the other hand, if you chose CFDs to invest in Petro, selling your Petro holding will be a cakewalk, and involve easy closure of the open CFD trade, and the assumption of whatever profit or loss that may arise from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded the Petro cryptocurrency?
Petro cryptocurrency was founded by the Government of Venezuela, backed by Venezuela’s mineral, oil and natural gas reserves.
When was Petro launched?
Petro was launched in February 2018. Its pre-sale began on February 20, 2018 and concluded on March 19, 2018.
What’s the main purpose of Petro?
Petro’s main purpose is to serve as an alternate national currency of Venezuela, second after its fiat currency Bolivar.
What if a broker goes bankrupt and I have open Petro CFDs with them?
All regulated brokers are required to participate in investor compensation schemes, to be able to indemnify investors against any losses arising from bankruptcy.
How does Petro secure its network?
Petro uses a hybrid Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to secure its blockchain.
Is it possible to mine Petro?
No. Petro is a pre-mined cryptocurrency, implying that no new PTR coins can be created after they have been issued by the Venezuelan government.
How many Petro coins are in circulation?
In January 2018, the Venezuelan government announced the issuance of a total of 100 million tokens, valued at more than $6 billion. Hence, the total Petro currently in circulation is 100 million.
Are Petro brokers more secure compared to exchanges?
Yes. Regulated brokerage services are considered safer than unregulated cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

Related Content