Exploring Nigeria’s Patricia Crypto Exchange Token Amid Confusion

Patricia Token (PTK) White Paper

The release of Patricia Token (PTK) by Nigerian crypto exchange Patricia was met with skepticism and doubt, as users took to social media to question the purpose of this move. In response, the crypto exchange company has published a white paper to explain the role of the Patricia Token.

As stated in the white paper, the Patricia Token is not a stable coin, but rather a debt token, issued to customers to manage debt. It works in a similar way to an IOU, which serves as a means for the exchange to acknowledge its debt to its users and promises to pay one USDT for each Patricia Token in the future.

In April 2023, Nigerian crypto exchange Patricia suspended withdrawals and deposits due to a security breach. This has caused customers to be unable to access their funds for months, and they have raised questions, such as how the token is backed and why Patricia converted them without customer consent. Additionally, customers are wondering when they will be able to access their funds. Unfortunately, the PTK whitepaper does not provide a specific answer to this question.

The paper states that users whose BTC and naira balances were changed into PTK have the option to redeem it for USDT, which can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or fiat like naira. All conversions will be based on the asset’s US dollar value as of April 29, 2023. Moreover, the Patricia Plus App launch will give customers who suffered losses in BTC and naira due to the breach access to PTK tokens, which will serve as their debt tokens.

In 2016, Bitfinex experienced a major setback when 119,756 bitcoins (equivalent to $72 million back then) were lost due to a hack. Following the same path as Patricia’s approach, Bitfinex issued a debt token named BFX to compensate customers impacted by the hack, and eventually repurchased these crypto web 3.0 coins from customers.