16 ms·

My favorite part of this story is that they DAO has actually raised ~$8m, spent $3m on the book (10x the expected auction price), then the "core team" has start

by camjw 5y ago

My favorite part of this story is that they DAO has actually raised ~$8m, spent $3m on the book (10x the expected auction price), then the "core team" has started paying themselves ~$30k a month[0]. Also, how is this "decentralised" when one person owns over 50% of the voting token? [0] https://snapshot.org/#/dunedao.eth/proposal/0x2038fc240d0e85c496cc692d0001fb159d6f613b546392aa96e49a3b752ced0d https://snapshot.org/#/dunedao.eth/proposal/0x2038fc240d0e85...

hwers 5y ago
(not 10x, it’s 100x)
digitaltrees 5y ago
For the sake of accuracy, it appears to me that it is $30k per month total for the core team not each. There is a total maximum operating budget of $50k per month including a maximum of $30k for the core team. When the core team has 4. That is about $8k per month each.
- black_puppydog 5y ago
  8K seems plenty when you can do your "work" from anywhere in the world (and probably have a good reason to not be too easy to find by your scam victims)
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    ... and possibly if the "work" is not like 40-50 hours/week, but more like a couple hours per month ...
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      Sounds like a board seat.
  - norswap 5y ago
    All the GAFAM engineers sweating heavily right now.
    - _alex_ 5y ago
      *MAAAM
null_object 5y ago
> the "core team" has started paying themselves ~$30k a month each But don't forget this team has the Q1 deliverable of presenting "a film treatment and budget by Roble Ridge Productions for the original animated limited series inspired by the book for a community vote on Snapshot" - which one can only assume will be a lot of work... :)
- rezonant 5y ago
  And also will be unauthorized since they own no rights to derivative work (or even the original work)
  - null_object 5y ago
    > And also will be unauthorized since they own no rights to derivative work (or even the original work) I'm sorry for the confusion, but my post was supposed to be humorous. On reflection I think there's nothing that can actually be said about this auction that can possibly be as funny/sad as the original situation.
  - shawabawa3 5y ago
    Perhaps it will be a series inspired by the book (the physical object) not the contents/story They could release a series about overpaying for a copy of dune at auction and technically fulfill their mission
    - dimensi0nal 5y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky%27s_Dune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky%27s_Dune
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        > Salvador Dalí was set to play the Emperor and claimed he wanted to be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood history. He asked for $100,000 per hour to act in the movie. Jodorowsky accepted, but then reduced the Emperor’s scenes so that Dalí would be needed for no more than one hour with the rest of his lines spoken by a robotic lookalike. Dalí accepted on condition that the plastic lookalike was donated to his museum, and that his throne was to be a toilet made up of two intersected dolphins. Absolutely incredible.
ricardobeat 5y ago
It's unbelievably funny and scary at the same time. This is the profile of their "Marketing Lead": https://twitter.com/YOJIMBO_KING/media https://twitter.com/YOJIMBO_KING/media Qualifications listed for their team include "Bitcoin Class of 2013", not sure if a joke or not? The impression is that this is a bunch of 13 year olds who suddenly got a windfall...
- Barrin92 5y ago
  "They worked as Product Manager on StarChant and Project Manager of PegzDAO; consulted with POAP on their communications strategy and Raid Guild DAO on business development. DeFi trader, yield farmer and liquidity provider on DEXs. Bitcoin Class of 2013." You weren't kidding, this sounds like an application for a World of Warcraft Guild I applied to in 2008 or something. I have no idea what any of this means
  - emerged 5y ago
    It means “I’m in on the con job so let’s play ball”
- schleck8 5y ago
  How can they take themselves seriously?
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
  - ohgodplsno 5y ago
    No idea why the other comment is dead. It's obvious the entire thing is a way for them to con some suckers into giving them what is basically a golden ticket to a life without any worries. They don't take themselves seriously. They're laughing all the way to the bank.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  It’s entirely possible that that’s exactly what happened. The space is awash with people that got lucky in the initial boom and have convinced themselves (and a few others) that they’re investing geniuses and not just lucky fools. Come to think of it, this phenomenon isn’t limited to bitcoin, although the signaling behavior is quite different than a VC that’s gotten lucky once.
chinathrow 5y ago
The word you're looking for is Scam.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
pjc50 5y ago
"Decentralized" means "out of the reach of law enforcement". Or at least that's what these people treat it as.
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  Hey that's pretty unfair, I was just chastised a couple days ago for implying the killer use case for the blockchain was criminality!
  - Sharlin 5y ago
    "Criminal" is such a strong word. We prefer "less normatively constrained".
    - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
      I'm moralatypical myself.
  - karpierz 5y ago
    It's not criminality, it's _regulatory arbitrage_.
  - _alex_ 5y ago
    Hey now, its not criminality, its jurisdictional arbitrage
astoor 5y ago
Will be interesting to see how this, as in the whole DAO space, works out. Part of the problem with the ICO craze in 2017* is that the founders got all the money up front without having any obligation to do anything, so the tiny minority of well intentioned ones ended up simply enjoying the money rather than doing something hard like actual work. Seems like this is still a risk here - the founder can string people along for a few months or years until they lose interest, all the while drawing down the money and living rather comfortably. * The other problem with the ICO craze is of course that the combination of money up-front and no obligations and anonymity meant almost all were simply out-and-out scams.
- loceng 5y ago
  Which is why there are rules and layers of checks to actually IPO - another term misappropriated to ICO like currency was misappropriated for cryptocurrency to mislead; stock markets would lose all trust and credibility if they didn't curate and require due diligence.
  - xiphias2 5y ago
    There are laws for ICOs as well when they are marketed in US: they are securities. The SEC knows this perfectly, they just don't do anything for some reason.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Perhaps we should look forward to innovations like “Special Purpose Acquisition Coins” then? SPACs have gotten rid of much of the diligence traditionally part of the IPO process.
    - loceng 5y ago
      From my understanding may also be taking advantage of the money the government's currently printing - at the externalized cost of general society, an additional wealth transfer? I haven't looked read too much into SPACs yet, though they certainly did start to pop out of nowhere and in huge sums as "special purpose vehicles;" I'd sure love to raise a quick $1 billion SPAC though to fund my endless projects.
rvz 5y ago
> Also, how is this "decentralised" when one person owns over 50% of the voting token? A professional definitive edition exit scam, waiting to happen. It is ConstitutionDAO all over again, but this time without the refunds.
ashtonkem 5y ago
I’m reminded somewhat of cases where VCs like A16Z push DAOs as the future, and we’re supposed to just pretend that they’re not going to buy up as many tokens as possible so that they can extract maximal profits like usual. It seems like exactly the same scam as ICOs with another level of indirection.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wonderwonder 5y ago
why did they spend so much for it, I cant seem to find that out. Was that their opening bid?
- lanstin 5y ago
  This is my question. If so, then not only do they suck at Intellectual property, but they suck at getting a good deal at an auction. Hopefully their screen writing skills are better?
jvanderbot 5y ago
Technically, 30k/team, not 30k/person... But there's 4 members. Almost all positions are "not to exceed X/month" for X~=7000 USD. So, not too shabby!
ck2 5y ago
It's either teenagers or money laundering. Funny how it could be either. Has anyone checked if the seller is legit? Maybe the profit was meant to be split once the item "sold".
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

by camjw 5y ago

hwers 5y ago

(not 10x, it’s 100x)

digitaltrees 5y ago

For the sake of accuracy, it appears to me that it is $30k per month total for the core team not each. There is a total maximum operating budget of $50k per month including a maximum of $30k for the core team. When the core team has 4. That is about $8k per month each.

black_puppydog 5y ago
8K seems plenty when you can do your "work" from anywhere in the world (and probably have a good reason to not be too easy to find by your scam victims)
- jaclaz 5y ago
  ... and possibly if the "work" is not like 40-50 hours/week, but more like a couple hours per month ...
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    Sounds like a board seat.
- norswap 5y ago
  All the GAFAM engineers sweating heavily right now.
  - _alex_ 5y ago
    *MAAAM

null_object 5y ago

> the "core team" has started paying themselves ~$30k a month each But don't forget this team has the Q1 deliverable of presenting "a film treatment and budget by Roble Ridge Productions for the original animated limited series inspired by the book for a community vote on Snapshot" - which one can only assume will be a lot of work... :)

rezonant 5y ago
And also will be unauthorized since they own no rights to derivative work (or even the original work)
- null_object 5y ago
  > And also will be unauthorized since they own no rights to derivative work (or even the original work) I'm sorry for the confusion, but my post was supposed to be humorous. On reflection I think there's nothing that can actually be said about this auction that can possibly be as funny/sad as the original situation.
- shawabawa3 5y ago
  Perhaps it will be a series inspired by the book (the physical object) not the contents/story They could release a series about overpaying for a copy of dune at auction and technically fulfill their mission
  - dimensi0nal 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky%27s_Dune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky%27s_Dune
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      > Salvador Dalí was set to play the Emperor and claimed he wanted to be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood history. He asked for $100,000 per hour to act in the movie. Jodorowsky accepted, but then reduced the Emperor’s scenes so that Dalí would be needed for no more than one hour with the rest of his lines spoken by a robotic lookalike. Dalí accepted on condition that the plastic lookalike was donated to his museum, and that his throne was to be a toilet made up of two intersected dolphins. Absolutely incredible.

ricardobeat 5y ago

It's unbelievably funny and scary at the same time. This is the profile of their "Marketing Lead": https://twitter.com/YOJIMBO_KING/media https://twitter.com/YOJIMBO_KING/media Qualifications listed for their team include "Bitcoin Class of 2013", not sure if a joke or not? The impression is that this is a bunch of 13 year olds who suddenly got a windfall...

Barrin92 5y ago
"They worked as Product Manager on StarChant and Project Manager of PegzDAO; consulted with POAP on their communications strategy and Raid Guild DAO on business development. DeFi trader, yield farmer and liquidity provider on DEXs. Bitcoin Class of 2013." You weren't kidding, this sounds like an application for a World of Warcraft Guild I applied to in 2008 or something. I have no idea what any of this means
- emerged 5y ago
  It means “I’m in on the con job so let’s play ball”
schleck8 5y ago
How can they take themselves seriously?
- alisonkisk 5y ago
- ohgodplsno 5y ago
  No idea why the other comment is dead. It's obvious the entire thing is a way for them to con some suckers into giving them what is basically a golden ticket to a life without any worries. They don't take themselves seriously. They're laughing all the way to the bank.
ashtonkem 5y ago
It’s entirely possible that that’s exactly what happened. The space is awash with people that got lucky in the initial boom and have convinced themselves (and a few others) that they’re investing geniuses and not just lucky fools. Come to think of it, this phenomenon isn’t limited to bitcoin, although the signaling behavior is quite different than a VC that’s gotten lucky once.

chinathrow 5y ago

The word you're looking for is Scam.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

pjc50 5y ago

"Decentralized" means "out of the reach of law enforcement". Or at least that's what these people treat it as.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago
Hey that's pretty unfair, I was just chastised a couple days ago for implying the killer use case for the blockchain was criminality!
- Sharlin 5y ago
  "Criminal" is such a strong word. We prefer "less normatively constrained".
  - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
    I'm moralatypical myself.
- karpierz 5y ago
  It's not criminality, it's _regulatory arbitrage_.
- _alex_ 5y ago
  Hey now, its not criminality, its jurisdictional arbitrage

astoor 5y ago

Will be interesting to see how this, as in the whole DAO space, works out. Part of the problem with the ICO craze in 2017* is that the founders got all the money up front without having any obligation to do anything, so the tiny minority of well intentioned ones ended up simply enjoying the money rather than doing something hard like actual work. Seems like this is still a risk here - the founder can string people along for a few months or years until they lose interest, all the while drawing down the money and living rather comfortably. * The other problem with the ICO craze is of course that the combination of money up-front and no obligations and anonymity meant almost all were simply out-and-out scams.

loceng 5y ago
Which is why there are rules and layers of checks to actually IPO - another term misappropriated to ICO like currency was misappropriated for cryptocurrency to mislead; stock markets would lose all trust and credibility if they didn't curate and require due diligence.
- xiphias2 5y ago
  There are laws for ICOs as well when they are marketed in US: they are securities. The SEC knows this perfectly, they just don't do anything for some reason.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Perhaps we should look forward to innovations like “Special Purpose Acquisition Coins” then? SPACs have gotten rid of much of the diligence traditionally part of the IPO process.
  - loceng 5y ago
    From my understanding may also be taking advantage of the money the government's currently printing - at the externalized cost of general society, an additional wealth transfer? I haven't looked read too much into SPACs yet, though they certainly did start to pop out of nowhere and in huge sums as "special purpose vehicles;" I'd sure love to raise a quick $1 billion SPAC though to fund my endless projects.

rvz 5y ago

> Also, how is this "decentralised" when one person owns over 50% of the voting token? A professional definitive edition exit scam, waiting to happen. It is ConstitutionDAO all over again, but this time without the refunds.

ashtonkem 5y ago

I’m reminded somewhat of cases where VCs like A16Z push DAOs as the future, and we’re supposed to just pretend that they’re not going to buy up as many tokens as possible so that they can extract maximal profits like usual. It seems like exactly the same scam as ICOs with another level of indirection.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

wonderwonder 5y ago

why did they spend so much for it, I cant seem to find that out. Was that their opening bid?

lanstin 5y ago
This is my question. If so, then not only do they suck at Intellectual property, but they suck at getting a good deal at an auction. Hopefully their screen writing skills are better?

jvanderbot 5y ago

Technically, 30k/team, not 30k/person... But there's 4 members. Almost all positions are "not to exceed X/month" for X~=7000 USD. So, not too shabby!

ck2 5y ago

It's either teenagers or money laundering. Funny how it could be either. Has anyone checked if the seller is legit? Maybe the profit was meant to be split once the item "sold".

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]