5 ms·

Web3 game project allegedly hired actors to pose as execs in $1.6M exit scam

37 points by Umofomia 3y ago

gumby 3y ago
Crypto scam stories have become boring. How about one about something — anything — crypto-related that’s not bullshit? Now that would be a “man bites dog” story!
- kristopolous 3y ago
  There's legitimate crypto stuff, as in institutions where people aren't just trying to do crime, there's no story there though. Here's some dull headline examples: * Brave attempts to reward creators with a Basic Attention Token, mostly flops. * Open source MetaMask project creates reliable software used by many. * Litecoin founder sold all coins due to a perceived conflict of interest. The crazy SBF, cult ponzi scheme of Celsius or the insane financial Michael Milken Tether stories are just better content. But let's be accurate and not deny the complexities of reality for narrative expediency. Vitalik Buterin, for example, probably not a criminal.
  - gumby 3y ago
    > There's legitimate crypto stuff…it's just not interesting I know what you meant when you wrote that, but the second meaning (not interesting => no added value) is significant as well. After 15 (!!) years nobody seems to have found an application that causes people to say “hey, I’ll switch to that [despite the early adopter limitations true of any new tech] because the benefits are so huge for what I do”. Well, except crimeing of course. The only “success” of your list was a wallet. Enabling tech is pretty thin gruel. I mean, compilers were/are successful, but the real story is the programs people run through them not the compilers themselves. I agree that Buterin is probably not a criminal. Thanks!
    - kristopolous 3y ago
      Sure, it's a fairly useless right wing technology mostly in the service of the ideologies of Von Mises and Austrian Economics but we're all adults here. Good things can come from anywhere. Stanford, for instance, was founded after a dream where a ghost of a guy's dead teenager appeared (who bears the namesake of the institution[1]) and was initially run by his wife who made her executive decisions by talking to spirits over oujia boards but it'd be foolish to hang that around the instution's neck today and dismiss its contributions. In the same way, crypto work might have indirect long lasting positive impacts in things such as CPU efficiency, chip design, algorithm research, parallel computing, and machine learning with specific focus on time-series. We should be able to look past the Do Kwon fiasco for that. [1] it's officially "Leland Stanford Junior University" - who was the ghost - read "Who Killed Jane Stanford?" for more info https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004332 https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004332
      - gumby 3y ago
        > crypto work might have indirect long lasting positive impacts in things such as CPU efficiency, chip design, algorithm research, parallel computing, and machine learning with specific focus on time-series. I cannot see any connection between Markel tree algorithms and chip design (or any of the other domains you mention). Can you point me to such work in these areas?
        kristopolous 3y ago
        Work in crypto mining efficiency? That's a pretty substantial field. I don't do it personally but I know there's lots of research, products, companies and investments in it.
- gumballindie 3y ago
  I agree. They’ve been replaced by ai “investment” schemes. The pump just moved onto something else, issue is though that the average joe wont profit from it, quite the contrary, their data and livelihoods are being stolen.
- robofanatic 3y ago
  This kind of scams can happen to any industry.
  - gumby 3y ago
    Some industries are just more scamful than others, especially ones that bend over backwards to avoid anti-scam protections. But is it an industry? Where’s the legit killer app where some people just have to have it? For legal purposes I mean?
    - junofan 3y ago
      ETFs will probably be something people have to have in their 401ks and IRAs. Was a killer app for gold as a store of value.
- shtack 3y ago
  I run/ran a website where you could shop on AliExpress using crypto and advertised it as the only legitimate crypto website around. I had universally positive reviews but made low 5 figures in profit over the course of ~4y (not terrible as passive income considering the operating costs were nearly zero) before the latest crash dropped usage to nothing and I let bit rot take over. Unfortunately the vast majority of crypto adopters are just riding the bubble for investment and have no interest in any other use cases, which are admittedly limited.
  - gumby 3y ago
    Nice, thanks!
- nunez 3y ago
  What about the bar in NYC where you could buy a pint with bitcoin?
  - gumby 3y ago
    Was it a bar or a pizza place in Brooklyn? And it was a long time ago, but regardless, definitely meets my criteria, thanks!
tantalor 3y ago
Paging Molly White...
bdcravens 3y ago
Of course they did. Is there anything from the laser-eye meme era that is still valuable?
theogravity 3y ago
> According to blockchain data, the project deployed its token contract to the BNB Smart Chain network on Oct. 10. BSC (Binance Smart Chain), the home of scamcoins. Anything on BSC is an automatic red flag.
DanielHB 3y ago
Blockchain has the potential to completely replace noteraries, real state deeds, most types of IDs, medical records, all sorts of contracts and digital signing. A lot of government systems could be put on the blockchain and become interoperable with government systems of other countries. It is hard enough to keep medical records systems within a single country already. This alone is worth billions of dollars in saved bureaucracy overhead. Unfortunately it relies on governments and bureaucrats relishing control of the bureaucracy so it is really hard to push forward. Especially considering there is not a lot of money to be made in these areas, in fact it reduces the amount of money spent on middle-man. The icing on the cake is that any country that implements a blockchain systems for a certain bureaucratic function will most likely make it open source (for transparency reasons), meaning other countries could just git clone the algorithms and implement any extra requirements. A lot of the prosperity of the west world came from strong, stable, predictable institutions. Those institutions could be automated and exported to the developing world making it much harder for corruption to take place.

37 points by Umofomia 3y ago

Crypto scam stories have become boring. How about one about something — anything — crypto-related that’s not bullshit? Now that would be a “man bites dog” story!

kristopolous 3y ago
There's legitimate crypto stuff, as in institutions where people aren't just trying to do crime, there's no story there though. Here's some dull headline examples: * Brave attempts to reward creators with a Basic Attention Token, mostly flops. * Open source MetaMask project creates reliable software used by many. * Litecoin founder sold all coins due to a perceived conflict of interest. The crazy SBF, cult ponzi scheme of Celsius or the insane financial Michael Milken Tether stories are just better content. But let's be accurate and not deny the complexities of reality for narrative expediency. Vitalik Buterin, for example, probably not a criminal.
- gumby 3y ago
  > There's legitimate crypto stuff…it's just not interesting I know what you meant when you wrote that, but the second meaning (not interesting => no added value) is significant as well. After 15 (!!) years nobody seems to have found an application that causes people to say “hey, I’ll switch to that [despite the early adopter limitations true of any new tech] because the benefits are so huge for what I do”. Well, except crimeing of course. The only “success” of your list was a wallet. Enabling tech is pretty thin gruel. I mean, compilers were/are successful, but the real story is the programs people run through them not the compilers themselves. I agree that Buterin is probably not a criminal. Thanks!
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    Sure, it's a fairly useless right wing technology mostly in the service of the ideologies of Von Mises and Austrian Economics but we're all adults here. Good things can come from anywhere. Stanford, for instance, was founded after a dream where a ghost of a guy's dead teenager appeared (who bears the namesake of the institution[1]) and was initially run by his wife who made her executive decisions by talking to spirits over oujia boards but it'd be foolish to hang that around the instution's neck today and dismiss its contributions. In the same way, crypto work might have indirect long lasting positive impacts in things such as CPU efficiency, chip design, algorithm research, parallel computing, and machine learning with specific focus on time-series. We should be able to look past the Do Kwon fiasco for that. [1] it's officially "Leland Stanford Junior University" - who was the ghost - read "Who Killed Jane Stanford?" for more info https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004332 https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004332
    - gumby 3y ago
      > crypto work might have indirect long lasting positive impacts in things such as CPU efficiency, chip design, algorithm research, parallel computing, and machine learning with specific focus on time-series. I cannot see any connection between Markel tree algorithms and chip design (or any of the other domains you mention). Can you point me to such work in these areas?
      - kristopolous 3y ago
        Work in crypto mining efficiency? That's a pretty substantial field. I don't do it personally but I know there's lots of research, products, companies and investments in it.
gumballindie 3y ago
I agree. They’ve been replaced by ai “investment” schemes. The pump just moved onto something else, issue is though that the average joe wont profit from it, quite the contrary, their data and livelihoods are being stolen.
robofanatic 3y ago
This kind of scams can happen to any industry.
- gumby 3y ago
  Some industries are just more scamful than others, especially ones that bend over backwards to avoid anti-scam protections. But is it an industry? Where’s the legit killer app where some people just have to have it? For legal purposes I mean?
  - junofan 3y ago
    ETFs will probably be something people have to have in their 401ks and IRAs. Was a killer app for gold as a store of value.
shtack 3y ago
I run/ran a website where you could shop on AliExpress using crypto and advertised it as the only legitimate crypto website around. I had universally positive reviews but made low 5 figures in profit over the course of ~4y (not terrible as passive income considering the operating costs were nearly zero) before the latest crash dropped usage to nothing and I let bit rot take over. Unfortunately the vast majority of crypto adopters are just riding the bubble for investment and have no interest in any other use cases, which are admittedly limited.
- gumby 3y ago
  Nice, thanks!
nunez 3y ago
What about the bar in NYC where you could buy a pint with bitcoin?
- gumby 3y ago
  Was it a bar or a pizza place in Brooklyn? And it was a long time ago, but regardless, definitely meets my criteria, thanks!

tantalor 3y ago

Paging Molly White...

bdcravens 3y ago

Of course they did. Is there anything from the laser-eye meme era that is still valuable?

theogravity 3y ago

> According to blockchain data, the project deployed its token contract to the BNB Smart Chain network on Oct. 10. BSC (Binance Smart Chain), the home of scamcoins. Anything on BSC is an automatic red flag.

DanielHB 3y ago

Blockchain has the potential to completely replace noteraries, real state deeds, most types of IDs, medical records, all sorts of contracts and digital signing. A lot of government systems could be put on the blockchain and become interoperable with government systems of other countries. It is hard enough to keep medical records systems within a single country already. This alone is worth billions of dollars in saved bureaucracy overhead. Unfortunately it relies on governments and bureaucrats relishing control of the bureaucracy so it is really hard to push forward. Especially considering there is not a lot of money to be made in these areas, in fact it reduces the amount of money spent on middle-man. The icing on the cake is that any country that implements a blockchain systems for a certain bureaucratic function will most likely make it open source (for transparency reasons), meaning other countries could just git clone the algorithms and implement any extra requirements. A lot of the prosperity of the west world came from strong, stable, predictable institutions. Those institutions could be automated and exported to the developing world making it much harder for corruption to take place.