4 ms·

We have lost access to approximately €6k in bounties

161 points by kevincox 3y ago

firtoz 3y ago
I made the mistake of using bountysource for my project and put some money into it. Luckily there was someone who pinged me on GitHub so I could get the money back through PayPal dispute.
arjvik 3y ago
This is a problem for everyone on Bountysource, no? Some sort of class-action is easily warranted and would amortize the legal fees
- jfim 3y ago
  If Bountysource is truly insolvent, then there might not be any money to collect.
greyw 3y ago
Seems like a company called the "The Blockchain Group" owns bountysource and they just started ghosting users. Safe to assume the money is lost. Is the blockain group insolvent?
- EdwardDiego 3y ago
  After running this through Google Translate, looks like it. https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TBG-CP17112023.pdf https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/...
- whynotkeithberg 3y ago
  A company that markets themselves as a blockchain group scamming & ghosting users? Absolutely shocking. Still... all sarcasm aside, it's very sad and unfortunate for the great people out there doing good work that they've screwed over.
  - netsharc 3y ago
    Blockchain, the future of trust! As much as I like NewPipe and feel bad that I'll look up donating to them, I want to say, "Aaaahh you naive kids!"
    - hirako2000 3y ago
      It's the present and greater future of trustless, not trust. Certain long term projects are already trustless, non custodial working solutions, a rug pull like this could not take place if let's say the funds was placed in some audited ethereum smart contract where the owner signs rewards and the middlemen here bountysource automatically receives a cut of the payout. It isn't enough to stamp crypto or blockchain on a solutions to make it trustless hence safe. Let's concede a majority of crypto/blockchain gigs are not trustless, not really decentralized . Yes rug pulls do happen often in this context. There is currently over 40 billion dollars worth of tokens owned by an aggregate of millions of self custodians, across DeFi alone on the biggest blockchain, in what is called a crypto winter. Funds are there, volume is flowing. This blockchain France or whatever entity was running bountysource was a non blockchain shody business that stole from newpipe and many others, crypto could in fact have easily prevented that
      - mvdtnz 3y ago
        > There is currently over 40 billion dollars worth of tokens owned by an aggregate of millions of self custodians, 40 billion dollars of self dealing and wash trading you mean.
        hirako2000 3y ago
        Let's say it is. Nobody gets rugged pulled. The argument was in response to the trust factor. If you don't believe those trades to be organic, would you also deny the volume is happening decentrally. My take on wash trading is that it is very prevalent, on centralised exchanges which blockchain and decentralisation has nothing to do with, quite the opposite.
        3y ago
oefrha 3y ago
In trying to confirm Bountysource is toast, which according to TFA should be at least one-month-old news, I found this GitHub issue [1] from May claiming it was insolvent and not paying out bounties. The Internet seems really quiet on this otherwise. I guess they are hardly used by any project? [1] https://github.com/bountysource/core/issues/1586 https://github.com/bountysource/core/issues/1586
SushiHippie 3y ago
Related: - (2023-11-08) Tell HN: Bountysource seems to have shut down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38198261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38198261 (2 points, 1 (dead) comment) - (2023-09-04) Bountysource.com is Insolvent, do not use - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37384014 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37384014 (22 points, 1 comment) - (2020-06-17) BountySource have turned evil – alternatives? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23551098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23551098 (226 points, 105 comments) - (2017-11-21) BountySource suspended from GitHub - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747328 (67 points, 52 comments)
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - mkoryak 3y ago
    Didn't read the article, yea?
    - KleerKut 3y ago
      Why did they even set up a bounty source if they didn't have any plan for spending the money, dividing it, or using it to pay someone who wasn't passionate for the project? They would have been better off spending the money on people not passionate about their project, or perhaps paid bounties to other projects. Now the money is gone. I'd definitely call that leaving it on the table.
      - mvdtnz 3y ago
        Still insisting on not reading the article I see.
        KleerKut 3y ago
        I'm a different person than above, I have brain damage, and I got all of the information I posted from the article. I get it that some crypto company bought Bounty Source. But in the article they said, "bounties were handled by Team NewPipe. I had set up the account for Team NewPipe on Bountysource, which accumulated a significant sum of money over the years." I understand that they have a lot of volunteers and it isn't easy to get a consensus. Maybe they should have thought of that first? Or perhaps just make a decision and let it be known it would be happening in X period of time that unless there was significant outrage that they were going to do X? Even if they were never going to cash out of the deal, they could have used it to pay other bounties to get work done. Or sit on all that money until it evaporates. "but we did not want to get paid for working on a passion project" If they didn't want the cash in the first place they could have put it towards something else open source. Plus they are complaining about not getting paid while saying they didn't want to get paid. This would scare away anyone wanting to help if they are going to go about things this way, but I don't know because apparently I didn't read the article.
2Gkashmiri 3y ago
How does a cash flow positive org go insolvent unless they are fucking around with users money and speculating with it or betting on it?
- nurettin 3y ago
  cheap developer goes awol and the manager isn't bothered?
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  By having obligations that don't affect cash flow? How does a profitable company wipe out from negative cash flow?
- kalleboo 3y ago
  It was acquired by a company called "The Blockchain Group". There is a 99% chance they were fucking around with users money and speculating with it or betting on it
  - EdwardDiego 3y ago
    I'm sure that The Blockchain Group (TBG) didn't do anything unusual or illegal with money in Bountysource... My gut feeling is that TBG bought the bounty site with a view to paying bounties in their own shitcoin, but then all their crypto "investments" went south, and they pillaged all the coffers... and probably threw good money after bad.
Stevvo 3y ago
Why would you use it instead of Gitcoin?
Animats 3y ago
The Blockchain Group seems to be close to bankruptcy, if not bankrupt.[1] Trading in their stock is being suspended. "In view of the financial difficulties encountered by the Company, in particular its financial situation the Company is actively seeking short-term financial resources that will allow it to to ensure the continuity of its operations in fiscal 2024. The Company has initiated discussions with its main creditors on the one hand in order to reach an agreement with them to the effect that restructuring its debt and, on the other hand, with potential new investors ..." [1] https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TBG-CP17112023.pdf https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/...
kramerger 3y ago
Note that newpipe has a librapay account, which so far I have found relaible. It is run from France, and the owners are paid not from librapay cash pile but from their own donation pages. https://liberapay.com/TeamNewPipe/ https://liberapay.com/TeamNewPipe/ Here is the discussion that went on among newpipe devs before setting it up https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/issues/1153 https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/issues/1153 I am already supporting them this way, but seeing they have 1.2k open issues maybe it would be better to contribute with patches and maintenence instead?
- dotancohen 3y ago
  > maybe it would be better to contribute with patches and maintenence instead? Do you want to support a developer or a project? That is the difference between sending money or patches.
donalhunt 3y ago
One would hope that there would be consequences for the directors/owners of The Blockchain Group. In many countries, this would put a flag against the individuals and/or have implications for other companies they are connected to.
ranting-moth 3y ago
Is there "small claims court" in France? I know people who have successfully used one on the UK. You pay a fixed fee and fill in a form.
3np 3y ago
I wish there was a way to donate anonymously. Like a BTC(bitcoin) and/or XMR(monero) address, if you're open to figuring that part out and/or locate a forwardee who is.
- yieldcrv 3y ago
  If there is a way to donate crypto at all then you can open up tor and load changenow.io and send XMR to it and put the desired currency in and their donation address in the blockchain would show changenow’s donation address to the recipient monero blockchain would show nothing and changenow wouldn’t know your IP and neither would the monero node you used a more complex way can be done completely onchain using the XMR to SCRT bridge. Then SCRT to Ethereum where everything is alot more liquid. protip: already have a balance of XMR. if you need to get XMR first then do that but wait for a couple days worth of transactions to go across the Monero network before you send any of your XMR. Do not use the same XMR return address on Changenow that you sent to on the exchange where you bought your XMR or anywhere. Dont send the exact same amount of XMR that you purchased. You’ll get used to these constraints.
penguin_booze 3y ago
Tangent, but: > Therefore, I reached out to a lawyer. However, the costs of hiring one, added to the court fees for initiating the proceedings, are too high to warrant pursuing this This is not an uncommon sutuation, is it? The very instituion that was setup to dispense justice, has become inaccessible in most situations for most people.
- gruez 3y ago
  >This is not an uncommon sutuation, is it? The very instituion that was setup to dispense justice, has become inaccessible in most situations for most people. Because resource constraints exist. The justice is very expensive to run, requiring many highly qualified people. That means for cases where not enough money is at stake, it's not worth the cost (x hours * $300/billable hour for your lawyer, plus the other side's lawyers, plus judge/clerks/paralegals) to peruse justice. The government does step in some cases though, usually in criminal cases.
- gloosx 3y ago
  In reality, the institution was set up to assert dominance of power, wasn't it? justice is a fluke for powerless
odion011 3y ago
[flagged]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

161 points by kevincox 3y ago

I made the mistake of using bountysource for my project and put some money into it. Luckily there was someone who pinged me on GitHub so I could get the money back through PayPal dispute.

arjvik 3y ago

This is a problem for everyone on Bountysource, no? Some sort of class-action is easily warranted and would amortize the legal fees

jfim 3y ago
If Bountysource is truly insolvent, then there might not be any money to collect.

greyw 3y ago

Seems like a company called the "The Blockchain Group" owns bountysource and they just started ghosting users. Safe to assume the money is lost. Is the blockain group insolvent?

EdwardDiego 3y ago
After running this through Google Translate, looks like it. https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TBG-CP17112023.pdf https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/...
whynotkeithberg 3y ago
A company that markets themselves as a blockchain group scamming & ghosting users? Absolutely shocking. Still... all sarcasm aside, it's very sad and unfortunate for the great people out there doing good work that they've screwed over.
- netsharc 3y ago
  Blockchain, the future of trust! As much as I like NewPipe and feel bad that I'll look up donating to them, I want to say, "Aaaahh you naive kids!"
  - hirako2000 3y ago
    It's the present and greater future of trustless, not trust. Certain long term projects are already trustless, non custodial working solutions, a rug pull like this could not take place if let's say the funds was placed in some audited ethereum smart contract where the owner signs rewards and the middlemen here bountysource automatically receives a cut of the payout. It isn't enough to stamp crypto or blockchain on a solutions to make it trustless hence safe. Let's concede a majority of crypto/blockchain gigs are not trustless, not really decentralized . Yes rug pulls do happen often in this context. There is currently over 40 billion dollars worth of tokens owned by an aggregate of millions of self custodians, across DeFi alone on the biggest blockchain, in what is called a crypto winter. Funds are there, volume is flowing. This blockchain France or whatever entity was running bountysource was a non blockchain shody business that stole from newpipe and many others, crypto could in fact have easily prevented that
    - mvdtnz 3y ago
      > There is currently over 40 billion dollars worth of tokens owned by an aggregate of millions of self custodians, 40 billion dollars of self dealing and wash trading you mean.
      - hirako2000 3y ago
        Let's say it is. Nobody gets rugged pulled. The argument was in response to the trust factor. If you don't believe those trades to be organic, would you also deny the volume is happening decentrally. My take on wash trading is that it is very prevalent, on centralised exchanges which blockchain and decentralisation has nothing to do with, quite the opposite.
      - 3y ago

oefrha 3y ago

In trying to confirm Bountysource is toast, which according to TFA should be at least one-month-old news, I found this GitHub issue [1] from May claiming it was insolvent and not paying out bounties. The Internet seems really quiet on this otherwise. I guess they are hardly used by any project? [1] https://github.com/bountysource/core/issues/1586 https://github.com/bountysource/core/issues/1586

SushiHippie 3y ago

Related: - (2023-11-08) Tell HN: Bountysource seems to have shut down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38198261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38198261 (2 points, 1 (dead) comment) - (2023-09-04) Bountysource.com is Insolvent, do not use - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37384014 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37384014 (22 points, 1 comment) - (2020-06-17) BountySource have turned evil – alternatives? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23551098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23551098 (226 points, 105 comments) - (2017-11-21) BountySource suspended from GitHub - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747328 (67 points, 52 comments)

KennyBlanken 3y ago
[flagged]
- mkoryak 3y ago
  Didn't read the article, yea?
  - KleerKut 3y ago
    Why did they even set up a bounty source if they didn't have any plan for spending the money, dividing it, or using it to pay someone who wasn't passionate for the project? They would have been better off spending the money on people not passionate about their project, or perhaps paid bounties to other projects. Now the money is gone. I'd definitely call that leaving it on the table.
    - mvdtnz 3y ago
      Still insisting on not reading the article I see.
      - KleerKut 3y ago
        I'm a different person than above, I have brain damage, and I got all of the information I posted from the article. I get it that some crypto company bought Bounty Source. But in the article they said, "bounties were handled by Team NewPipe. I had set up the account for Team NewPipe on Bountysource, which accumulated a significant sum of money over the years." I understand that they have a lot of volunteers and it isn't easy to get a consensus. Maybe they should have thought of that first? Or perhaps just make a decision and let it be known it would be happening in X period of time that unless there was significant outrage that they were going to do X? Even if they were never going to cash out of the deal, they could have used it to pay other bounties to get work done. Or sit on all that money until it evaporates. "but we did not want to get paid for working on a passion project" If they didn't want the cash in the first place they could have put it towards something else open source. Plus they are complaining about not getting paid while saying they didn't want to get paid. This would scare away anyone wanting to help if they are going to go about things this way, but I don't know because apparently I didn't read the article.

2Gkashmiri 3y ago

How does a cash flow positive org go insolvent unless they are fucking around with users money and speculating with it or betting on it?

nurettin 3y ago
cheap developer goes awol and the manager isn't bothered?
thaumasiotes 3y ago
By having obligations that don't affect cash flow? How does a profitable company wipe out from negative cash flow?
kalleboo 3y ago
It was acquired by a company called "The Blockchain Group". There is a 99% chance they were fucking around with users money and speculating with it or betting on it
- EdwardDiego 3y ago
  I'm sure that The Blockchain Group (TBG) didn't do anything unusual or illegal with money in Bountysource... My gut feeling is that TBG bought the bounty site with a view to paying bounties in their own shitcoin, but then all their crypto "investments" went south, and they pillaged all the coffers... and probably threw good money after bad.

Stevvo 3y ago

Why would you use it instead of Gitcoin?

Animats 3y ago

The Blockchain Group seems to be close to bankruptcy, if not bankrupt.[1] Trading in their stock is being suspended. "In view of the financial difficulties encountered by the Company, in particular its financial situation the Company is actively seeking short-term financial resources that will allow it to to ensure the continuity of its operations in fiscal 2024. The Company has initiated discussions with its main creditors on the one hand in order to reach an agreement with them to the effect that restructuring its debt and, on the other hand, with potential new investors ..." [1] https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TBG-CP17112023.pdf https://www.theblockchain-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/...

kramerger 3y ago

Note that newpipe has a librapay account, which so far I have found relaible. It is run from France, and the owners are paid not from librapay cash pile but from their own donation pages. https://liberapay.com/TeamNewPipe/ https://liberapay.com/TeamNewPipe/ Here is the discussion that went on among newpipe devs before setting it up https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/issues/1153 https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/issues/1153 I am already supporting them this way, but seeing they have 1.2k open issues maybe it would be better to contribute with patches and maintenence instead?

dotancohen 3y ago
> maybe it would be better to contribute with patches and maintenence instead? Do you want to support a developer or a project? That is the difference between sending money or patches.

donalhunt 3y ago

One would hope that there would be consequences for the directors/owners of The Blockchain Group. In many countries, this would put a flag against the individuals and/or have implications for other companies they are connected to.

ranting-moth 3y ago

Is there "small claims court" in France? I know people who have successfully used one on the UK. You pay a fixed fee and fill in a form.

3np 3y ago

I wish there was a way to donate anonymously. Like a BTC(bitcoin) and/or XMR(monero) address, if you're open to figuring that part out and/or locate a forwardee who is.

yieldcrv 3y ago
If there is a way to donate crypto at all then you can open up tor and load changenow.io and send XMR to it and put the desired currency in and their donation address in the blockchain would show changenow’s donation address to the recipient monero blockchain would show nothing and changenow wouldn’t know your IP and neither would the monero node you used a more complex way can be done completely onchain using the XMR to SCRT bridge. Then SCRT to Ethereum where everything is alot more liquid. protip: already have a balance of XMR. if you need to get XMR first then do that but wait for a couple days worth of transactions to go across the Monero network before you send any of your XMR. Do not use the same XMR return address on Changenow that you sent to on the exchange where you bought your XMR or anywhere. Dont send the exact same amount of XMR that you purchased. You’ll get used to these constraints.

penguin_booze 3y ago

Tangent, but: > Therefore, I reached out to a lawyer. However, the costs of hiring one, added to the court fees for initiating the proceedings, are too high to warrant pursuing this This is not an uncommon sutuation, is it? The very instituion that was setup to dispense justice, has become inaccessible in most situations for most people.

gruez 3y ago
>This is not an uncommon sutuation, is it? The very instituion that was setup to dispense justice, has become inaccessible in most situations for most people. Because resource constraints exist. The justice is very expensive to run, requiring many highly qualified people. That means for cases where not enough money is at stake, it's not worth the cost (x hours * $300/billable hour for your lawyer, plus the other side's lawyers, plus judge/clerks/paralegals) to peruse justice. The government does step in some cases though, usually in criminal cases.
gloosx 3y ago
In reality, the institution was set up to assert dominance of power, wasn't it? justice is a fluke for powerless

odion011 3y ago

[flagged]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]