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If there was every a ready-made use case for crypto, it's this. Alexandra Elbakyan is both a criminal in most places and a hero to many [0]. I want her to keep

If there was every a ready-made use case for crypto, it's this. Alexandra Elbakyan is both a criminal in most places and a hero to many [0]. I want her to keep doing what she's doing, and that means someone probably has to pay her to do it. The whole point of Bitcoin is to make money permisionless, i.e. the right tool for this particular job. [0] https://www.science.org/content/article/frustrated-science-student-behind-sci-hub https://www.science.org/content/article/frustrated-science-s...

jsheard 1y ago
Even if crypto is the only viable way to do this, doing it with their own memecoin instead of something that's already well established is a massive red flag. That means they can easily pre-mine vast amounts of their token for effectively nothing and then cash out by selling them all at once when the price peaks. Textbook shitcoin rug-pull.
- freeone3000 1y ago
  Isn’t that… also good? If you want to fund the project, isn’t that a very good way to send someone(the organizers of the shitcoin) money in an efficient and untracable way? The indirect market forces avoid the downfalls of Monero (not accepted) and direct BTC transmissions (traceable), and since it’s a pre-mine, it avoids the “splash damage” of a more common commodity. Doing a sci-hub pump-and-dump is almost ideal as a fundraising vehicle for sci-hub.
  - aleph_minus_one 1y ago
    > If you want to fund the project, isn’t that a very good way to send someone(the organizers of the shitcoin) money in an efficient and untracable way? The Sci-Hub meme coin does not take privacy and untraceability very seriously, thus potentially putting lots of its user in danger. :-(
  - stavros 1y ago
    Yeah but it's kind of like if I'm buying a Sci-Hub gift card, or loading my Sci-Hub wallet with some balance. If you want anonymity, use Monero, it would have solved all the issues here. Sci-hub could even take a cut, which personally I'd have no objections to.
- troyvit 1y ago
  I hear what you're saying, but as a guy who knows this much |-----| about crypto, I would be worried about the same thing using anybody else's coin. Sci-net having full control over the value of the coin means they don't have to worry as much about uncontrollable fluctuations in coin price going with an established coin, especially now that governments are getting in on the action.[1] The whole basis of this scheme comes down to trust on so many levels. Like: > When creating a request, you can specify the amount of tokens uploader will receive for sharing the paper. However, the tokens will not be transferred after uploading the PDF right away, but only after you check the solution and click the 'Accept' button. The tokens subtracted from your account will be added to the uploader. So a jerk can request a paper, receive the paper, then never pay for the paper if they feel like it. I think this is just how the community is run. [1] I guess people could still make a run on sci-hub coins outside of this market, but I bet the scale of the coin will never reach a level that makes that tempting.
  - cokeandpepsi 1y ago
    > uncontrollable fluctuations in coin price going with an established coin How? even the site mentions "The more people use Sci-Hub token, the more valuable it becomes" the entire point is to make the coin price go up
- Funes- 1y ago
  >doing it with their own memecoin instead of something that's already well established is a massive red flag. It is. You want to reward people for their work in a private and reliable way? Monero's right there.
KingOfCoders 1y ago
Send her money in an envelope if you want to pay her.
- volemo 1y ago
  That would be actually illegal [1] while investing in her memecoin is only grey area. [1]: Since, afaik, she lives in Russia and sending money in an envelope is made illegal by ФЗ № 176-ФЗ art. 22 p. "г".
- PeterStuer 1y ago
  How would I know she could collect it?
NoMoreNicksLeft 1y ago
>The whole point of Bitcoin is to make money permisionless, i.e. the right tool for this particular job. May have been true long ago, but when speculators are hoping to get rich-quick holding bitcoin for another n months, no one's going to spend it. Bitcoiners ruined bitcoin. It's not the right tool for anything, other than maybe paying traceless bribes to Congressmen.
- troyvit 1y ago
  Yeah I would love to hear from people who know what _would_ be a better coin to use than a) Bitcoin and b) your own meme-coin.
  - alxfoster 1y ago
    IMHO, Monero checks every box. Bitcoin is not as anonymous as most think. Monero may be a little more difficult to exchange but last I checked, most major exchanges outside of Coinbase still support it.
  - stavros 1y ago
    I agree about Monero, it's anonymous, fungible, and has low fees and high speed.
    - immibis 1y ago
      It only has low fees because nobody uses it. The same thing happens to Bitcoin. Someone said the transaction fee is about $0.10 right now (I didn't check) but when people are actually using Bitcoin, that jumps up to around $20.
- bawolff 1y ago
  > It's not the right tool for anything, other than maybe paying traceless bribes to Congressmen. If its useful for that, then presumably it would also be useful to giving traceless donations to criminals, since that is effectively the same thing. Hence seems like the right tool for the job.
beeflet 1y ago
the traceability of bitcoin presents a problem in this situation. bitcoin isn't exactly fungible.
theptip 1y ago
Exactly. Whatever your opinions on crypto, it should not be controversial that black market transactions are a perfect fit.
- daveguy 1y ago
  Yup. It's literally the primary use for crypto.

jsheard 1y ago

Even if crypto is the only viable way to do this, doing it with their own memecoin instead of something that's already well established is a massive red flag. That means they can easily pre-mine vast amounts of their token for effectively nothing and then cash out by selling them all at once when the price peaks. Textbook shitcoin rug-pull.

freeone3000 1y ago
Isn’t that… also good? If you want to fund the project, isn’t that a very good way to send someone(the organizers of the shitcoin) money in an efficient and untracable way? The indirect market forces avoid the downfalls of Monero (not accepted) and direct BTC transmissions (traceable), and since it’s a pre-mine, it avoids the “splash damage” of a more common commodity. Doing a sci-hub pump-and-dump is almost ideal as a fundraising vehicle for sci-hub.
- aleph_minus_one 1y ago
  > If you want to fund the project, isn’t that a very good way to send someone(the organizers of the shitcoin) money in an efficient and untracable way? The Sci-Hub meme coin does not take privacy and untraceability very seriously, thus potentially putting lots of its user in danger. :-(
- stavros 1y ago
  Yeah but it's kind of like if I'm buying a Sci-Hub gift card, or loading my Sci-Hub wallet with some balance. If you want anonymity, use Monero, it would have solved all the issues here. Sci-hub could even take a cut, which personally I'd have no objections to.
troyvit 1y ago
I hear what you're saying, but as a guy who knows this much |-----| about crypto, I would be worried about the same thing using anybody else's coin. Sci-net having full control over the value of the coin means they don't have to worry as much about uncontrollable fluctuations in coin price going with an established coin, especially now that governments are getting in on the action.[1] The whole basis of this scheme comes down to trust on so many levels. Like: > When creating a request, you can specify the amount of tokens uploader will receive for sharing the paper. However, the tokens will not be transferred after uploading the PDF right away, but only after you check the solution and click the 'Accept' button. The tokens subtracted from your account will be added to the uploader. So a jerk can request a paper, receive the paper, then never pay for the paper if they feel like it. I think this is just how the community is run. [1] I guess people could still make a run on sci-hub coins outside of this market, but I bet the scale of the coin will never reach a level that makes that tempting.
- cokeandpepsi 1y ago
  > uncontrollable fluctuations in coin price going with an established coin How? even the site mentions "The more people use Sci-Hub token, the more valuable it becomes" the entire point is to make the coin price go up
Funes- 1y ago
>doing it with their own memecoin instead of something that's already well established is a massive red flag. It is. You want to reward people for their work in a private and reliable way? Monero's right there.

KingOfCoders 1y ago

Send her money in an envelope if you want to pay her.

volemo 1y ago
That would be actually illegal [1] while investing in her memecoin is only grey area. [1]: Since, afaik, she lives in Russia and sending money in an envelope is made illegal by ФЗ № 176-ФЗ art. 22 p. "г".
PeterStuer 1y ago
How would I know she could collect it?

NoMoreNicksLeft 1y ago

>The whole point of Bitcoin is to make money permisionless, i.e. the right tool for this particular job. May have been true long ago, but when speculators are hoping to get rich-quick holding bitcoin for another n months, no one's going to spend it. Bitcoiners ruined bitcoin. It's not the right tool for anything, other than maybe paying traceless bribes to Congressmen.

troyvit 1y ago
Yeah I would love to hear from people who know what _would_ be a better coin to use than a) Bitcoin and b) your own meme-coin.
- alxfoster 1y ago
  IMHO, Monero checks every box. Bitcoin is not as anonymous as most think. Monero may be a little more difficult to exchange but last I checked, most major exchanges outside of Coinbase still support it.
- stavros 1y ago
  I agree about Monero, it's anonymous, fungible, and has low fees and high speed.
  - immibis 1y ago
    It only has low fees because nobody uses it. The same thing happens to Bitcoin. Someone said the transaction fee is about $0.10 right now (I didn't check) but when people are actually using Bitcoin, that jumps up to around $20.
bawolff 1y ago
> It's not the right tool for anything, other than maybe paying traceless bribes to Congressmen. If its useful for that, then presumably it would also be useful to giving traceless donations to criminals, since that is effectively the same thing. Hence seems like the right tool for the job.

beeflet 1y ago

the traceability of bitcoin presents a problem in this situation. bitcoin isn't exactly fungible.

theptip 1y ago

Exactly. Whatever your opinions on crypto, it should not be controversial that black market transactions are a perfect fit.

daveguy 1y ago
Yup. It's literally the primary use for crypto.