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from the It-would-be-a-shame-if-something-happened-to-your-ICO dept.
Ethereum 'ICO architect' arrested over alleged $12M cryptocurrency extortion
Two individuals in the US, including a former advisor to various blockchain projects including Ethereum, ETH have been arrested for their alleged role in a series of multi-million dollar cryptocurrency extortion.
According to a Department of Justice statement, former Ethereum advisor Steven Nerayoff and Michael Hlady were arrested after supposedly threatening to "destroy a startup cryptocurrency company if they were not paid millions of dollars" worth of Ethereum.
"As alleged, Nerayoff and Hlady carried out an old-fashioned shakedown, to be paid off with 21st century cryptocurrency," United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said in the statement.
The targeted company was an unnamed Seattle-based startup that uses cryptocurrency to reward customer loyalty. The unnamed company makes blockchain-based products for those looking to generate and reward user traffic.
The allegations are being lodged against Maple Ventures, an offshoot of Alchemist LLC, a blockchain consultancy founded and headed-up by Nerayoff, CNBC reports.
It's also worth noting that Nerayoff was pivotal in constructing the legal architecture behind Ethereum token offerings. On his own website he claims to have been called the "Architect of the ICO." One of his most recent ventures, – which he co-founded – CasperLabs, debuted its scalable, proof-of-stake blockchain on its testnet earlier this year.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday September 30 2019, @08:05PM (7 children)
Sorry, that there's another sucker born every minute doesn't prove anything - where's the intrinsic value in your Ethereum tokens?
Title to land has intrinsic value: the quiet enjoyment of the land and any productivity you might legally gain from it including construction and habitation of shelter.
Title to a vehicle has intrinsic value: not only the value of transportation while it is functioning, but also the value of the materials should you chose to sell it for scrap.
A latte ordered at a Starbucks may lack title, but you still have entered into a contract for delivery of something with intrinsic value - perhaps a value far less than what you paid, but the calories in the coffee are a small part of the stuff of life, intrinsically valuable to not only you, but any other person who might be thirsty or in need/want of a sugar buzz.
Ethereum gives you a secret number. Should I copy your secret number(s) (all too easy to do), then I can impersonate you to the other holders of secret numbers and trade yours for theirs. And, in the end, it's all just secret numbers - infinitely copyable, easily forgotten / lost, and only worth anything to other people who believe that secret numbers might be worth something. You might compare it to Fiat currency, but at least Fiat currency is backed by governments who have military and police powers. Ethereum is backed by? Well, the fast talking of people like Steven Nerayoff and Michael Hlady, for one. Got any better examples?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday September 30 2019, @09:53PM (4 children)
Sometimes I wonder how a crypto currency backed by FIAT [wikipedia.org] would be named. Most of the time, 'tho, I don't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday September 30 2019, @10:26PM (3 children)
Currency not only backed by Italians, but cheap Italian carmakers... that should inflate and fly like a weather balloon.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 30 2019, @10:40PM (2 children)
The carmakers aren't that cheap (after all, they bought Chrysler).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 01 2019, @01:53AM (1 child)
Makers of cheap, plentiful cars frequently buy and sell more "stately" marques, because they just aren't as big a business.
Lee Iacocca wasn't a God, just a hospice nurse.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday October 01 2019, @02:19AM
Best example: Volkswagen [wikipedia.org], the owner of Audi, Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborgini, Bentley, Ducati (motorcycle).
👍
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Monday September 30 2019, @11:28PM (1 child)
The value is in what someone is willing to pay. Your land isn't worth shit if nobody is interested in it. Since you see no value in "secret numbers" I'll gladly take any you happen to have laying around. The darknet markets all take crypto so how do you explain that? Are they giving away real product for "secret numbers"?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 01 2019, @02:09AM
That's where you're missing the point of: intrinsic value.
Even when nobody (with money, or anything to trade) is interested in land, if you hold title to quiet enjoyment of the land, there is value there. Throw on a cow, it can eat the grass and you can sell the shit, literally, for fertilizer. Without land to graze on, the cow won't be making shit for long.
Here's a secret number:
436f7773206561742067726173732c20636f7773206d616b6520736869742c20736869742073656c6c7320666f7220636173682c206861766520736f6d65207368697420666f7220667265652e
Tell me what value you get for it.
And grocery stores take Visa, and casinos take chips - it's a mutually agreed method of exchange. Neither my Visa card, nor a stack of poker chips have any intrinsic value.
🌻🌻 [google.com]