From the BBC:
The company behind a Kodak-branded crypto-currency mining scheme has confirmed the plan has collapsed.
In January, a Bitcoin mining computer labelled Kodak KashMiner was on display on Kodak's official stand at the CES technology show in Las Vegas.
But critics labelled it a "scam" and said the advertised profits were unachievable and misleading.
Now the company behind the scheme says it will not go ahead. Kodak told the BBC it was never officially licensed.
An up-front investment of $3,400 to rent a box that will generate $375 a month in bitcoin? I hear the word "ponzi" on the breeze...
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Kodak Bitcoin Kashminer Turns Out to be Scam
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:38AM (7 children)
> "An up-front investment of $3,400 to rent a box that will generate $375 a month in bitcoin?"
Is there a youtube video of the guys behind this scheme trying to answer the basic question "Why do you share rather than keep the boxes and the profits, given the amazing 9-month ROI?"
I really really would love to know how you can spin that one with a straight face.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:14AM (3 children)
P.T.Barnum... there's a sucker born every minute.
Everyone seems ripe for a few fast ones before they wise up.
Myself included.
Their specialty is in finding those who haven't wised up yet. Once they have been around the bush a few times, they will become just a cynical as the rest of us.
Those who won't wise up are condemned to pay tuition for the same lesson over and over and over.
I learned that one of the most expensive things on this planet are handshakes with men wearing suits.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:03AM
There is a lot more money to be made from pulling fast ones than there is in cultivating trust.
It may have taken a family and a church 20 years to raise a child from a baby to a trusting obedient order follower.
Once the sheep have become skittish, now you have to go chase 'em down and confine them, maybe even have to kill 'em, to shear them again. Poor shepherd indeed that has his sheep so distrusting they run away from the shepherd.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:23AM
https://petapixel.com/2018/01/11/kodak-kashminer-bitcoin-miner-rent-3400/
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:34AM
I think we need P.T. Barnum right now. We don't have him. But we have me. And I hear from many people that I'm a lot like him. But in many ways, much better. Little story about P.T. Barnum, he ran a museum. Folks would pay to go in, they'd look around for a long time. It got very crowded, it was cutting into his profits. Too many visitors! So he put up a sign, "this way to the egress." Folks would follow the sign, they'd end up outside. Locked out. Because "egress" is a fancy word for the exit. A word that a lot of folks didn't know. I don't talk like that. and I don't write like that. I use words everyone knows. I have many many words. But I stick to the simple ones. And folks love me for it!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:06AM (1 child)
I do not know what kind of up-fronf arrangement there is, but "generate $375 a month in bitcoin" will cost you about 375 BTC in electrical bills. Mining in a llace with average price ov electricity will not be very profitable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:58AM
The term "Privatize the Profit, Socialize the Loss" comes to mind when I see this.
Get the money now - and run!
Use Marketing and Business skillsets to find those who will agree to terms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:07PM
Well, the boxes cost them less than $3,400, so they're making a chunk of change reselling the box. Also, if the boxes generate more than $375 per month they keep the extra. So they are getting suckers to fund the boxes and generating free bitcoins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by meustrus on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:53AM (7 children)
If you hear “ponzi” in the breeze, that might be a sign of hallucination. I suggest you learn what Ponzi scheme [wikipedia.org] really is so you can stop conflating it with other kinds of lies or, in other more annoying cases, completely honest investments like pension plans.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:00AM
If the pension plan depends on having a continuous flow of people to pay off the last people then it is a ponzi.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:35AM (1 child)
Note the characteristic of paying off existing investors with funds from new investors. There's some notable examples of pension plans that work just like that, for example, US Social Security or any pension fund that has depleted its investment base. But I would agree in excluding those from the category of "completely honest investments".
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:09AM
Trust me, I'm not touching Social Security or Medicare. Until Day 1 of my second term!!!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kazzie on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:19AM (3 children)
Granted, this scheme was a profit-sharing scheme, where you give the Kodak licensee $3,400 rent and half of whatever profits you make. As such, it doesn't actually depend on using new investors' money to pay you back.
I do, however, stand by my original statement: that if their estimate of $375 profit a month on a $3,400 investment was accurate, I'd be wondering "is this a Ponzi scheme?"
(Score: 5, Informative) by kazzie on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:26AM (2 children)
To pick some quotations from the article you linked:
"Typically, Ponzi schemes require an initial investment and promise well-above-average returns."
"It is common for the operator to take advantage of a lack of investor knowledge or competence, or sometimes claim to use a proprietary, secret investment strategy in order to avoid giving information about the scheme."
"According to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ... the warnings signs include:[11]
High investment returns with little or no risk"
One these counts, the KashMiner quacks a bit like a Ponzi scheme.
(Score: 1) by Per Bothner on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:05PM (1 child)
In other words, this is not a Ponzi scheme. They are many kinds of scams and frauds that are not Ponzi schemes.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:05AM
Agreed. This is not a Ponzi scheme.
But it sounds similar enough to make me worry about the wisdom of the scheme.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:23AM (1 child)
And that's too bad. Because everything needs a name, right? But maybe the folks at Spotlite are listening. Guys, call the Trump Organization in New York. And we'll set you up. Great rate, very fair & strong contract for the BEST NAME!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Nuke on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:56PM
Kodak now say they did not license it, trying to distance themselves, but it was displayed on the Kodak stand at a show. Is this really the Kodak that was founded by George Eastman? He must be spinning in his grave with how low they have sunk.