Live data from Hacker News

Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

venturebeat.com

31–40 of 60 posts

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you and sibling comment are getting at. Noone is forcing you to participate in cryptocurrency ICO's, just like noone was forcing anyone to participate in dot-com stocks back in the day. In both cases it was perfectly avoidable.

Well obviously, but if you don't see the value of the blockchain and the technology behind it then you're on the wrong site my friend. I'm saying that it's always better to get familiar with new technology at the earliest point possible. To "Completely ignore the world of coins" would be kind of stupid and shortsighted don't you think?

I think they meant "ignore the world of coins as investment vehicles". You can inform yourself without putting your life savings into some ICO.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#33
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well obviously, but if you don't see the value of the blockchain and the technology behind it then you're on the wrong site my friend. I'm saying that it's always better to get familiar with new technology at the earliest point possible. To "Completely ignore the world of coins" would be kind of stupid and shortsighted don't you think?

I think they meant "ignore the world of coins as investment vehicles". You can inform yourself without putting your life savings into some ICO.

"Completely ignore the world of coins" doesn't leave much room for interpretation.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#34
post #26

Ah the dot-com bubble 2.0. I think it'll go down in history as the crypto-crash because that's cool to say. But seriously this is exactly what happened in the late 90's during the rise of the web. There is real value in Bitcoin, there is real value in blockchain technology. There probably isn't any value in PETCOIN or AOLCOIN if you catch my drift. Smart investors who can stomach risk can make a lot of money over the…

No, this is substantially worse than the late 90s. In the late 90s there were a lot of very premature IPOs and a lot of money raised for bad ideas, but very few of them were total cranks or scams. I could in fact buy pet food on pets.com-- it just wasn't a viable business and wasn't well executed. The CueCat was a horrible business idea but CueCats actually did exist and you could in fact use them. (I used to have on…

I'm betting many of these participants will get in considerable legal trouble. They are dealing in trackable cryptocurrency as opposed to hard cash. The paper trails are quite clear. If they were smart enough to only spend the funds on the project perhaps they just get hit with securities violations. If they instead chose to spend it on personal stuff, there will be Interpol warrants, extraditions, and prison time waiting.

Earlier in the year I began going through the list of alt-assets and ICOs. I appreciate how the lists of advisors (or whatever they are being called) are full of people with experience in completely irrelevant areas.

Cryptography is one of those areas where you really need to be good at what you do or your skills have a deeply negative value. To create some sort of cryptographic asset with a team devoid of cryptographers and people with deep software security experience is a joke.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#35
How about a modern investment project in construction industry based on blockchain technology? An ICO investment in the infrastructure of a plot of land in Russia, which will make you a 300% return. Of course, All transactions will be securely processed in Ethereum Virtual Machine and stored in a blockchain – distributed database on numerous nodes around the globe. Decentralized consensus gives Ethereum extreme levels of fault tolerance, ensures zero downtime, and makes data stored on the blockchain forever unchangeable and censorship-resistant.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#36
post #26

Ah the dot-com bubble 2.0. I think it'll go down in history as the crypto-crash because that's cool to say. But seriously this is exactly what happened in the late 90's during the rise of the web. There is real value in Bitcoin, there is real value in blockchain technology. There probably isn't any value in PETCOIN or AOLCOIN if you catch my drift. Smart investors who can stomach risk can make a lot of money over the…

No, this is substantially worse than the late 90s. In the late 90s there were a lot of very premature IPOs and a lot of money raised for bad ideas, but very few of them were total cranks or scams. I could in fact buy pet food on pets.com-- it just wasn't a viable business and wasn't well executed. The CueCat was a horrible business idea but CueCats actually did exist and you could in fact use them. (I used to have on…

I agree completely.

The sad thing is that this is actually very cool technology and I bet there are real use cases out there that could benefit from them. But the ones I have seen are not it. I wonder if Ethereum itself will also be punished when all these tokens come crashing down...

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#37
post #34
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is substantially worse than the late 90s. In the late 90s there were a lot of very premature IPOs and a lot of money raised for bad ideas, but very few of them were total cranks or scams. I could in fact buy pet food on pets.com-- it just wasn't a viable business and wasn't well executed. The CueCat was a horrible business idea but CueCats actually did exist and you could in fact use them. (I used to have on…

I'm betting many of these participants will get in considerable legal trouble. They are dealing in trackable cryptocurrency as opposed to hard cash. The paper trails are quite clear. If they were smart enough to only spend the funds on the project perhaps they just get hit with securities violations. If they instead chose to spend it on personal stuff, there will be Interpol warrants, extraditions, and prison time wa…

Yeah I have this sense that the hammer is hovering over some of these peoples' heads and we are about to see mass arrests. Some of these are flagrant scams with very identifiable names attached to them. I'm sorry but if you raise capital for a venture it is not your money, and if you behave as if it is you are committing a crime.

If that does happen crypto will crash. The crash will bleed over into Bitcoin too because sheep.

In the long run it might be a good thing. Maybe ICOs will get re-invented as something more reputable. I know Naval Ravikant (AngelList) is involved in a project to create a reputable sort of ICO vehicle patterned after the SAFE and he has an excellent reputation. I feel bad for the people right now trying to do legitimate work in this space and having to compete with a bunch of obvious cranks and fakes.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#38
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is substantially worse than the late 90s. In the late 90s there were a lot of very premature IPOs and a lot of money raised for bad ideas, but very few of them were total cranks or scams. I could in fact buy pet food on pets.com-- it just wasn't a viable business and wasn't well executed. The CueCat was a horrible business idea but CueCats actually did exist and you could in fact use them. (I used to have on…

I can agree with that. There isn't a whole lot of utility in individual ICO's. However if you look at ICO's in general the concept is pretty remarkable, ICO's essentially facilitate the "move fast and break things" mentality of Silicon Valley. If ICO's work over the next 10 years (after the crash and into the future) that's a pretty great tool that Silicon Valley now has, they can now surpass the SEC and having the b…

The SEC may be slow-moving, but don't mistake that for having bypassed them.

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#39

Ah the dot-com bubble 2.0. I think it'll go down in history as the crypto-crash because that's cool to say. But seriously this is exactly what happened in the late 90's during the rise of the web. There is real value in Bitcoin, there is real value in blockchain technology. There probably isn't any value in PETCOIN or AOLCOIN if you catch my drift. Smart investors who can stomach risk can make a lot of money over the…

I still haven't seen a situation where cryptocurrency is going to work better for me than cash, credit, or bill pay would. I'd have to pay a commission to buy crypto currency, I'd have pay a commission to cash out again, how is that better than just using cash/credit?

Re: Avoiding being scammed in ICO “pump-and-dump” schemes

#40

Ah the dot-com bubble 2.0. I think it'll go down in history as the crypto-crash because that's cool to say. But seriously this is exactly what happened in the late 90's during the rise of the web. There is real value in Bitcoin, there is real value in blockchain technology. There probably isn't any value in PETCOIN or AOLCOIN if you catch my drift. Smart investors who can stomach risk can make a lot of money over the…

I still haven't seen a situation where cryptocurrency is going to work better for me than cash, credit, or bill pay would. I'd have to pay a commission to buy crypto currency, I'd have pay a commission to cash out again, how is that better than just using cash/credit?

You are paying for privacy. There is no company to sell your buying habits. There is no company the government can demand turn over your purchasing history.
Post reply on HN