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Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

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Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that would be true, then Ebay, Amazon, Etsy etc. would have no right to exist in the world.

The difference may lay in the years that those you named had to adjust and readjust their countermeasures and learn from their mistakes ( up to a point ).

At this stage, as long as you are using a company like Stripe with enabled full transaction review settings, you can tap into this countermeasures (or even better) with few clicks.

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#102
post #95

Err.. aren't these guys going to run into regulatory problems? You need a license to sell this in the US. Not to mention selling crypto with credit cards is a great way to go broke unless you own the keys like Coinbase does. Also, why would you trust the keys they are sending you? Having someone else generate a wallet for you then sending it to you via a USB key sounds very very bad. I don't get this.

> Err.. aren't these guys going to run into regulatory problems? You need a license to sell this in the US. We've had some conversations with our legal team at Cooley & some conversations with outside counsel at Goodwin Procter. They have not been able to reach consensus on whether we fall within regulatory oversight. Until then, we're not going to be selling anymore in the United States. It comes down to whether thi…

> we're trusting that our customers will not chargeback

I remember when I was young once, too.

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly, without a MTL (Money transmitting License) it seems like this runs afoul of a number of things including KYC. For the record MTL's for all 50 states will run you 6-12 months and ~300K when insurance, lawyer fees, and application fees are through (That's for the first year, subsequent years are cheaper but still).

They don't need an MTL because they're not transmitting money to another party or holding the money, they're just transmitting the money back to the original party. However, it does seem like they are running afoul of other parts of regulations, like KYC and money laundering.

Ahh, thank you for clearing that up. I was recently looking into starting a business that required an MTL and knew WE needed one but wasn’t completely sure about what qualified for other companies.

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#104
post #31

If you guys are not a registered Money Service Business you should stop ASAP. What your doing sounds like a jailable offense. See the local bitcoin guy who went to prison for selling bitcoin in Florida.

See the local bitcoin guy who went to prison for selling bitcoin in Florida. Wait, selling bitcoin in one the many bitcoin meetups around the U.S. is illegal?

Yes technically it is. It would also be illegal to give someone Euros for USD so there are practical thresholds here that need to be crossed before anyone is going to press charges, but doing it regularly is definitely something that puts you at risk.

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#105
post #99
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't recommend using this for non-trivial amounts of money for hopefully obvious reasons Hey Tom! Guy from the article here. First off, thanks for Metabase. I'm a big fan & recommend it often. Second, you're absolutely right. We have been capping people at $1500 purchases per month unless they were willing to provide identification & an understanding of the risks associated with our service. > Nor would I rec…

> We're currently working through that to understand how and where we stand to adapt our offering to be within the limits of the law. Trying to claim it's an 'art collectible' (as you say in another comment), doesn't sound like being 'within the limits of the law' - it sounds squarely like trying to find loopholes in the law.

Quick correction: "where we stand to adapt our offering to be within the limits of the law." should be "where we stand to adapt our offering to be within the limits of the law if it is determined to not already be within said limits."

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#106
I wonder if instead the usb sticks had empty wallets, would this business be legal? Going a step further, in addition to the empty wallet, if the seller offered a credit/iou of any crypto of the buyers choice (a bit like a visa gift card), where the seller could choose to excersise or claim the credit at any time (or never), I wonder if structuring it like that would still require a msb license etc..

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#107
post #95

Err.. aren't these guys going to run into regulatory problems? You need a license to sell this in the US. Not to mention selling crypto with credit cards is a great way to go broke unless you own the keys like Coinbase does. Also, why would you trust the keys they are sending you? Having someone else generate a wallet for you then sending it to you via a USB key sounds very very bad. I don't get this.

> Err.. aren't these guys going to run into regulatory problems? You need a license to sell this in the US. We've had some conversations with our legal team at Cooley & some conversations with outside counsel at Goodwin Procter. They have not been able to reach consensus on whether we fall within regulatory oversight. Until then, we're not going to be selling anymore in the United States. It comes down to whether thi…

Glad you guys got a lawyer to look into this. Thread very carefully with crypto, taxes and the US government. Good luck.

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#109

Obligatory question nobody's ask: who is generating the wallets, and what realistically, prevent them from keeping a copy of the said wallets ?

They are, and nothing. Nothing is preventing them from keeping every single private key and then emptying all the wallets after a month.

The headline next week: "Generating $64,000 in 30 days selling ..."

Re: Generating $32,000 in 30 days selling a crypto-filled USB stick

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that would be true, then Ebay, Amazon, Etsy etc. would have no right to exist in the world.

The difference may lay in the years that those you named had to adjust and readjust their countermeasures and learn from their mistakes ( up to a point ).

Hi, this reply is completely irrelevant to the subject matter, but i couldn't directly send you a message so this is my only option. quite a while back in a topic regarding bitgrail losing 170m you submitted a link to the bitgrail trollbox chat log in here

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16355342

but unfortunately the link no longer has file, is there any chance you still have the chat log? i would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks

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