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Earlier quoted context omitted.
As was demonstrated, Ponzi schemes are already illegal, regardless of denomination. No new laws or regulations required. 99% of the time in the USA, blatant fuckery is already illegal six ways from Sunday. The last thing we need are more laws.
Does Bitcoin make it easier to get away with a Ponzi scheme?
I'm not arguing over what they're doing, the guy was asking for it, but it seems someone at a high level asked for more regulation and attention on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
That would make people worried about buying bitcoin because, simplistically, "Bitcoin = scams".
> The SEC alleges that Shavers promised investors up to 7 percent weekly interest based on BTCST’s Bitcoin market arbitrage activity, which supposedly included selling to individuals who wished to buy Bitcoin “off the radar” in quick fashion or large quantities Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody?…
I have been following the whole development of his Ponzi scheme. Yes it was obvious to some in the community that it was a Ponzi. I remember writing a few lengthy posts on bitcointalk.org accusing him of a Ponzi. But surprisingly, many people adamantly chose to believe in Shavers and argued against me, ignoring my warnings, telling me why I was wrong. Their argument boiled down to "it has to be legit since he has been paying everybody so far". Sigh... Money prevents people from thinking straight.
> The SEC alleges that Shavers promised investors up to 7 percent weekly interest based on BTCST’s Bitcoin market arbitrage activity, which supposedly included selling to individuals who wished to buy Bitcoin “off the radar” in quick fashion or large quantities Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody?…
> Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody? If you were following the Bitcoin forums at the height of the Ponzi, anyone who suggested it was a Ponzi was called a troll who was libelling pirateat40 by what felt like half the forum. Everyone insisted that unless they had actual proof it wasn't a genuine…
> The SEC alleges that Shavers promised investors up to 7 percent weekly interest based on BTCST’s Bitcoin market arbitrage activity, which supposedly included selling to individuals who wished to buy Bitcoin “off the radar” in quick fashion or large quantities Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody?…
> The SEC alleges that Shavers promised investors up to 7 percent weekly interest based on BTCST’s Bitcoin market arbitrage activity, which supposedly included selling to individuals who wished to buy Bitcoin “off the radar” in quick fashion or large quantities Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody?…
Given this, is anyone algorithmically analyzing the ledger for anomalies like Ponzi schemes? That could be an interesting project.
I'm not arguing over what they're doing, the guy was asking for it, but it seems someone at a high level asked for more regulation and attention on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
what happened was his forum passthru cheerleaders that got scammed when his ponzi popped ran screaming to every authority they could and finally somebody at the SEC noticed. Note these same people all trollish extreme libertarians that denounced all regulation until it affected them and they immediately deferred to authority
PPT operators did not have an incentive to go after pirate, unless they had also invested significant personal holdings in BS&T, because:
1) They were investing other peoples' money and taking a fee off the top
2) They could face investigation themselves if they went to the authorities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Anybody that is not skeptical about 7% weekly returns on anything is just asking for it. That's 33x your money in 1 year. How can that sound legit to anybody? If you were following the Bitcoin forums at the height of the Ponzi, anyone who suggested it was a Ponzi was called a troll who was libelling pirateat40 by what felt like half the forum. Everyone insisted that unless they had actual proof it wasn't a genuine…
If you invest money with someone called "pirateat40" you get what you deserve.
It's just like what happened in EVE Online[0], only with real-world consequences instead of "that sucks, but player beware". [0]: http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/news/eve-online-ponzi-scheme...