Bitcoin Ponzi scheme • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#51

Post by breaker05 » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:33 PM UTC

I'd love people to donate a few BTC that I can use for more noble causes.

1P6yGa6nerZZ7jFDVPtFuXUPvLSfku4kWj

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#52

Post by lucb1e » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:34 PM UTC

refrigerator wrote: post #9

If I had any Bitcoin, I would definitely play this once or twice

> once or twice

That's what they all say

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#53

Post by runn1ng » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:34 PM UTC

eterm wrote: post #48

runn1ng wrote: post #40

What I realized now: if you look at their BTC balance https://blockchain.info/address/1ponziUjuCVdB167ZmTWH48AURW1... plus https://blockchain.info/address/14ji9KmegNHhTchf4ftkt3J1ywmi... their "debt" - meaning, what other people have to bring into the system - is their balance + 20%. Right now, their debt is about 42 bitcoin.

Isn't their acrued "debt" actually 20% of what has been paid in? That's about 48 bitcoins as of now. (Or perhaps that's what you meant?)

Hm, you might actually be right.

I am not sure what the balance actually represents.

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#54

Post by ilya89 » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:34 PM UTC

thrush wrote: post #27

How much does creator make?

he probably funded the first 10-100 btc, 20% profit. do the math.

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#55

Post by powera » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:36 PM UTC

sehr wrote: post #49

powera wrote: post #41

This is quite possibly the worst post to ever hit #1 on Hacker News. Why are you people voting it up? Just because it admits that it's a scam (and "get your money plus 20% back for nothing ALWAYS ENDS UP A SCAM") doesn't mean that it should get posted here.

Because it's interesting?

"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." - I maintain that a "good" hacker wouldn't find a blatant scam interesting. Especially not "just because it uses bitcoin".

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#56

Post by thret » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:37 PM UTC

lucb1e wrote: post #52

refrigerator wrote: post #9

If I had any Bitcoin, I would definitely play this once or twice

> once or twice That's what they all say

That's why it works. Get 1.2x on your penny, in for a pound.

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#57

Post by tobz » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:37 PM UTC

Why bother with a faceless ponzi scheme? Send your bitcoin directly to me, and I will invest it by hand, making sure to maximize your return: 1HbNxRhrv5Jocr7Q9ZqbbqCwuNNy4UsR77

This is totally legit. Seriously.

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#58

Post by thrush » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:38 PM UTC

ilya89 wrote: post #54

thrush wrote: post #27

How much does creator make?

he probably funded the first 10-100 btc, 20% profit. do the math.

are you sure 20% profit is the right number? Imagine two people use it, and they both pay 1 BTC.

  Time | Event
  1    | First person pays 1 BTC
  2    | Second person pays 1 BTC
  2    | First person gets paid 1.2 BTC

The creator makes .8 BTC in this case. Pretty solid return if you ask me.

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#59

Post by ElongatedTowel » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:38 PM UTC

TheAnimus wrote: post #7

bernardom wrote: post #3

This is a beautiful piece of art/social experimentation/I-don't-know-what.

It's brilliant, and it will work, and continue to work until people don't believe in it.

I love how people send over $1000 to this site. Why not play poker if you have that much money to spend on gambling? Or, you know, buy an instrument and learn something beautiful?

Re: Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

#60

Post by dwaltrip » Sat, Feb 08, 2014, 8:39 PM UTC

No one finds this repulsive? People will lose money to this. Yes, they are dumb, yes it is obvious. But those who participate are still morally complicit. Enabling others who suffer from serious issues (addiction, gambling) seems like a pretty shitty thing to do.