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Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

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Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#181

Post by Cakez0r »

afeezaziz wrote: post #68
jamespitts wrote: post #45

I would like to make an appeal to the YC community: please reach out and help guide those involved in this rapidly advancing phenomenon. There is a huge amount of instantly-deployable capital in Ethereum and Bitcoin, held by individuals now seeking ways to put it to work. Many technologists will naturally make use of this energy, but so will BS artists and people under the influence of hubris. I am making this appeal…

I agree with this sentiment. The sentiment on HN is that ICO promoters/startups are all scammer. My company, Pipeline Network is going to launch our ICO soon. We would be more than happy to get some guide/mentorship from the YC community.

What will your token be used for?

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#182

Post by Cakez0r »

ashnyc wrote: post #137

ICO are the best thing that ever happened. This is no different then kickstarter.com started. People where saying the same things. People put up lot of BS project and they got funded, in time these kind of project will fail on there own. This is just the start, no government or bank would have supported such system. For once, the small guy can participate in this market. I would have loved to invest in amazon, facebo…

Participating in ICOs are not the same as investing in the company and receiving equity in return. The vast majority of tokens are not backed by equity in the company that created them.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#183

Post by peculiar »

ShabbosGoy wrote: post #152
RexetBlell wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are as much a Ponzi scheme as gold (which has almost no practical use) and ugly paintings that cost millions http://www.therichest.com/luxury/most-expensive/10-ugly-piec... If expensive ugly paintings are not a Ponzi scheme, then cryptocurrencies are not a Ponzi scheme.

Ether is more like oil - it is a fuel source used to power smart contracts, token sales, and autonomous organizations.

Ether is not like oil at all. You only somewhat need ETH. Nothing stops you from using ETC. Or starting your own fork (either private or public). Your contracts will work there just fine.

On the other hand, it is not likely you can deploy some magic oil machine in your closet with almost 0 investments and start producing $5c / barrel oil.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#184

Post by Jabanga »

aub3bhat wrote: post #173
RexetBlell wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could work, but cryptocurrencies are more convenient. You could transfer your coins anywhere in the world much easier. For example, you could donate your coins Wikileaks undetected, but it's much harder to do that with cash buried in the desert. It's also possible that the government may declare some bills invalid (what happened in India with larger bills). Also, government could inflate away your wealth by prin…

It's also possible that the government may declare some bills invalid (what happened in India with larger bills). Also, government could inflate away your wealth by printing more currency. At end of the day governments control both the network via (ISPs & Networking equipment) and processors (Try producing an 8080 in your backyard.). You make mistake of assuming that countries won't put up a global firewall that make…

Governments are not a conscious entity that is separate from society. They are institutions run by a collection parties with numerous competing and aligning interests, and with extensive stakes in society at large. They're not going to do something as massively destructive to society at large as ban encryption and prohibit all microprocessors lacking a back door.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#185

Post by taneq »

dmichulke wrote: post #174
MachinShinn- wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Many firms funded by ICOs (or soon to be) have qualified leaders and developers and are developing great ideas, but IMO many are also raising too much money for their own good. No, there aren't. Real money has never been cheaper than it is now. Never in human history. USD, Euros, JPY, etc. Super cheaper. Low single digits to borrow. Anyone doing an 'ICO' is trying to cash out at your expense, big time.

> Real money has never been cheaper than it is now. As strange as it sounds, this is indeed the case. The cost of money is measured in $ per $ (or actually currency per currency) which is a percentage also known as interest rate. There are no known records of any time in history where interest rates were negative. Sure, only banks can "get" these but they will do and hand them to the next by investing in his asset.

The interest rate in Japan is currently -0.1% and has been since the start of 2016.

https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/interest-rate

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#186

Post by calafrax »

jamespitts wrote: post #86
afeezaziz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this sentiment. The sentiment on HN is that ICO promoters/startups are all scammer. My company, Pipeline Network is going to launch our ICO soon. We would be more than happy to get some guide/mentorship from the YC community.

I hope that instead of slinging mud at ICOs, the YC community reaches out to firms like yours. Calling them all scams will not stop the next ICO from getting bigger. Note to blockchain-denialists: there are 10s of billions of capital, a deep enough pool for thousands of ICOs. Slinging mud will also not help make ICOs any safer, nor protect financial systems outside of blockchains from collateral damage should firms f…

I love this term "blockchain-denialist."

But yeah, the whole concept is stupid and the only reason it is getting any traction is because the traditional financial system is just as bad, and there is way to much free cash in the hands of "investors" who can't even tie their own shoe laces.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#187

Post by Jabanga »

mbrock wrote: post #179
Jabanga wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to create a self-executing contract on Ethereum that will automatically send a pre-agreed amount of ether when you make a pre-agreed online bank transfer. In other words, it's possible to have exchange between fiat currencies and cryptocurrency without any need for trust, except in relation to whatever risk there is for each counter-party to report the other for participating in that particular transact…

That sounds very difficult. How would you make such a smart contract?

You would use trusted hardware like Intel SGX to provide proof of untampered processing of a set of data. Town Crier already has a proof of concept on the Ethereum blockchain. This allows one to prove to a smart contract that a webpage served by a particular PKI certificate holder contains some set of data.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#188

Post by calafrax »

vectorpush wrote: post #71
ransom1538 wrote: post #58

I have a fetish for watching complicated court cases play through. What you realize is a judge in a courtroom has a lot of power. They can take your money, freedom or even kids. However, if I had few hundred thousand in Ethereum encrypted placed into a few random anonymous git hub repros, well, the government can't take it. It is truly yours. No one can take it. That must be horrifying proposition for (some) governme…

How do you turn eth into spendable money without a bank account?

hahahahahaha. how do you turn it into spendable money at all when every ponzi exchange will shut down the minute they have net outflows.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#189

Post by calafrax »

ransom1538 wrote: post #58

I have a fetish for watching complicated court cases play through. What you realize is a judge in a courtroom has a lot of power. They can take your money, freedom or even kids. However, if I had few hundred thousand in Ethereum encrypted placed into a few random anonymous git hub repros, well, the government can't take it. It is truly yours. No one can take it. That must be horrifying proposition for (some) governme…

Nothing online is anonymous. Everything you do is logged and tracked.

Real cash is much more anonymous than stupid blockchains where every single transaction is published globally for all time.

Re: Easiest Path to Riches on the Web? An Initial Coin Offering

#190

Post by empath75 »

ashnyc wrote: post #137

ICO are the best thing that ever happened. This is no different then kickstarter.com started. People where saying the same things. People put up lot of BS project and they got funded, in time these kind of project will fail on there own. This is just the start, no government or bank would have supported such system. For once, the small guy can participate in this market. I would have loved to invest in amazon, facebo…

If you wanted a hit rich quick scheme, amway and Herbalife have been around for decades.
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