WSJ says 1 in 5 Crypto ICOs are a Scam

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,510
Hold onto your hats, as this is shocking news from the Wall Street Journal (archive link). They took a deep dive into 1,450 crypto ICOs and found that 271 had very questionable backgrounds. What scam is next? A cryptocurrency for e-sports betting so we can fleece the kids for their pocket change too?


Hundreds of technology firms raising money in the fevered market for cryptocurrencies are using deceptive or even fraudulent tactics to lure investors. In a review of documents produced for 1,450 digital coin offerings, The Wall Street Journal has found 271 with red flags that include plagiarized investor documents, promises of guaranteed returns and missing or fake executive teams.
 
E7AF11BC-0474-44C4-AC9C-F71BFE498F1F.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 02A3B4ED-9B2F-41D0-B44A-19B8EEDE73F8.jpeg
    02A3B4ED-9B2F-41D0-B44A-19B8EEDE73F8.jpeg
    159.9 KB · Views: 0
what is the point of having 50 different crypto coins

often they serve different functions:
a. monetary transactions (digibyte, navcoin, nano
-- also store value such as BTC (btc is less efficient by a long shot)
b. private transactions (often for black market lol) (monero, verge)
c. mass computing (golemn)
d. IOT transactions (IOTA)
e. verifying counterfeit goods and other supply chain issues for solving issues/efficiency (VECHAIN/VEN)
f. performing high speed transactions to compete with visa at lower costs (zilliqa and a ton of others)
g. perform contracts (if this then that), perform applications in a decentralized function (ETH, Zilliqa and others)
h. reduce fees and time: XRP/Ripple... handle fiat transfers between countries and banks in 2 seconds vs 2-14 days (swift/visa)
i. smart rfid tags
j. reduce counterfeit and illicit drug dealing that stem from pharmacy warehouses
k. medical equipment tracking


basically gen 2/3 cryptos often serve a purpose similar to a computer app marketed to solve a problem. however many have way too much $$ invested via day trading and no product or development. If you choose to mine or invest into crypto make sure they have a dev team, plan, hit goals etc and serve a real world niche/purpose.

Saying "Why do we need computers or the internet" is similar to how people thought in the 1970s-1980s. Each IT job I have taken at major hospital or healthcare systems have stories where old guard would say "computers are a fad".

Crypto is new tech, can have a purpose... however for longterm success slow, energy burning, inefficient, limited purpose cryptocurrencies like BTC to me should give way for something better.

Also if you read up on reddit daily... 90% of the posts will be like "oh you dont know what crypto is good for... you need to read up... but ... its all shilling/day traders... not long term investors". That is why tons of projects are worth way more than they ever should because of pump/dump schemes, day trading, over investing, shilling etc.

People also want to invest $500 and make $5mil by finding the next btc. So they invest whatever they have into ICO(s) to find the next big get rich shil... i'd imagine 90% will not exist in 10 years.
 
what is the point of having 50 different crypto coins

reminds me of when folks played those low quality online games years ago and the rewards were virtual prizes and oh, the points ... can't forget the points lol
 
I still have yet to see a single economically viable use of a blockchain, whether its these various coins or private blockchains for industrial use. Every now and then you'll hear some marketing buzz about it being used for cold chain food tracking or voting or whatever, but in every single case it seems like a big distributed ledger is less secure/anonymous and more expensive than traditional systems.

Cryptocurrency is a scam perpetuated by the lure of free money coupled with technobabble.
 
I'm a cryptocurrency advocate and I firmly believe that approximately 5 in 5 ICOs are scams.
 
4/5 are excellent odds, and now confirmed! Expect both public interest and scam rate to rise with this assertion of confidence.
 
good thing our government wants to bring back rights to payday loan stores and check in to cash! finally after ending net neutrality our government is listening to the masses. Internet is a scam, thats why pron is free. Better shut off those computers, they are just a fad. All new companies succeed and are legit, only the fake ones fail.

/s
 
Shit, can you blame them? I mean, really? Crypto-currencies required little to no work on the user end, some computer setups that just run 24/7, oh so hard, so it's not like it's stealing HARD EARNED money...so I personally have little sympathy for those that lose them due to their ignorance. I mean it sucks, but you didn't slave away for years for these "savings". Considering also that they're mostly if not entirely untraceable and you have little worry about getting caught or getting in trouble. I mean, is this even considered a crime or illegal? What are you stealing anyways?

To me these fake companies sound like the perfect scam. With how BTC is right now even if you get just a hundred people to sign up for your site and they drop even just a couple coins each you just made out like a fucking bandit all the way to the bank!

It's like scamming old people on dating websites or something, seems so damn easy and pays out so why not?

Now of course I would never scam old people, that's fucked, but this free money people are getting just for having their computers turned on? Eh, I can't deny that if I knew how to I might not try it myself. You can just mine more, sorry for the inconvenience lul. This might be my criminal mind showing but goddamn, just to sit there and get a couple million then be able to just *poof!*...I can't deny that sounds tempting to me!
 
No.. we live in a world where people want the freedom to act in selfish, self destructive, infantile, asinine ways... and not be held accountable or blamed when things go badly.

I would say both apply. The title children of men is very applicable.

Things will go badly eventually. *shrug* I've made my peace with it.
 
Back
Top