It would take me over 7 years to realize it, but I actually hit my crypto stride in August 2014, creating in that month some tokens that would go on to become prototypes of modern-day NFTs. Only a couple of them (such as
SHITCOIN and
MILLERLIGHT) had images associated with them at the time, and they were fungible, but they
were "picture tokens" that served no particular purpose other than to be blockchain-backed collector's items. I encountered a good deal of success in Nov 2021 when Dogeparty was relaunched, right toward the end of the last great bull market and the middle of the
Historical NFT Renaissance, as my tokens were highly sought-after by collectors (it actually took me a moment to understand why people wanted them).
Probably the most innovative thing I did in Aug 2014 was attempt to launch a decentralized Super Bowl wagering system using the Counterparty platform, which is a tokenization protocol for Bitcoin. Basically I registered all the NFL team names as tokens which were valued according to that team's odds of winning the Super Bowl that year. If you purchased a token and the team won, you'd be able to redeem that token for a share of a grand prize pool. Meanwhile, tokens could freely be traded on the Counterparty DEX to match shifting odds throughout the course of the season.
There were two problems that prevented the project from taking off: 1) bettors were still reliant on me to distribute the prize money, and 2) the crossover between Counterparty users and football fans was especially slim. It still is! But I will probably attempt to launch a form of the game later this year anyway.
Greetings American football fans and bitcoin enthusiasts alike. I am proud to announce that team tokens for the 2015 BitBowl are now on sale at the
Counterparty Asset Exchange (accessible via
Counterwallet).
Its a new way to test your NFL prediction skills by purchasing digital assets (team tokens) that represent a team's odds of winning the Super Bowl. If the team that your token represents wins the Super Bowl, you can sell it back on the exchange for a grand prize of
10 XCP (
counterparty).
As the BitBowl uses the Counterparty platform to distribute team tokens, you can also buy and sell them for any other assets listed on the exchange (including BTC, XCP and other team tokens).
This makes it possible to "invest" in the probability of a team rising in the rankings without having to wait for the Super Bowl game to take place, similar to how futures contracts operate.
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This was my most merited thread which probably almost everyone already knows about, at least if you've been around for the last 2 years or so. What precedes this event that I never mentioned is that I had grown increasingly suspicious that three members of the ChipMixer campaign were indeed alt accounts but had no way to concretely prove it. I stumbled upon a recently-woken account that happened to share a wallet with all three of the members, which led to the identification of several more account. Did this user ever come back to the forum? I've always wondered, but they are likely more cautious and less revealing of themselves now.
A week or two ago I noticed the account
illyiller had woken up as I was browsing the seclog looking for info about a scammer (unrelated to this story). That user name struck a bell, so I pulled up their account and decided maybe they were trying to get back into sig campaigning.
Out of curiosity, I looked into what campaigns they worked for. The blockchain suggests this person had made quite a bit of money sig campaigning in the past, way too much for the campaign I could associate them with.
Taking a closer inspection of a
master address, to which feeder addresses sent BTC from several other addresses associated with sig campaigners, I managed to identify a ring of 9 alt accounts, all belonging to the same owner and all enrolled in sig campaigns at one time or another.
The kicker is that 3 of them have been in the same campaign together for over 3 years.
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It would appear all these account belong to the same person, seeing as how the addresses listed here have only ever been involved in signature campaign activity. For easy reference here are links to the accounts themselves (bolded are still active):
figmentofmyassillyillerillinestsquattermarky89exstasieMAbtcromani245manchester93Since the chances of all of these accounts pooling months worth of sig campaign funds together for any purpose whatsoever seems extraordinarily slim, it is safe to say that these are indeed alt accounts and one of the more clever and prosperous account farms to ever exist on the forum.
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I just wanted to end on, well not exactly a positive note, but it is something nice that I wanted to do for who was my first actual "friend" on the Bitcointalk forum, in the final days before his death. I've since interacted with at least a few others outside of the forum, and a couple IRL, but Bruno was the first, and an extraordinary individual in terms of his passion and intensity for whatever it was he put his mind to. I learned a lot from him about a lot of different subjects, and he encouraged me to take on new challenges.
Seriously, in my 9 years here, there's been nobody that comes close to matching his wit, humor and level of output (at one point 2 of his accounts were in the top 10 of all-time posts). At the same time, he was fearless and breathed furious hellfire on anybody he deemed a foe, often verbally incinerating scammers and scumbags right where they stood.
When he let me know in late 2019 that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer, it was a real bummer. He seemed to be holding it together fairly well, but then things took a turn for the worse in March 2020 and it became apparent he likely didn't have much longer. The length of our conversations dwindled, then he got to a point where he could no longer speak or type. I kept chatting with him on Telegram anyway, sent him pictures to try to cheer him up. I knew he could see them because of the little checkmark that appears after a read message, but he couldn't respond.
After his famous
plea for donations thread, I knew he didn't have much time left. So I put together this long-ass thread that was basically a tribute to him and all his accomplishments. And I knew he read it because he
reposted it in the thread, without adding any context. He died 5 days later.
So anyway, not a fun moment, but probably one of the most valuable experiences I've had here, giving someone acknowledgement for all they've done (which really was a lot) in their final days. It's also a reminder that life is short, uncertain, and we should make the most of what we have while we still have it.
Here's a concised version of the thread:
I decided to take some time out of my day to write a thread about the main account of the most prolific member on the forum. That account is
Phinnaeus Gage, and that man is
Bruno Kucinskas.
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To say Bruno is a man of ideas would be an understatement. He spent years formulating ways in which Bitcoin could be improved, better marketed, and more highly utilized. He dabbled in everything from improving security to increasing adoption to hosting various giveaways and challenges in order to help spread the word. As such, Bruno is a true ambassador of Bitcoin.
In addition to the sheer number of hours Bruno put into helping Bitcoin along its path to global recognition, he provided a lot of much-needed entertainment in a space that was otherwise relatively dry in terms of humor. Over the years he penned countless poems, odes, jokes, theses, news articles, mission statements, wanted ads, contests, riddles and even screenplay pitches. He also
loves goats.
The Greatest Hits of Phinnaeus Gage
First Bitcoin Charity
Bitcoin 100: Developed Specifically for Non-Profits (11/11) - the first bitcoin charity project, and perhaps the biggest held on the forum to date, raised 681 BTC and distributed donations to 83 Non-Profit Organizations.
...
Bruno administered several other charities during his time as Phinnaeus Gage, never taking a penny from them for himself, always insisting that excess funds - or funds promised to him by others - be given to someone else.
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Scam Research
Bruno is one of the first and foremost scambusters on the forum, and its safe to say nobody has come close to matching his tenaciousness and output over the years. He had a lot of run-ins with folks at Butterfly Labs, who eventually doxed him and forced him to give up his anonymity.
...
As a scambuster, Bruno was no fan of the trust system, preferring instead to confront the scammers head on and ground them into submission, until they could no longer take the beating and just leave the forum.
Random
The First Bitcoin... (8/11) - a long list of several Bitcoin's "firsts"... probably the first list of Bitcoin firsts, which would render it perhaps the most accurate...
Topic: Bruno vs Roger Ver (1st Bitcoin Match) (10/12) - in this thread, Bruno challenges Roger Ver to an MMA fight, with the proceeds going to charity.
The Mega Thread that Feeds People in Need (9/13) - in this thread, Bruno collects donations for Sean's Outpost, which was a bitcoin-based charity that provides meals to the poor -- he collected enough BTC to buy 2,703 meals.
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Here's one final P.G. post that encapsulates his humor and unique way of viewing the world that I leave everyone here with.
Yesterday morning I stopped at a cafe, oppose to the dinky service station available at that exit, for a cup of coffee for the road and to take a shit (apologies to the non-coffee drinkers
). I asked the pretty petite girl donning the usual metal, once only saved for earlobes, if they took Bitcoin. She replied no, but said she heard about it when I asked her. Then I told her who I was. Come to find out, she has visited BitcoinTalk, and her sister is a big Bitcoin fan, of which is probably a member here. She asked for my autograph, of which is going to be given to her sister as a Christmas present, having to now no longer worrying about what to give her.
Soon, I'll be able to charge $400K USD for speaking fees, along with charging 1 BTC for lap dances at bridal showers. I've noticed more and more people staring at me in public now ever since Bitcoin started to enter the mainstream. I don't know what my future agent will be charging for commercials, but the first one I'll do free minus expenses since I'm a nice guy.
I look forward to the girl that received my autograph as a Christmas present to post here and state how happy she was/is.
~TMI
BTCITW
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And that wraps it up! Its been an interesting last 9 years.
As of Apr 25, 2023:
Total time logged in: 263 days, 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Glad I did other things than just post here, but also glad I posted here throughout the years as well. A lot of history to look back on.
