Topic: Bryan Micon's List of BTC Ponzi Schemes that should not be listed as "Lending" - page 58. (Read 119665 times)

This thread is a good example of concern trolling.

You might as well as add the whole Lending subforum (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=65.0) to your 'ponzi' thread.  And add the payday lenders to your ponzi thread too.  This is getting ridiculous.

Give him time, if he doesnt turn 12k BTC into 100k BTC within 24hrs you would also be called a scam, that is Micon's benchmark, hahaha.

He has almost said every single investor is a ponzi, I am waiting on my turn xD
//DeaDTerra

Micon is just jealous because he didnt get here first to setup his own scam.

Is pawnbroking a scam because they charge 20% a month ?

Actually, I could have paid 2%/wk for a while - just ask the people paying between 2.5% and 3.5%/wk how I did it.  I chose to make margin, so only pay 1.5% on the basis on my business (and 1%/week from 1 Aug- actually from 3 Aug because I normally work on a Friday cycle, just haven't bothered to tell anyone).  I've only been doing deposits and lending since January, but at least did my homework. 

I currently only have 70+ depositors and I pay out to them on around 16k bitcoin.  It is quite achievable in this little wild-west bitcoin business.  I also have a large number of current and past people that have and are still paying me interest on the loans I have extended.  They can (and do attest) that these rates of return are possible.

For an admitted newbie, sounds like you should do some more research - there are some nice (stable, non-ponzi) assets paying more than 2% if you know where to look and some of my best investments are much better than that.  Feel free to call me stupid, I have been called worse (Starfish waves to Bitlane for the retarded comment).

So, I am one of these people paying out "unbelievable" rates of interest, and have transparently disclosed to anyone that was interested how it is possible.  Would you like an account at Starfish BCB? (note - this is not labelled a bank, and people do run their accounts like a normal pass-book account). 

Micon is a scam and needs to be added to the list in the OP.

Ive pointed out in an early long winded post of mine why Bryan is thinking the way he is, read how he got scammed and why he got scammed. This is why Bryan is so epicly closed minded now, being sceptical is fine but outright KNOWING the facts that isnt available is just plain insane.

This problem with this whole, "no business can give 2% interest per week without being a scam" line of thinking is it's way too insular, and lacking of any historical nuance.  Such an interest rate probably is not sustainable in many (if not all) established businesses.  Bitcoin is not established.  There is good historical precedence for emergent technologies/business practices making a boat load of money for people who are wise enough to understand the volatility and opportunities at hand.  

Rockefeller made a whole bunch of people millionaires back when Standard Oil was just starting out.  Ford made plenty of people rich when he figured out a new paradigm.  The examples are legion.  

Micon is making a mistake based on several cognitive biases, here.  Some of these ventures may well be scams, but it seems to me that there are many independent people on these boards with large amounts of cash and capital at stake.  It's within all of our best interests to keep it as honest as possible.  Just because something is extremely risky, doesn't mean it's a scam.  It just means it's...extremely risky.  

Like I said, you may have been a winning player long ago but you arnt anymore so anything you state regarding your so-called profession is pointless.

I know alot of winning players from back in the days when every 2nd guy at the table didnt know his straights from his flushes and funny all the reject poker players of those days such as yourself is among the biggest losing players today.

I only refered to your "pro poker playing" history because you brought it up as if its some way to validate just how orsom you are while all along being a recent years losing player, do you keep your boat afloat with other peoples money today since you surely dont earn it at the poker tables.

Again you also ignored the facts I pointed out regarding how you got scammed, your absolute greed of sending $12K to a known scammer with a history of scamming(you didnt know it at that time since you didnt do ANY research) and then expected $100k the next day and you wondered why you got scammed? Guess what you didnt, your scam money from what you did to others on twoplustwo simply got shifted over to a new scammer, sucks to be you.

Lets just be honest with each other for a moment and confirm that you came to the bitcoinworld, congrats on that, because you simply couldnt earn a living at poker anymore and figured you would try to get into the bitcoin action while it last. Bitcoin poker wont last long if you have any hand in it, so please dont ruin it for everyone you silly goose.


That seems familiar, I recall this guy named Bryan Micon who thinks hes a pro winning poker player, wonder what happened to him. 

You don't bring people over to your point of view by calling them stupid.

Incidentally, did you know that Patrick runs his own fund which currently pays 1.5% per week?
  https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/starfish-bcb-loans-and-deposits-61262

Does that qualify him for your list of scammers?


Anyone can lock any thread that they themselves started.  I think there's a link in the lower left corner of the page; you should see it on this thread.  There's no way for a thread's starter to control what other people say in their thread other than by locking the thread.  Maybe it's possible to ask moderators to delete individual posts, but that's time consuming, and I don't know how effective it is.

Pirate locked his thread when the "is it or isn't it a ponzi" posts swamped all the other posts in the thread.

1)  Patrick - you seem to be a guy with a good heart, i.e. not looking to scam people - but you are just too stupid to understand what is going on here.  There is no such business that can pay 2% per week interest, save that of top level drug manufacture.

2)  If a guy, for any reason, says he can and will pay you 2%+ per week for an investment he is outright scamming you, or operating an extremely illegal business.   Where is this "profit" coming from?  have you ever, one time, thought to yourself "wow, he's got this amazing money machine, and all you need to do is input more money and even MORE money comes out!  it's great that him and all these other "investment" takers are letting us in on these amazing businesses that they never tell us exactly what they are doing"

3)  I feel like your eyes are closed, fingers in your ears, not wanting to hear the truth even though you believe it because you are so heavily invested in these scams.

I think you can be safe that "Pirateat40" won't be bringing any legal suits vs you for libel.

I received my issue of Bitcoin Mag a few weeks ago.  Loved the "who is Satoshi" article that documented the various posts that he has made, highlighting the best ones (I have done the search and skimmed the results - your writer pulled the best and explained... awesome)

A+ sarcasm.  Obvious ponzi is obvious to those of us in possession of common sense.  Certainly the foolish will throw their BTC at these things no matter what we say, but I supposed it's worth the eventual +1 to "please listen to me in the future" reputation.

Plz make an issue #2 / it's an awesome thing you guys did.

1)  trolls trying to derail this thread into my poker career - you are all free to debate me each and every wed. on my podcast, or post on my uncensored poker forum all the data you can find / endlessly try and tell me I haven't won $ playing poker.  hint:  when doing sharkscope searches, remember "live events" is for 2011 and 2012.   I have played live events since 2006.  http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=67931  here is a relatively complete list showing my $500k in winnings with ~ $250k in buy ins.

2) but anyone bringing up poker in this thread is clearly trying to change the subject.  The simple fact is that there is no way I stay silent when I see a blatant, gigantic scam spreading throughout the BTC community.  Smart people that understand this situation please +1 in this thread so the vocal minorities that are so laughably defending ponzi scams are met with clear logic at each post.

3)  anyone want to explain to me why the BS&T thread is locked?  can Pirate lock that thread at his whim? who authorizes that?  who runs bitcointalk.org? (sorry for newbie Q's, please answer me or PM me if you feel foolish answering publicly)

1)  After meeting some BitPay guys at CES & seeing their underlying business model as sound and much needed in the market IMO - I put a lot of stock in how they feel about BTC matters - as they are a real company seriously researching their field - and they come to the same conclusion I do, that Pirate is a Ponzi.  Nothing more than that. 

2) on that same topic - does this forum believe that pirate was responsible for the recent BTC volatility?  Seems like some1 with USD on the sidelines that just fired into play..

3)  My main goal is to get these scams out of the Marketplace > lending  category - it makes us look foolish and stupid to anyone new exploring BTC

I'll see if I can count them:


What's that?  The last loss is so big it doesn't fit in the box?


Wow.  That's a lot of money to be losing at poker!

Understandable, I appreciate your statement.

There's not much posting about it will do other than raise awareness. I am glad Micoin took the charity to explain what a ponzi is and how some operations may be implemented in such a way, but there really is no sense in accusations if you can't prove it.  All scams will reveal themselves with time and only then will we learn from them.

I see Bit-Pay describing their trades that take advantage of volatility -- something that appears to be courtesy of pirate, and they clearly state their opinion that pirate is ponzi, but is there more from Bit-Pay that I'm not aware of that you are referring to?


Well, bitcoin's image is hurt by them, and in that way yes -- real businesses are harmed from there being unsavory dealings like these occurring.

But are you referring to a more direct harm from these type of "investments"?

Personally, I feel the main problem with these comes from deception.  The words "bank", "savings", "deposits" come with expectations as to their meaning.   If you are running a HYIP, pyramid, ponzi or a penny auction even, then call it what it is and nobody would have a problem with it.  But when the words "bank", etc. are used for a ponzi, then that's deception.