Topic: Flexcoin is now owned by James Gray (Read 10019 times)

Hi James,

Could you please advise if you are still the owner of flexcoin? If so, is there any cold storage wallets that remain unclaimed? I’m trying to track down an old wallet of mine with unspent BTC and flexcoin is one of the username/passwords on my list from 2011.

Thank you. 

Some interesting words + connections in this thread, looking back then... and in relation to events now...


hmm

Yes.  Yes it is.

I'm on a forum where you can pay to change the tag of anyone else for shits and giggles. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that Theymos' personal opinion is displayed on my account.

Says Matt Wright, Who has has "untrustworthy"  under his name. 

 I have no idea what's going on at Flexcoin.   I've had zero contact with them since the site was sold.

Has the wording changed since "The Founder" sold it? His name alone should clue you in to his ambiguous, exaggerating and sometimes scammy tone if you hadn't already read his posts. I wouldn't be surprised if that was all still there from when he wrote it.

Indeed, it seems it's muchly a bundle of solutions in search of some problems.

I don't like that this site is making false claims.


This is a lie, you can easily use a mobile wallet. You can access blockchain.info through their web browser as well as their mobile app, and many other android apps as well.


While this is semi true, I could still scan a qr code faster than I could type in "coffee shop". Also, if you're going for memorization, firstbits solves that problem.


Please tell me why you can't already do this with bitcoin.


Isn't this the reason why so many bitcoin users hate Paypal and use bitcoin?


You can use coinapult.com , mailacoin.com , any other service like that.

My point is, they're trying to make up imaginary problems that don't exist to get you to use them. I personally feel more secure when I'm not trusting my bitcoins to some other entity other than myself.

So whats the deal with flexion now. Is it dead?

I've never used that, or any other Texas address. I've never even been to Texas.

Therefore no Texas connection? Would you be so kind as to state that fact on this forum that you've never used that Texas address?

~Bruno~

Let me make this really simple for you. My real name is "James Gray", I've been using the handle "Mark Logan" since ~1996 (I'm not %100 sure). At the time, we had just gotten the internet in Yellowknife and I used the name "Mark Logan" to setup my hotmail account.

In what respect did his name keep coming up ?

Im also glad I dont have any coins at flexcoin considering the track record of bitcoin companies that get bought out.

As you'll soon see, at one time it was both: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.1094214

I found this thread due to my investigation on Bitcoinica, for his name/company get coming up along with bitcoinplus, of which I've yet to dwell into.

~Bruno Alpaca Duck~ (See what I did there?) (Bruno is my real name, Alpaca is my Christian name, and Duck is my surname.)

PS: Tomorrow I get my degree, so then it will become Dr. Bruno Alpaca Duck PhD.

Any chance the site could show the fees when transferring out, instead of just saying "You don't have enough bitcoins"?

Sorry, I have not been monitoring this thread as closely as I should have been. So I missed that last post.

Transferring of the actual server should be done by tomorrow. "The Founder" and I have been dealing with the hand-over of the hosting/server/cold-storage etc for the last little while, and suffice it to say, it's not going as smooth as either one of us would like. These things take time, and I would like to apologize to all who are waiting for this to be finalized and for whatever inconvenience it may be imposing.

I have yet to be handed the keys to any social media accounts, and thus cannot push out any messages telling of the coming change-over. Additionally I have yet to be given any emails/email-lists to contact people about the pending changes. I do realize that it says the quoted line in the privacy policy, and as "Yooter Marketing" was/is responsible for that privacy policy they should be held responsible (asked nicely) to send out an email to all people subscribed to the Flexcoin service, advising them of the change-over.

I realize this response will most likely not satisfy your concerns. However, I would like you to know that I do take this seriously, and as such will be looking into it right away and encouraging the good people at "Yooter Marketing" to take the proper steps to avoid violation of their own privacy policy.

Thank you.

when is the actual transfer of control going to occur?  were customers sent an e-mail?

i see there is mention on the site now: http://www.flexcoin.com



subtle, but still present i guess.

there's nothing on the @flexcoin twitter account yet regarding this: http://twitter.com/flexcoin

[update: from the privacy policy:]

I like the idea of flexcoin, especially for enabling fast microtransactions, and quick transfers person to person needing but web access.
A merchant API would be nice though.

_{Flexcoin id: moneyisdebt}

So good luck with it.

Keep drinking OJ, and give it 24 hours. One dose should be enough but it only helps to have more. Vitamin C will kick your body's natural defense into gear. Keep insulated and you should move to the recovery part of the cold cycle quickly.


The bitcoin community currently consists mostly of technocrats. These are not your primary customers and will mostly look after their own coin management. Your customers (fortunately for you) are the majority of the populace, and begin to frown at anything with more than one or two big shiny red buttons.

Bitcoins are highly complex to understand and manage successfully. Absent severe market pressures most wouldn't even attempt using them in raw form. This means services are badly needed to make bitcoins more user friendly. Currently there are no market pressures, and the people who hold bitcoins do so for investment/speculation primarily. Taking the management/security responsibility off these users for no fees is quite a favor.

As market forces do develop average users will definitely need/seek banking services, and even be inclined to pay for it. The business model of no account fees employed by Flexcoin is good in a promotional sense, and naturally supports bitcoin adoption but I wouldn't be too shy about fees especially as things develop.

We should pitch Bitcoin to the Eskimos.

I think your our man for the job.

Thank you. I repaired mine

I did, and I still feel like death. But thank you for the suggestion.


We won't be changing the terms and conditions for at least a while. But I do want to say that we are looking into options for insuring deposits. This is a complicated thing of course, but one up for discussion in the long term, as I too think that we should be able to find a way to provide insurance on deposits. But I worry that the bitcoin community may not be ready for monthly banking fees.


1) James Gray is a family name. My father and his father share the same name.
2) Yes, Cleveland Ohio is far, far away from here. Next time I make the trek to visit my father in law in Wisconsin I'll consider your offer!
3) The API is, from what I know, in a "half finished" state. What this means, I'm not exactly sure, but it is on our Radar as being a very VERY important thing going forward.
4) Another thing we want to work on. (The list is very long.) Because I agree that sending money to a human readable email address is better than trying to remember what the hash was!
5) Yes.
6) Security first. Take care of what you have and then look towards the future.


Yes. I used to live here. I'm Serious.

From his reddit:

Welcome James A. Gray!  I wish you the best of luck!

Here are my thoughts:

1) I also thought it was hilarious that your user ID is mark_logan while your name is James A. Gray

2) I was going to offer to drive up to Canada to meet you,  but unfortunately Google Maps tells me that Alberta, Canada is a 38 hour drive away from Cleveland, Ohio.  Feel free to look me up if you're ever in the area!

3) Does Flexcoin already, or do they plan to be the third payment API system competing with bit-pay.com & mtgox.com checkout solutions for merchants?

4) Will Flexcoin give the ability that Paypal has of allowing me to send bitcoins using their payment API system (see #3 above) to send bitcoins to an e-mail address?

I feel this is a great opportunity for a "bitcoin bank" to provide the service where I don't have to send money from dsfsd3543DSFS to sdfdsjfslf5335DSFS3lkjer for example.  It's a small annoyance, but a cumbersome detail that Flexcoin could simplify!

5) I'm not sure if Flexcoin is a "bank" so before we go asking whether they are adhering to all of the regulations that Banks must comply with, keep in mind that we're in the wild west of bitcoin world here.  Most of the laws and regulations aren't written for bitcoin.... yet! 

Don't presume that any previously applied protections and laws automatically apply to Flexcoin.

6) Don't hold your breath for FDIC coverage...  As for Flexcoin insuring our deposits, that's likely going to take some time.  But give them time to get started.  I'm guessing as they deal with attacks (which sounds like they are prepping for), and grow in experience, they will eventually have a business reason to offer insurance against deposits.  Until then, we either have faith in the system, or we don't.

Just some brain vomit as I lay here awake in the middle of the night/morning.  Happy investing!

unless your customers themselves move the funds to the new owner (or opt-in for the transfer somehow) you likely don't necessarily lose the responsibility of caring for those funds.

customers funds must be segregated.  if you are selling the business and transferring control of the website that is one thing.  but transferring control of the segregated funds?  certainly you want to seek legal advice on this first!

not only are you considering transferring your customer's funds to another entity, but to a foreign entity?  seriously? you can't be!

your customers have funds in a u.s.-based "bank" (words from the title of your site) and then all of a sudden those funds are now controlled by an entity from a foreign land?   if you have their permission, then no problem.  i believe the agreement with your customers that would allow this might be called a "subordination agreement" but each customer must be onboard before their funds are transferred.

please read this: http://www.finra.org/investors/protectyourself/investoralerts/p116996

then there are aml concerns.  firstly, there is the significant transfer of funds from flexcoin to this foreign entity.  are you reporting everything that needs to be reported for that?

[edit: i am not a lawyer, but sometimes i try to play one on bitcointalk.]

If it's a cold be sure to drink/eat an orange for 100% vitamin C.

No, Flexcoin says clearly in their terms they are not responsible for covering lost coins. James Gray has said he sees no reason to change the terms for now.

I would like to see a bitcoin bank provide some level of insurance against loss (a bitcoin version of FDIC), even if they have to charge for it. However, I don't see this as imperative. Flexcoin, as the first bitcoin bank, doesn't cover loss and that's fine because they are clear about it. Their customers can make their own decisions about the risk of banking with them, trusting essentially they will do everything they can to protect deposits. For many users in exchange for convenience (and along with reputation) this will be enough.

Why so? On the contrary I believe it quite necessary. Most people will not want to manage the storage of their coins, even with some of the nifty advances we've seen with wallets and the Armory client. These are supposed to be for average users, but even this is too much hassle. The really average user doesn't care about how safe such things are from a technical standpoint; they only want a place to store their coins without thinking about it, and they'll pay if they have to.

For now maybe it is. Will i use it? Maybe. why?
Well the good thing about a bank is that if the funds are ever hacked or stolen. They are suppose to cover it. Now i am not 100% sure flexcoin covers that but look at it this way.

If your a new business and want to accept bitcoins and have a automated process you have to do one of these things:
-Use a online bitcoin wallet such as walletbit or instawallet. - problem with that, not only can the coins be stolen you must likely wont see any of the online wallets help to pay back for the stolen funds.
- Set up a vps or dedicated server - Problem with that is vps can be compromised and funds stolen and vps provider wont pay you shit same for dedicated server.

Now if you use a bitcoin bank i would think if the funds are stolen you should get them back.

If you compare the wallets and vps - a bitcoin bank certainly kicks there ass since you would get your bitcoins/money back at the banks cost.

Now does flexcoin offer this? I dont know.. lol

Alright, I'm going to try and sleep off my illness and get back to answering these questions in the morning. Post away!

Oh, and this is my reddit account:
http://www.reddit.com/user/Mark_Logan/

I mean, it's not a shining example of who I am in a business sense, but you're going to find it anyhow.

Cool, thats a start!

I still think any bitcoin bank is stupid.

James Gray. 29 Years old. Telecommunications Engineering Technologist for Bell Canada.
Facebook I've always kept pretty locked down: http://www.facebook.com/jamesaegray
I think I created a linkedin profile, but I never did anything with it.
Alberta Canada.

Telecommunications, that's my work experience. Which is why I didn't go at this alone, I brought in my friends in security analysis.

I can't guarantee I can continue answering questions today. I'm quite ill at this time. But, I'm going to try.

James, can you address my questions above?

James Gray is my real name. Go figure though, as it's so ridiculously common it's almost always easier to use the alias I came up with in 1997 "mark_logan".

Are you mark logan or james gray?

As I asked before, can you please tell us who you are in the physical world?

Facebook profile? Linkedin profile? Address? Work experience?

Something!

Since FlexCoin is not a major corporation with stocks and private operating agreements, there is nothing wrong with them announcing publicly that they intend to sell (which they already did in a previous thread), but I think you should display a notice on your website and e-mail your customers in the very least to announce this before any transfer of ownership is made. It is extremely bad form to rely on the forums for customer communication on issues that could potentially result in the theft of customer information. It is basic math:


If (current_deposits > purchase_price) risk = high;

If (current_deposits <= purchase_price) risk = low;

Since the amount of purchase hasn't been released (to my knowledge, could be wrong on that one) I would assume a high risk scenario for customers, at least for their account information, transaction histories, etc.

@"Founder", we've had our run-ins in the past, but I am sure we can both agree that my only problem has ever been your presentation. Please listen to me when I say, that presentation is most-important on the way off stage.


@Mark, welcome to the community and whether by independent development or purchase, we're all glad to see more people getting involved in the business of Bitcoin. That said, your point that you cannot buy trust is absolutely true and in a community of selfish nerds, you better believe that buying-in is twice as suspicious as independent development. Be ready for the trolling, and always provide your honest information. Else you risk ending up like CoinExchanger and BitScalper.

Cheers

There's nothing "asshole" about what you're saying at all. Other than my absolute failure of a foray into online auction sites (see: bitmarket.ca) I have never put anything into the Bitcoin world. I've just been sitting back reading, watching, and really waiting for an opportunity to get involved. I understand fully that "trust" is not something that you buy with a bitcoin company. You have to earn it and it's HARD and I appreciate that, and if people move their coins from Flexcoin for the time being, I can appreciate that as well. It's your money, and I'll be the first to advise you to take care of it. I had my password leaked when MtGox got hacked. I had friends who lost coins (albeit not a whole lot) when mybitcoin went down in flames. I've been here watching this whole crazy ride and I understand your concern and my team and I are going to work hard to address those concerns, and earn your trust, as we should.

James first i am super sorry if you feel i am bashing you. Its just that MANY people have been scammed on bitcointalk.org - and its a different game since the huge scamming spree....

Bitcoin is a whole new ball game, its not like making a website and accepting paypal... with bitcoin you cant reverse transactions which is why there is ALOT of scamming.

Now reading the founder (FlexCoin) post.
- Yea a phone call isnt enough to verify someones intention. If only it were that simple :-(
- I dont know but i would feel more better if you looked after the site for like 3 months while james is running it.

But my question is why did you truly pick james? Because of a phone call its kinda hard to accept that.
For example, If i made a request to you and wanted to borrow 2,000 bitcoins would you just accept a phone call for that?

We will meet all three of these criteria. I have two guys right now chatting my ear off about security. It's all they do and it's what they were meant to do. I know that Bitcoin is a hacking magnet, and we're doing everything we can to prepare proper security. We're not planning on changing the Flexcoins terms. We  believe them to be pretty clear, and if people have any input on that, we'd love to hear it. We're still setting up all the details on our corporate entity, but hope to be done that by the end of next week.

Good i am not the only one a little worried.

Forsure, 100% but an introduction is a start.

James, the ball is in your court....


Eh..thats not really comforting. Just spent a phone call?

The window prior to transfer doesn't mean anything, just delays the day James can scam us.  

You really really REALLY need to do your due diligence on this guy.

Have you even got a copy of his ID? Facebook friends?

Yea you did state it much nicer, sorry something is on my mind and i should have just "agreed" with your post.. I dont want to take this off topic on why i am upset but let me just say "bitscalper".

Anyway after my loans are paid i would love to use a bitcoin bank. I NEVER used or seen flexcoin - but is it something like walletbit? Just more secure? Is there a api in which i can send bitcoins to someone? I think what i am asking is if its/has a wallet type service?

I'd be happy to tell you more about myself. I'm a married man, have a dog and a cat and work a 9-5 job. I came into Bitcoin just before the boom. I was told about it by a good friend of mine who had been crunching Bitcoins, pretty much since the beginning (Back when you could generate coins in hours. ALONE! WITH YOUR CPU!). It sounded like an interesting enough idea. I watched the boom, the crash and even tried to launch an auction site... an idea that I never really was able to commit enough time to, and subsequently never went anywhere. Now that Bitcoin's value has stabilized more, I believe we're going to see growth, that's going to be positive for the entire community. That's a big reason why I decided to enter the market at this point.

I want to take a moment at this time to say that today has been a rather rough day due to outside influence, and while I'm going to try and answer as many questions as I can, my ability may be impaired due to health reasons. But please continue to ask whatever you like, and I'll answer as soon as possible.

Rex,  I never met James in real life.  However I just spent the past day on the phone with the guy...    

I understand where  you are coming from, hence why we designed the window prior to transfer so that if you didn't feel that James and his team would do a good job,  you can do what you want with your bitcoins...  he doesn't have access to the site yet,  so if you felt that you needed to rush your coins out you can...  though for the record I am keeping my coins there..  I believe he is going to run it with the same vigor that I have.

This lag time of a few days was by design to give a level of comfort .  

Again I must stress,  I am keeping my bitcoins at flexcoin even though in a few days I will have the same level of access to flexcoin as you have.

For a bitcoin bank I actually believe it needs to be more. Please see my #3 above.

Your defenitly not sounding like an asshole, I basically asked the same questions above in a nicer way 

I think James needs to introduce himself, especially if he is the new owner of the Bitcoin bank.

James Gray: Just curious..
Do you run any other bitcoin projects/websites.

And to: the founder (FlexCoin)
Do you know James Gray? I am sorry for what i am about to say and REALLY dont want to sound mean or anything.
But according to your post you said something like: You will sell flexcoin to a Trusted Member of the community because you dont want to sell to just anyone.

While that is REALLY good thinking, i am just wondering if you knew James, because it seems he just joined (3 posts?) and umm that doesnt seem to be a Trusted Member on the community..

Any reason for the change or is he a member BUT couldnt login or something? I saw a reply that said he was not able to reply so im thinking he is a member here but i dont see him or you post there "other" username.

I know i am sounding like a asshole, I really dont mean to.. Just would like more info on James is all.

Ether if you or james answer or not - i STILL wish both of you the best of luck!

Fantastic!

As I noted in an earlier post I see a bank as a crucial pillar to first level economic infrastructure above the raw system. I was therefore a bit disappointed to see that Flexcoin was putting itself on sale.

But sometimes setbacks mean opportunity, and that's what this appears to be. I'm looking forward to the new offerings in Flexcoin's future under new ownership.

@the founder - thanks for being a pioneer and bringing the community a bitcoin bank which has gained respect.

@mark_logan - congratulations! Looking forward to seeing where Flexcoin goes from here. A question... will Flexcoin still meet the 3 criteria which I believe are crucial for a bitcoin bank?

1. Emphasis on properly securing Bitcoins
2. Clearly spelled out terms (originally they are not responsible for insuring bitcoin loss)
3. Transparency of corporate entity in legally respected country like US or UK

Hey James,

On behalf of Bitinstant, welcome to the forums and good to see Flexcoin has found a new owner  

As a community, we strive to be extremely transparent. Most of the companies that do business here and who's staff post, have released details about themselves and their staff.

On that note, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How did you come into Bitcoin, how do you see growth for the future?

What have you worked on in the past?

Good to have smart people on board and always looking for the future of Bitcoin!

-Charlie Shrem
CEO, Bitinstant.com

Good luck. Interested in seeing what can come of it.

Hello,

My name is James Gray and I am head of the team of people who will taking over "Flexcoin". I would like to start by saying that we are honoured to have the opportunity to carry on the Flexcoin name, and are looking forward to carrying on the business practices, customer support, and attention to detail, and security that has made Flexcoin the respected name it is today.

In the weeks to come, my security analysts will be reviewing all the supplied Flexcoin code, reviewing the servers and making sure everything is up to date. Security is of the utmost importance and will continue to be during our ownership.

We're really excited to have this opportunity, and have a lot of great new ideas for features and services we can offer as the premier bitcoin bank. We look forward to talking with our customers and finding out what more we can do to provide the bitcoin community with great services going forward.

~James

Dang i was trying to get the first reply :-(

Well anyway congrats james gray!
I wish you success!

I am happy to announce that James Gray is now the owner of Flexcoin.

I notified him of this post in real time,  this so he can comment below directly (hopefully he will be the first post directly under this one).   I will NOT be sending him the keys to the site tonight however.

I believe that James will take care of Flexcoin with the same vigor that I have.   Though technically tonight he is the owner,  he will not have access to the site for a few days.. this was written into the contract for your protection, and it was his idea....  I believe that is a good confidence building measure.

We will be assisting him over the next few weeks in the transfer... so we will be helping him getting acquainted with the system.

For the record,  I am keeping my personal coins at Flexcoin...  I am doing this to both help him and let everyone know that I have faith in the Bitcoin Bank.