you made a bunch of bitcoin with them. But you bad mouth them on exit. Was it just the pay coin you don't like or something else?
I had no problems with GAW at the start. They were a legitimate hardware store. Then when the Hashlets came out, it still seemed legitimate. However, it was about this time that Josh Garza started making huge promises and never following through with them (never obsolete, decreasing maintenance fees, new features, etc.). It was weird watch the mindless masses worship his every move while every announcement he made was just another disappointment to me.
Then the bottom fell out of Zenpool. It was about this time he started talking about "contracts" and other things which just didn't make sense. It became very clear at this point that there was no actual mining going on. This is when I decided I needed to get out, I just wanted to wait for the opportune moment.
Then "Project Prime" details started rolling out. Everything was an absolute joke. I've been in the altcoin world for years. I've seen other people do this exact same thing and I know how it ends, it was just dressed up all pretty this time. When they released the Paycoin "whitepaper", that's when I realized GAW was an absolute joke and destined to implode.
See my post on Hashtalk. If you want to see something even more entertaining, find GAW_CEO's responses to my post.
https://hashtalk.org/topic/18460/just-a-reminder-always-be-cautious-when-investing-hashcoin-included
Shortly after this announcement the price of primes spiked, and I sold on the spike. I felt a huge weight come off my shoulders the day I got all of my money out of GAW (It was December 1st). At that point I was done with GAW, except for the ~110 Paycoins I would get with my Hashpoints. Since that day I've watched others become aware of what I had been seeing, and I've also seen nearly all of my predictions come true (premine, very short PoW phase, no actual Prime/Orion Controller system, blockchain forking, using Paycoins is just a browser plugin, obstacles to get from Paycoin to BTC, and so many others).
The only prediction I haven't seen come true yet is the bankruptcy of GAW. Realistically, I think GAW will become insignificant in late January. After that point it will be just like every other altcoin: a very small (and very invested) group of people think it's the future and are hoping to get rich. GAW will continue to limp along, but they will be completely irrelevant (not that they're relevant now. Ask anyone in the Bitcoin community about Josh Garza and there's a good change they're say, "Who?").
Josh has no clue about Bitcoin. He claimed to be the "hashking" but didn't even understand how proof-of-work worked, or how the blockchain actually works. Listened to his live Q&As was just absolutely cringeworthy.
Anyway, does that answer your question?
I see what you mean about the promises. I was a little pissed when they upgraded customers I thought didn't deserve it, my opinion.
And I agree with you about the white paper on hashcoin. Straight up marketing.
As well I agree about the premine.
The main point I would make to you: Crypto-currency needs some salesman ship and some help in getting it into mainstream. I have been apart of many launches with most being completely worthless. Or with Darkcoin I happened to start mining with a download I accidentally thought was mainstream. I wound up getting a few hundred blocks from some advantage the software had. Small windfall as they were only worth a few cents when it happened. In my first A+ class they talk about the need to use simple terms when speaking to a customer. Just to avoid talking over their heads. I believe this has been the downfall of all crypto so far. You try to interest any lay person and they gloss over. Its too hard to use. The industry needs some honest salesmen to get it to the masses. No one person being indicated here. Simply an honest one.
You have answered my question. Thank you
Josh has made mistakes. My darkcoin experience was only one of my many mistakes. He may realize his as well. The entire idea to start paycoin may have been the result of him seeing the loss of profitability in a lot of his products. It does seem this is his way to rectify the situation while still giving a choice to most. I even believe that primes are likely more profitable now than a month ago because they have been reduced in numbers. Although the payouts do not represent it from what I have seen. I wasn't part of the zenpool, zenhashlet craze, only the hashlet prime. As I watched people make money off the $10 they put in I decided I wanted some as well and entered into his section of the market.
