Subject: Re: We need to do a follow-up on these allegations of fraud.
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 14:39:26 -0500
From: Josh Garza
To: Casey, Michael J
CC: [email protected] , Stuart Fraser
, Daniel Kelley
See you on the call.
In the mean time. My tech guys gave me this for you. Note: This is
confidential, and should not be share with anyone else. This is just one
of our mining addresses.
*
*
*We have signed it for you as conformation!*
https://blockchain.info/address/18Yrkm5cRqT1MiqwAUBDcN64hWb1pLutsW
GAW Miners Security team has signed the following message:
"11-26-2014 GAW Miners/WSJ" using the cryptographic private key for this
address. The message hash is:
"IC7XJZ9Ymp1RwnIpFVpCvv9bl5tYqXifPa0rrpG0RrtmCRbRDvranFVxtWMu3rW8RVwxJMLkuxFKNeybR/4plbk="
To cryptographically verify ownership of this address there are
several online services. BrainWallet.github.io
is a trusted open source platform which
provides a method of verifying messages.
https://brainwallet.github.io/#verify
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
11-26-2014 GAW Miners/WSJ
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
18Yrkm5cRqT1MiqwAUBDcN64hWb1pLutsW
IC7XJZ9Ymp1RwnIpFVpCvv9bl5tYqXifPa0rrpG0RrtmCRbRDvranFVxtWMu3rW8RVwxJMLkuxFKNeybR/4plbk=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE——
*As you can see, with just one of our addresses, and we have moved over
26k Bitcoins in just the last few months. This is 9.5 millions dollars
at todays pricing.*
*
*
Also, here is Bitmain confirming a recent order of 5 petahash. around 4
million.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=827552.msg9378239#msg9378239
Finally, I have also attached the address of our main data center (and
the lease)
*All of this is highly confidential information and should not be shared
to anyone.*
*Josh Garza*
*CEO- *GAW Corp
On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 1:06 PM, Casey, Michael J > wrote:
OK folks, so I need responses in general to the allegations that
you’re by now well aware of. And to the extent to which there is
more solid proof, rather than simply a denial, that will be better.
It will make it seem less like you’re being evasive and giving
fodder to your critics who say it’s a scam.____
__ __
I’m not a position either way on behalf of any of these criticisms.
And it seems to me that part of the problem is that the bitcoin
community is full of some very passionate and inherently mistrusting
people. They are also going to be especially suspicious of any
operation that is perceived to be centralized, run by a for-profit
corporation, even though, as you argue, that may be the only
approach that will bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream. But
with the barrage of comments attached to my article and the emails
I received, it is now impossible for us to not at least write about
the claims against you. ____
__ __
Before we met I’d seen such claims on Reddit and thought it as part
of the usual trolling that occurs within bitcoin land and typical of
all the loosely defined “pump and dump” allegations that are leveled
at pretty much every altcoin or the claims of fraud place on all
mining service providers. Also, I did some due diligence on you guys
and you were very helpful and constructive in that regard, including
the interview with Stuart. That was a constructive approach and it
gave me confidence. So, I felt that although I can’t back up your
numbers you clearly have a solid track record and sound business
associates, so I was happy to run with the article. ____
__ __
Sadly, though – rightly or wrongly -- the response to it changes the
calculus, both for me and for you. (The fact that you’d broadcast
that there would be a story in WSJ and then openly discussed how and
when it might run didn’t help, by the way. It puts me in an awkward
position. Word to wise: don’t do that again with us or any other
news organization. It can only make life difficult for you.) I now
need to do a follow-up to acknowledge that these concerns exist. We
want to get this out today. ____
__ __
So, here are the questions, most of which I’m sure you’ve
encountered before.____
____
__1.__The big one: That this is a Ponzi scheme. What can you provide
to show that there are actual coins being mined and payments being
made from them? Are there mining addresses you can reveal that show
significant bitcoin mining activity to match the claim that you
account for 50% of new online mining capacity? (Or 90% of Litcoin?) ____
__2.__What’s the breakdown for that 50% claim? Over what time frame?
Is that for BTC only or BTC , Litcoin etc. ____
__3.__Are there other details that you can provide to verify the
size of your Mississippi operation? An address that allows us to
search it on Google Earth and street view, for eg.. (Also any very
recent photos of the inside of the plant and mining rig racks.)?____
__4.__Why Mississippi? How do you maintain a low-cost operation in a
state that averages max temperatures year-round of about 75 degrees?
____
__5.__I take it that some of the payments on a hashlet that a
customer receives comes from trading revenues and some from a pool
of assets that Gaw mines, in addition to direct mining revenue. Can
you break out those flows for me? Is there an average across all
clients?____
__6.__And if, as various observers say, it’s extremely difficult for
someone to break even on any cloud mining contract given the
struggle to keep up with rising difficulty, low prices, etc., then
isn’t it the case that eventually there will be a pool of
misfortunate hashlet traders left holding the bag? How do explain
that there are perpetual gains to be had from owning and trading
hashlets over time? How do you keep the supply of hashing power up?____
__7.__Related to that prior question: A static cloud mining contract
is a depreciating asset by definition, so long as the BTC price is
flat or falling. How is a hashlet different from that? How can I
claim that it has upside value? Is this because of the capacity to
“amp it?” But if so, isn’t the cost of doing so going to rolled into
the price as well?____
__8.__Most importantly, if trading and/or investments in a pool of
assets is part of the business model, is it regulated by the SEC? Do
your lawyers believe it doesn’t need to be? Are you seeking
regulation? Where does that stand? ____
__9.__Critics have described the hashpoint program for pre-ordering
hashcoin/paycoin as a scheme to cover for the fact that payouts on
hashlets started to decline early in the fall as difficulty rates
rose. What’s your answer to that? ____
__10.__ In general, there’s a view that all cloud mining needs to be
far more transparent. That fund flows could and should be provably
posted on a blockchain-based system. What do you say to that?____
__11.__Critics say the Hashtalk forum is aggressively moderated,
with dissenters barred and their comments removed. What’s your
response to that? The same critics also say that you pay supporters.
Response?____
__ __
__ __
Thanks for your prompt response. ____
Best wishes, ____
Michael____
__ __
__ __
__ __
Michael Casey____
Senior Columnist, Global Finance____
The Wall Street Journal____
212-416-2209 (o)____
914-409-8733 (m)____
[email protected] ____
Twitter: @mikejcasey____
__ __
__ __
*From:*Josh Garza [mailto:[email protected] ]
*Sent:* Wednesday, November 26, 2014 9:49 AM
*To:* Casey, Michael J
*Cc:* [email protected] ;
Stuart Fraser; Daniel Kelley
*Subject:* Re: We need to do a follow-up on these allegations of
fraud.____
__ __
As it turned out, this guy said it better then I could. ____
https://hashtalk.org/topic/19923/my-thoughts-on-recent-external-blog-posts-and-the-comments-that-arise____
On Wednesday, November 26, 2014, Josh Garza > wrote:____
There are no charges, but the opinions of the same people over and
over. ____
__ __
As I told you on the phone, it's the same few dozen people doing
this over and over again. Additionally, we confirmed a while back
that the majority have been hired by competitors. That's that
happens in this industry when you take customers from other
companies.____
__ __
Honestly, I am just as surprised by this email. The same way you
mention proof, every troll that makes these allegations has none.
It's the same story over and over. ____
__ __
"I think gaw is doing bad things" "what's your proof" "well there is
none, I just think that are"____
__ __
To add to that, we recently broke 200k customers. If 1% of our
customers did not like us, it would be 4 times the amount of
complainers we have. These guys are just loud.____
__ __
I am happy to answer any questions you have.
On Wednesday, November 26, 2014, Casey, Michael J
wrote:____
Josh, I’m really quite stunned by the comments that have poured into
the story. It is elephant in the room that demands a follow-up
story. We are now compelled to address the charges that GAW is a
fraudulent operation. ____
I had seen claims that GAW was a scam on Reddit and elsewhere, but I
see such claims throughout the mining and altcoin industries,
legitimate or otherwise -- it is, as you say, germane to the
bitcoin community. So didn’t deep much deeper. I now regret that,
and if you were aware of those charges against you I think it would
have behooved you to have gotten ahead of such claims by laying them
all out in the first place and then providing irrefutable proof to
shoot them down. Now, we’re both doing repair work. ____
I did follow-up with some of your business associates and looked
into your past dealings, checked out the hashcoin white paper, and
felt confident that you had a big operation underway. But now with
these overwhelming responses (from a group that might well be just
disgruntled traders), I need to do a significant amount more work,
specifically related to proof of the mining operation, its size and
the capacity to consistently pay out ROI based on actual mined
coins, as well as into the handling of the hashtalk.org
forum. ____
So I’ll need your cooperation in responding to some of these
charges and to the various questions that I’ll have as follow-ups.
(I’ll get back to you with those shortly.) You can see this as a
chance to put to bed once and for all these serious allegations
against you. ____
Regards,____
Michael ____
____
____
Michael Casey____
Senior Columnist, Global Finance____
The Wall Street Journal____
212-416-2209 (o)____
914-409-8733 (m)____
[email protected] ____
Twitter: @mikejcasey____
____
____
*From:*Josh Garza [mailto:[email protected]]
*Sent:* Tuesday, November 25, 2014 9:40 PM
*To:* Casey, Michael J
*Subject:* Thanks____
____
For the piece____
____
I wanted to quickly address your comment on the phone about the us
letting the public know we has spoken. Long and short is I am used
to more reginal publications where a story typically runs the day
after. I have gotten used to letting customers know where to look
when a story is about to come out. I did not understand coming to
meet with you was more of a meet and greet. So sorry for the
confusion is caused.____
____
While I am just as weirded as you guys with the characters in this
industry (on both extremes), I am glad people care.____
____
*Josh Garza*
*CEO- *GAW Corp____
____
“The information contained in this email message may be
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
distribution, disclosure or copying of this information is
prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please tell us by
return email and destroy this communication and any attachments from
your system.”____
-- ____
__ __
*Josh Garza*
*CEO- *GAW Corp____
__ __
-- ____
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*Josh Garza*
*CEO- *GAW Corp____
__ __