{"id":6865,"date":"2018-05-04T22:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T22:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=6865"},"modified":"2018-05-08T10:55:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T10:55:18","slug":"news-suit-against-ripple-ronn-torossian-fake-kodakcoins-sports-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/04\/news-suit-against-ripple-ronn-torossian-fake-kodakcoins-sports-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"News: suit against Ripple, Ronn Torossian, fake KodakCoins, sports blockchain"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>A securities fraud suit has just been filed against Ripple Labs. It&#8217;s a class action suit, filed by Ryan Coffey (<a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5938711a9de4bb74f63b4059\/t\/5aebc4112b6a28e0ef4a0381\/1525400594617\/Coffey+v+Ripple+Labs+Complaint.pdf\">PDF<\/a>). The grounds is: XRP is a security, he lost money and it&#8217;s their fault. His loss is around $600 \u2014 and that in Tethers. Stephen Palley <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/992404137219379206\">thinks<\/a> the class representative may be problematic. &#8220;Not saying it&#8217;s contrived but defense counsel certainly might.&#8221; Nicholas Weaver <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ncweaver\/status\/992379127607906306\">suspects<\/a> &#8220;an attempt to manufacture a class action securities lawsuit by recruiting a plaintiff&#8221; and that this was a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ncweaver\/status\/992405462577369093\">rush to file:<\/a> &#8220;Assuming the SEC says &#8216;XRP is a security&#8217; on Monday (IMO, highly likely, this court filing explains why), there is pretty good odds the price will tank and you will get real plaintiffs. But first filing lawyers win.&#8221; The question now is if it survives the inevitable motion to dismiss. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-05-04\/ripple-hit-with-class-action-suit-over-never-ending-ico\">Bloomberg reports.<\/a><\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Crypto split: the act of telling regulators that your token &quot;isn&#39;t a security or a currency, it&#39;s no more than a database entry, really &#8211; people who buy it must be morons !&quot;, while simultaneously telling your investors that they&#39;re somehow buying a stake in the Next Big Thing.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Trolly McTrollface (@Tr0llyTr0llFace) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tr0llyTr0llFace\/status\/992023195493568512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Remember Ronn Torossian of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/01\/bitfinex-tether-and-5w-pr-mount-the-worst-public-relations-campaign-ive-seen-in-a-while\/\">5W PR,<\/a> the &#8220;brash&#8221; PR guy Bitfinex\/Tether used <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/04\/11\/news-uk-parliament-inquiry-friday-monero-and-ethereum-vs-asics-bitfinex-and-poland-ripple-tries-to-buy-xrp-onto-exchanges\/\">for a while?<\/a> He&#8217;s just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2018\/04\/29\/pro-trump-pr-guy-mueller-probe-218112\">shown up at the centre of the Mueller probe<\/a> into President Trump.<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">there&#39;s no incentive for any bitcoin company to ever provide any accountability, because the goldfish brained community will forgive and forget anything if the price goes up for a few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/992200910179713024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why doesn&#39;t anyone involved with crypto look through the Panama Papers? They&#39;re entirely free and public information. For God&#39;s sake people &#8211; do it: Read. Learn. Understand.<\/p>\n<p>The FUD is real.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CasPiancey (@CasPiancey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CasPiancey\/status\/991399325442850816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The LBank.io exchange in Hong Kong was offering a sale of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/fraudsters-take-aim-at-investors-in-controversial-kodakcoin-ico\/\">KodakCoin tokens!<\/a> WENN Digital condemned this as &#8220;fraudulent.&#8221; I expect <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/03\/08\/kodak-pt-5-kodakcoin-ico-light-paper-released\/\">they&#8217;d know.<\/a><\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>BBC News: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-43113955\">Is football ready to embrace the Bitcoin world?<\/a> With a slightly-mangled quote from me. (Entirely my fault\u00a0\u2014 the journalist emailed me to check wording and I didn&#8217;t get back to him in time.) The story here is that the money people in sports missed out big on the Internet, so they&#8217;re desperate not to miss out on whatever might be the next big thing. So there&#8217;s blockchain promoters pushing the usual selection of utterly inane ideas. I spoke to the journalist for about an hour, we had fun going through some <em>really<\/em> bad ICOs. But all the stuff talked about here\u00a0\u2014 media rights distribution (in the manner of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2017\/08\/why-you-cant-put-the-music-industry-on-a-blockchain-excerpt.html\">musical blockchain proposals<\/a>), gambling, ticketing,\u00a0<em>drug testing<\/em> \u2014 is stuff that&#8217;s seriously being proposed, even if it&#8217;s ridiculous. Oh, and apparently putting personally identifying information on an immutable blockchain will actually be <em>good<\/em> for GDPR compliance, somehow.<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I ask this question all the time and haven&#39;t gotten an answer:<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Is there a more successful use case (by transaction vol) than the Silk Road and it&#39;s subsequent iterations?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>I have never had someone engage this question.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Moe Fishstew (@parsonsdied) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/parsonsdied\/status\/992441912320843776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chepicap, 3 May 2018: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chepicap.com\/en\/news\/43\/gamers-raise-over-30-000-for-syria-by-mining-eth.html\">Gamers raise over $30,000 for Syria by mining ETH.<\/a> This is about the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/02\/news-uk-treasury-digital-currencies-inquiry-ethereum-as-a-security-bitcoin-cash-mining-for-charity\/\">BBC Click report<\/a> I mentioned on Wednesday, and includes a quote from me from the show.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>TechCrunch: <a href=\"https:\/\/tcrn.ch\/2HLLieS\">Reports of institutional crypto desks have been greatly exaggerated,<\/a> with quotes from me making up about half the story. Goldman Sachs are about as committed to this as if they had customers asking to deal in Beanie Babies, and their Bitcoin guy is currently exploring the regulatory issues. Jameson Lopp concurred: this is almost certainly not Good News and Serious Money for Bitcoin. But I do like the photo they used.<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/04\/news-suit-against-ripple-ronn-torossian-fake-kodakcoins-sports-blockchain\/beanie-babies-750x464\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6877\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6877\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/beanie-babies-750x464.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/beanie-babies-750x464.jpg 750w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/beanie-babies-750x464-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Come and hear me speak! Get your book signed if you didn&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/04\/13\/createspace-error-in-your-favour-signed-copies-of-attack-of-the-50-foot-blockchain-available-10-in-quantity\/\">get a signed one already!<\/a> I&#8217;m on a panel at the York Festival of Ideas on Saturday 9 June: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/e\/cryptocurrency-hype-or-technological-revolution-tickets-45557739425\">Cryptocurrency: Hype or technological revolution?<\/a> with Rory Cellan-Jones, Frances Coppola and Bebo Adams. The event is <strong><em>free<\/em><\/strong> but you&#8217;ll need your ticket! Available from 8am Tuesday 8 May. And at Intelligence Squared&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intelligencesquared.com\/events\/blockchain-quantum-leap-forward-or-digital-snake-oil\/\">Blockchain: Quantum leap forward or digital snake oil?<\/a> on Monday 2 July at 7:00pm at the Emmanuel Centre, SW1P 3DW \u2014 \u00a330 full price, \u00a315 students.<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our account finally got one of those spammy Ethereum giveaway accounts to clone us and I no joke did a fist pump as soon as I saw it. We\u2019ve finally arrived boys. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AJa4CmHYyv\">pic.twitter.com\/AJa4CmHYyv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/992137533503946752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Experienced rouletters don&#39;t put their chips on 22; other numbers are much better. I don&#39;t like to advocate this in the open, but PM me if you want to talk shop. I have a five figure annual ROI. Yes, that&#39;s xx,xxx%<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/992371183474573312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I contend that we are both nocoiners. I just believe in one fewer butts than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible butts, you will understand why I dismiss yours.&#8211;klafbang<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/992124338714431488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I remember blockchain from the last time it was used. It was a crap technology. I didn&#39;t like it, it didn&#39;t work, and it won&#39;t work this time <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CtGNhxK6pZ\">pic.twitter.com\/CtGNhxK6pZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Irish Border (@BorderIrish) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BorderIrish\/status\/992344998250196994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">seems legit <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7ncPN3vXUf\">pic.twitter.com\/7ncPN3vXUf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/992222888555110400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Come and see me in York in June! Tickets available from Tuesday morning!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[631,371,630,6,338,286,629,373,339],"class_list":["post-6865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-goldman-sachs","tag-kodakcoin","tag-lbank-io","tag-links","tag-ripple","tag-ronn-torossian","tag-ryan-coffey","tag-wenn-digital","tag-xrp"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6865"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6966,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions\/6966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}