{"id":9295,"date":"2018-08-18T22:29:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T22:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=9295"},"modified":"2018-08-18T22:29:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T22:29:48","slug":"news-bitmain-ipo-bitcoin-and-tether-terpin-v-att-nvidia-hates-crypto-vietman-blocks-mining-rigs-playboy-v-gbt-ethereum-ponzis-bitcoin-bail-maersk-v-shipping-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/08\/18\/news-bitmain-ipo-bitcoin-and-tether-terpin-v-att-nvidia-hates-crypto-vietman-blocks-mining-rigs-playboy-v-gbt-ethereum-ponzis-bitcoin-bail-maersk-v-shipping-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Bitmain IPO, Bitcoin and Tether, Terpin v. AT&#038;T, NVidia hates crypto, Vietman blocks mining rigs, Playboy v. GBT, Ethereum Ponzis, Bitcoin bail, Maersk v. shipping industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Crypto mining monopolist <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/14\/from-sia-an-incendiary-post-on-the-state-of-cryptocurrency-mining-in-2018\/\">Bitmain<\/a> is doing an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/crypto-unicorn-bitmain-weighs-18-billion-ipo-one-of-worlds-largest\/\">Initial Public Offering<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to be funded in actual money! I won&#8217;t do a full writeup, but commenters have noticed that Bitmain&#8217;s bet on <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/09\/03\/the-bitcoin-versus-bitcoin-cash-split-what-it-means-and-what-you-should-do\/\">Bitcoin Cash<\/a> hasn&#8217;t worked out \u2014 their Q2 numbers are terrible because of overinvestment in BCH, they have a million BCH that they can&#8217;t turn into actual money without crashing the price even further than it&#8217;s already gone down, and they can&#8217;t just stop mining BCH without leaving it open to a 51% attack. <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@btcWolves\/a-bch-update-bitmain-bch-the-ipo-what-it-all-actually-means-354220b86ac3\">Some analysis here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bitmain holds more Bitcoin Cash (1,021,316) than Satoshi Nakamoto as of March 31, 2018. \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n<p>In USD, Bitmain owns: <br \/>$500M of BCH<br \/>$132M of BTC<br \/>$47M of LTC<br \/>$43M of DASH<br \/>$288K of ETH<\/p>\n<p>Whatever your opinion of BCH, these numbers are mind-blowing. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KVCGGdhjO9\">pic.twitter.com\/KVCGGdhjO9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kerooke\/status\/1029207921391849472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 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<p>The mainstream papers keep writing about changes in the price of Bitcoin under the touching and heartwarming assumption that the crypto market is rational and things happen for marketlike reasons, rather than because of a great big thumb on the scale. Meanwhile, 300 million Tethers have been released in the <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptovest.com\/news\/tether-usdt-keeps-pumping-liquidity-on-bitfinex-props-up-bitcoin-btc-price\/\">past week.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And now let&#39;s cut over to Tom for an update on the crypto markets! Tom? Tom?! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6fGbmuZPRO\">pic.twitter.com\/6fGbmuZPRO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jameson Lopp (@lopp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lopp\/status\/1029203133459824641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 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<p>Also, the Wall Street Journal ran an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-mystery-behind-tether-the-crypto-worlds-digital-dollar-1534089601\">article on Tether<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/OkACR\">archive<\/a>), quoting me. &#8220;&#8216;There\u2019s nothing to hide here,&#8217; said Mr. Real. &#8216;It\u2019s not three managers just cranking out money randomly in a dark basement somewhere.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ummjackson\/status\/1029644680512733184<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The consensus of security people is that using SMS as the second factor in your two-factor authentication <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/06\/hey-stop-using-texts-two-factor-authentication\/\">is foolish.<\/a> Michael Terpin is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/386266599\/Terpin-v-Att\">suing AT&amp;T<\/a> for lax security because someone hijacked his phone number by asking AT&amp;T for a new SIM, and then stole his crypto. I think there&#8217;s a lot of blame to go around\u2014 exchanges for encouraging people to use SMS for their 2FA, AT&amp;T for being cavalier and slapdash with issuing replacement SIMs, and Terpin himself because he got hacked like this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/att-sued-for-224-million-after-phone-hackers-rob-crypto-investor\/\">once before<\/a> and kept using this method of authentication. Stephen Palley thinks <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/1029732345098764288\">this isn&#8217;t going far<\/a> \u2014 AT&amp;T has a mandatory arbitration clause, and he thinks it&#8217;ll get punted to arbitration. Terpin is rich, though, and it&#8217;s not impossible that he can break the arbitration clause.<\/p>\n<p>Vietnam <a href=\"https:\/\/vietnamnews.vn\/economy\/463671\/viet-nam-stops-bitcoin-mining-imports.html\">blocks imports<\/a> of crypto mining equipment, first <a href=\"https:\/\/vietnamnews.vn\/economy\/462099\/central-bank-agrees-to-suspend-import-of-cryptocurrency-mining-machines.html\">proposed in June<\/a> after a massive ICO fraud scandal in which Modern Tech Corp\u00a0 stole US$656 million from 32,000 people through its\u00a0Ifan and Pincoin crypto investment scams.<\/p>\n<p>Playboy Enterprises was going to <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.globalblockchain.io\/press-releases\/detail\/41\/global-blockchain-to-spearhead-development-of-digital\">connect VIT<\/a> (Vice Industry Tokens) into its porn sites, and Global Blockchain Technologies was going to set this up, integrate crypto wallets and so on. GBT was going to pay them $4 million as well. Playboy is now <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180814002925\/http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/hollywood\/la-fi-ct-playboy-cryptocurrency-lawsuit-20180813-story.html\">suing GBT<\/a> over the deal. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/386202753\/Playboy-v-Global-Blockchain#from_embed\">Playboy&#8217;s suit<\/a> says GBT didn&#8217;t make the 16 July deadline for payment, and didn&#8217;t do any work toward the deal \u2014 but plastered Playboy&#8217;s name all over advertising to other investors after the agreement had failed. GBT say the suit is &#8220;frivolous&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Forget <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/tag\/cryptokitties\/\">cat pictures<\/a> \u2014 Ethereum&#8217;s getting clogged with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/unstoppable-scams-ethereums-gambling-problem-is-only-getting-worse\/\">bots playing Ponzi schemes.<\/a> Ponzi authors complain those <em>other<\/em> Ponzi schemers are &#8230; <em>scammers!<\/em> Because they&#8217;re just taking the money, not running an <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/ethereum-smart-contracts-in-practice\/\"><em>honest<\/em> Ponzi.<\/a> Christine Kim from CoinDesk implies Ponzis might ever be anything other than a scam, because some other people have <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/04\/why-you-cant-cash-out-pt-3-bitcoin-is-not-a-ponzi-scheme-it-just-works-like-one\/\">called Bitcoin a Ponzi.<\/a> It&#8217;s glorious. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Buttcoin\/comments\/96sjbz\/i_bring_you_a_lot_of_comedy_gold_from_eth_and\/\">&#8220;No such thing as spam, they are using the network.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A man charged with hacking Electronic Arts has been ordered to <a href=\"https:\/\/padailypost.com\/2018\/08\/15\/federal-courts-now-accepting-cryptocurrency-for-bail\/\">pay his $750,000 bail<\/a> in &#8220;Bitcoin or any other kind of cryptocurrency.&#8221; Just to keep Bitcoin and crime firmly linked in the public consciousness. I&#8217;m not sure if this is any better than <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/11\/15\/bail-bloc-mine-monero-generate-co2-send-less-money-than-you-spent-to-charity\/\">Bail Bloc.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bad and ill-considered London crypto startups discover that any random bozo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/4121b068-a1fd-11e8-85da-eeb7a9ce36e4\">may no longer a genius<\/a> when the bull market ends.<\/p>\n<p>Actual shipping industry people are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joc.com\/technology\/skepticism-maersk-ibm\u2019s-tradelens-hit-bigger-blockchain-questions_20180813.html\">not so convinced<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.fo\/8ZDnQ\">archive<\/a>) by Maersk and IBM&#8217;s TradeLens blockchain shipping initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency TRON recently bought BitTorrent, Inc. They&#8217;ll definitely get something done with it in <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/tron-our-bittorrent-plan-might-take-two-decades-180816\/\">a decade or two, maybe.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shocked, shocked to hear that the sunken warship said to have billions of dollars in gold on board turned out to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/sunken-warship-said-to-have-billions-in-gold-looks-like-1828264435\">crypto scam!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NVidia thinks its crypto business is dead and it&#8217;s never coming back. They just gave their Q2 2018 earnings report &mdash; they&#8217;d anticipated $100m from people buying video cards for cryptocurrency mining. <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/article\/4199978-nvidia-corporation-nvda-ceo-jensen-huang-q2-2019-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single\">They grossed $18m.<\/a> Every segment of NVidia&#8217;s earnings is up, <em>except<\/em> crypto. &#8220;Lastly, in our OEM segment, revenue declined by 54% year-on-year and 70% sequentially. This was primarily driven by the sharp decline of cryptocurrency revenues to fairly minimal levels &#8230; We now expect a negligible contribution going forward &#8230; we\u2019re projecting zero basically.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Crypto was the only revenue segment *down* y\/y. Every other business segment \ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udcc8. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%24NVDA&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">$NVDA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LJ2aB9hsjL\">pic.twitter.com\/LJ2aB9hsjL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; James Wang (@jwangARK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jwangARK\/status\/1030197971281956864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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<p>Vitalik Buterin has posted a<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VitalikButerin\/status\/1029900695925706753\"> 75-tweet thread<\/a> on the state of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/13\/ethereum-casper-only-has-to-work-well-enough-worse-is-better-in-action\/\">Ethereum Casper,<\/a> because it&#8217;s not like there&#8217;s an <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.ethereum.org\/\">official Ethereum blog<\/a> or anything.<\/p>\n<p>Number go up: &#8220;BITCOIN WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!&#8221; Number go down: <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/bitcoin-price-imperfect-meltem\/\">&#8220;Price is such an imperfect metric.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>David Ruddock posts a marvelous thread of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RDRv3\/status\/1030481025845972992\">crypto mining rigs<\/a> being sold on Craigslist. I urge you again \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/02\/06\/video-cards-are-getting-cheap-again-proceed-with-caution\/\">don&#8217;t\u00a0 touch second-hand video cards with a barge pole.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Purportedly, an interview with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitcoinstacks.com\/wbb\/index.php?thread\/15081-exclusive-interview-with-a-twitter-eth-giveaway-scam-ringleader-making-50k-100k\/\">Twitter Ethereum scammer.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ncweaver\/status\/1030556981994577920<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">imagine if keeping your car idling 24\/7 produced solved Sudokus you could trade for heroin<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; rev. howard arson (@Theophite) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Theophite\/status\/1030225104234373121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hkOmoZWaKd\">https:\/\/t.co\/hkOmoZWaKd<\/a> Am I missing something here or has this &quot;crypto\/blockchain for football clubs&quot; project managed to misspell football?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ruskin147\/status\/1029731183767314437?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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\">What fresh hell is this <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oHmPuewVi0\">pic.twitter.com\/oHmPuewVi0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; aloria (@aloria) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aloria\/status\/1028678817563504640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 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<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/caseycookscrap\/status\/1030368409064599552<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#39;ve been on a date with the blocksplainer bro &#8482; trope! My favorite is asking them to explain the tech they are actually talking about, and not telling them I&#39;m a programmer. Then after they are done, I laugh and explain it back, but right, finish my drink, and call my uber.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u262d\ua66eGatekeeper Blocker Eevee (\u256f\u00b0w\u00b0)\u256f\u5f61\ud83d\udcbb\ud83c\udf0b\ua66e\u262d (@ComradeEevee) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ComradeEevee\/status\/1030599532663513088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 17, 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\">If only 1% of left-handed people in China had bought a Juicero machine, we would really have had something special. Damn, that was a good business plan. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X4z7M7GetS\">https:\/\/t.co\/X4z7M7GetS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ben Hunt (@EpsilonTheory) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EpsilonTheory\/status\/1030821846399242242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 18, 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\">hyped up for this crypto conference next year! itll be awesome!!<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EFnsWKaN6s\">https:\/\/t.co\/EFnsWKaN6s<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/1028715298990551043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 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>Bitcoin explained: &#8220;imagine if keeping your car idling 24\/7 produced solved Sudokus you could trade for heroin.&#8221;<\/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":[828,21,42,343,746,642,82,390,316,6,830,827,340,535,39,831,744,829],"class_list":["post-9295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-att","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin-cash","tag-bitmain","tag-bittorrent","tag-casper","tag-ethereum","tag-global-blockchain-technologies","tag-ibm","tag-links","tag-maersk","tag-michael-terpin","tag-nvidia","tag-playboy","tag-tether","tag-tradelens","tag-tron","tag-vietnam"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9295","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=9295"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9375,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9295\/revisions\/9375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}