Sunday, January 22, 2023

Cardano Daily Discussion - January 23, 2023

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Cardano Daily Discussion!

The standard sub rules apply here (see sidebar), with the exception that price discussion is allowed in this thread, though we encourage you to try not to make this the focus and talk about the project itself. Please ask questions, help others and be civil - be sure to get involved in Project Catalyst too!

If you're new, please make sure you're read through the newbies guide and share it with others (use the ?newbies comment command to reference it).

⚠️ Scam Warning ⚠️

Please read the Cybersecurity guidelines for Cardano Users.

There are ongoing giveaway scams on youtube and many scammers lurking in Cardano's social channels impersonating ambassadors/moderators/official staff contacting users via direct messages.

For example, searching 'cardano' on youtube and sorting by most recent upload date shows several giveaway scams running (all videos in screenshot are scams):

Ongoing 'giveaway' scams on Youtube

The youtube scams are automated; use stolen footage usually of Charles Hoskinson and are restreamed so to appear to be 'live'; appear to have many watchers (which are bots); use bought hacked channels and are edited to appear like official channels.

Do not be fooled!

To be clear:

  • ⚠️ There is no such thing as a Cardano giveaway
  • ⚠️ Never share your seed phrase with ANYONE
  • ⚠️ Never send ADA to someone promising to send you more ADA back
  • ⚠️ You will never be contacted by ambassadors/moderators/staff

Please report scams on the Cardano Fraud Detection Bureau.

⚠️ Scam Warning ⚠️

https://preview.redd.it/60ofludzpq8a1.png?width=284&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=7d58fc8aaa2eb5f125624608b97bdd7b943a1111

Midnight Subreddit

In anticipation of Input Output's new data protection blockchain 'Midnight', I've managed to acquire r/Midnight through some negotiation and repurpose it for the Cardano Community (the sub was created for a card game back in 2011 but was mostly unused).

I decided to do this as I thought the project will eventually need a home on reddit and best to setup now before any scammers do. Obviously there's not much to post about on there right now as it's early days as the project is yet to be released, but if you'd like to be kept up to date on the project please feel free to join the new subreddit if the project interests you and I'll be sure to post updates as and when they become available.

Right now the sub is mostly a carbon copy of r/cardano, I've copied most of the automod and rules over, so certain aspects may seem a little incongruent atm, but I'll tailor and tweak the sub as we go. Feel free to send me or post any input if you want stuff to change.

Cheers all


Chain Joe wants to create an ecosystem that values high-end games and promotes consistent gameplay

Chain Joe wants to create an ecosystem that values high-end games and promotes consistent gameplay. This ecosystem prioritizes involvement and financial gain. We will never create a gambling-related financial product. These items have many serious faults. They're too shallow to hold players' attention. These "earn first games" have unstable economics since players frequently pause and resume. Chain Joes' focus on customer satisfaction will ensure its success. This feature lets players explore new areas, compete in player-versus-player and player-versus-environment events, customize their characters, and enjoy a lot more material.

#CHAINJOES #ICO #CRYPTO #BITCOIN


Who are the most hated scammers ever in the cryptocurrency industry?

During the numerous scams in the cryptocurrency industry, some people became the epitome of hate and dirt stealing millions to billions of people. From Satish Kumbani to SBF, the list is interesting and equally disgusting. They are all despiteful and excrements of humanity, they are all equally guilty and harmful as they managed to destroy the lives of many people. Some are unknown to most people and some are "famous", who is the most disgusting of them and hated the most?

1. Satish Kumbhan and the BitConnect Scam.

BitConnect was a lending and exchange platform powered by BitConnect Coin founded by Satish Kumbhan. It advertised large profits and there was a lot of hype around it.

However, BitConnect was soon under the suspicion of being a Ponzi scheme, which proved to be true. In February 2022, BitConnect's founder was charged with orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme worth $2.4 billion.

BitConnect’s founder Satish Kumbhani was indicted last year for orchestrating the “global Ponzi scheme.” But prosecutors have said he remains at large, and it’s likely that he left his native country India to an as-yet-unknown location.

2. Ruja Ignatova and OneCoin Scam.

OneCoin is another Ponzi Scheme that was presented as a cryptocurrency worth investing in. It was run by Ruja Ignatova from Bulgaria, known as the Cryptoqueen.

Her story is so insane that it reads like a movie plot.

After scamming investors out of $4 billion, she disappeared in 2017, never to be seen again. Currently, she’s on the FBI’s most wanted list and there’s a $100,000 reward to help find her.

3. Do Kwon and Terra-Luna.

Kwon made “fraudulent misrepresentations” about the stability of TerraUSD. EVM-compatible smart contract platform Terra (LUNA) was among the most overhyped Ethereum (ETH) killers of 2021. However, the lion’s share of its TVL was concentrated on Anchor Protocol (ANC), a simple yield farming machine that offered a 19% APY on deposits in Terra USD (UST), Terra’s now-defunct USD-pegged stablecoin. In total, more than $20 billion in equivalent was locked in Anchor (ANC) in Q1, 2022. However, in early May 2022, someone started aggressively sending UST to pools on the Curve Finance (CRV) Defi and exchanging the tokens on USD Coin (USDC). UST lost its peg. Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon started injecting liquidity into the UST/LUNA mechanism. However, due to a massive capital run, both LUNA and UST dropped to almost zero values. The Terra (LUNA) blockchain was halted for good. As covered by U.Today previously, researchers unveiled that it was Terraform Labs that initiated the collapse: massive UST transfers were authorized by Do Kwon. The Terra founder allegedly ran to Serbia and tried to cash out his Bitcoins (BTC) there.

4. Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.

The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its associated crypto investing firm Alameda Research was the most surprising drama in Web3: SBF and his team attempted to gain enormous control over the industry by signing dozens of partnerships, appearing on Forbes’ covers and so on. However, the balance sheet of Alameda Research depended heavily on FTX Token (FTT), the native cryptocurrency of FTX. That’s why the whole system collapsed when Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao started aggressively selling FTT (over $500 million in equivalent was released by CZ). Just like in all similar cases, investors started mass withdrawing their money from FTX. The platform stopped the withdrawals, SBF stepped down as CEO and filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, it became known that he was using investors’ and customers' money in his own trading firm, Alameda Research. Due to terrible mismanagement, Alameda Research was well underwater. SBF was arrested and released on bail while the realized losses from the FTX collapse peaked at $9 billion in equivalent.

5. Ameer and Raees Cajee and Africrypt.

Africrypt was a massive scam perpetrated by two brothers, Ameer and Raees Cajee, aged 18 and 21 then, respectively. The brothers allegedly targeted high-net-worth individuals and celebrities in South Africa, luring them with promises of lucrative returns. They urged their clients to keep the project a secret, which inadvertently lured even more people, authorities said.

It all came crashing down as all scams do, and customers started being unable to access their funds. The Cajees at first claimed that Africrypt had been hacked, but cybersecurity experts later linked the “hackers” wallet addresses to the two brothers. They then tried to keep the scam a secret, but it all imploded after some time. The Cajee brothers made off with more than $3.6 billion, a figure that their lawyer at the time dismissed.

6. Faruk Fatih Özer and Thodex Scam.

Thodex was a Turkish crypto exchange launched in 2017 by Faruk Fatih Özer.

In April 2021, bitcoin hit its all-time high of $62k per coin. That same month, Thodex shut down, citing an emergency “6-hour maintenance period.” The shutdown extended for five days, and then Thodex shut down the platform completely.

Özer immediately fled Turkey and never returned. He took over $2 billion from over 100k investors. It became clear that Özer was using the money for personal use, and over 60 arrests were made in the ensuing months. But his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

If Özer is ever caught, he will face 40,000 years in prison sentence for financial fraud under the Turkish legal code.

7. Chen Bo and PlusToken.

PlusToken was founded in early 2018 by Chen Bo, posing as a South Korean wallet and exchange. It lured investors with promises of quick and guaranteed returns. In the two years that followed, Bo brought on several others and expanded the scam to other Southeast Asian countries including China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.

PlusToken operators had devised a pyramid scheme that managed to lure over 2.6 million investors, authorities said. The scam was organized into at least 3,200 investor levels, with more referrals and bigger investments bumping an investor up the chain. The operators also lied to investors that they were making money through digital currency investing, according to investors.

As the Yancheng court uncovered, the orchestrators just used the new investors' money to pay back some of the initial investors, in a true Ponzi scheme manner. They also used some of the funds to buy luxury cars and homes, invested in real estate, and organized plush events to lure more investors.

The Chinese government brought an end to the scam, arresting 109 PlusToken operators. Of these, 27 held executive positions at the scam. The Chinese later government confiscated $4 billion worth of crypto linked to the scam. However, it seems that not all the individuals involved have been traced, as unknown entities have successfully withdrawn some of the stolen funds in 2020. 

8. Pincoin Scam.

Named iFan and Pincoin, the projects were the brainchild of Bui Thi My Ngoc, Ho Phu Ty, Ho Xuan Van, Luong Huynh Quoc Huy, Luu Trong Tuan, Nguyen Duc Trong, Nguyen Trung Hieu, and Vu Huu Loi. The group exhibited no shortage of business acumen, claiming that the projects originated in India and Singapore, instead of admitting that they were actually home-grown.

Pincoin was a cryptocurrency project focused on asset sharing. It promised an insanely high ROI of up to 312%, which is a major red flag because no project can promise a return on investment, let alone an ROI of that size.

Furthermore, the project had a recruitment system and multi-level structure which screams Ponzi Scheme. That was proven to be true by the financial scam directory Behindmlm.

$600 million was stolen from investors in the Pincoin Scam.

9. Matthew Brent Goettsche and Bitclub Network.

From April 2014 through December 2019, the BitClub Network was a fraudulent scheme that solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded investors for recruiting new investors into the scheme. Matthew Brent Goettsche, BitClub Network’s creator and operator, and Silviu Catalin Balaci, Russ Albert Medlin, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel, were charged by indictment in December 2019 in connection with the BitClub Network scheme. 

Bitclub network was advertised as “the most innovative & lucrative way to earn digital currency”. It was a community of people who wanted to make money with Bitcoin and other currencies.

However, Bitclub Network turned out to be a fraud. According to the IRS, “BitClub Network was a fraudulent scheme that solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded investors for recruiting new investors into the scheme.”

The team behind Bitclub Network scammed investors out of $722 million and has been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.


[Sun, Jan 22 2023] TL;DR — This is the top investing content you missed in the last 24 hours on Reddit

r/stocks

Apple's business is simply an earnings machine. ROC comparison: Apple (23.7%) vs. Alphabet (12.3%) vs. Amazon (5.7%)

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Google is panicking! Google Calls In Help From Larry Page and Sergey Brin for A.I. Fight

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If you had to allocate 100% of your portfolio to Apple, Microsoft, or Amazon - which would you choose?

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r/StockMarket

Google employees scramble for answers after layoffs hit long-tenured and recently promoted employees

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Next weeks economic events and potential earnings

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Luxury giant LVMH hits 400 billion euro in market value

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r/investing

China’s Reopening Comes With a $720 Billion Inflation Bomb

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Are there any Biotech or renewable energy ETFs?

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Is suntrade investment a safe company

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r/trakstocks

CRNT has based .. and is now moving up .. Broke the 50 DMA and 200 ...

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r/UndervaluedStonks


r/wallstreetbets

Meme I just made. I hope you like it. Also, I’m financially ruined.

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Investing With The Fellas

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when you own 10 chickens but mortgaged 3 extra chicken coops to flip on Zillow

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r/market_sentiment

What is the best investment decision you have made in the last year?

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r/options

Update on my PortFolio Hedge Strategy

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Got short call assigned; NOW Iron Condor.

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Trading Journal tips and ideas

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r/pennystocks

7 penny $CLNV gaining momentum building global network to convert waste plastic into clean fuel

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CYBN & MMED. What happened and can it bounce back?

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Any Canadians here? Where are you trading?

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r/SecurityAnalysis

Amazon’s $6bn Man

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A Global Perspective on the Car Shortage

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2023 Outlook & Buying The Seasonal Sale in Oil & Gas Equities

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r/Biotechplays


r/algotrading

Hello World Programs for API Stock Trading

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Dual listed stocks

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Level 2 Data

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r/Forex

Trading Rules (especially for newbies)

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Upvote if you got 💩 on trading in 2022 and comment what you learned! We’re here to get people to the next level!

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[education only] What do you think about this setup? The demand zone might show itself based on 1 hour market structure.

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r/RobinHood

Selling all stocks before debt limit

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How to turn brokerage holdings into cash?

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r/CryptoMarkets

Looks like we found the one true market!

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The WEF 2023 in Davos Once Again Highlighted the Unfairness of the Current System. More Than Ever, the World Needs the Plan Bitcoin. Larry Fink said it all: "BlackRock doesn't have a mandate to make the planet a better place, just to maximize people's profits."

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It's Only Bitcoin That Can End Corrupt Financial Systems – Exclusive Interview with Prince Philip of Serbia

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Peacekeeper's skyrocketing prices are a bug in the trader interface, not a deliberate gameplay decision.

So as of writing this, the "dynamic event" as the simps are calling it is over. Except it's patently not an intended behavior.

TL;DR this is a bug that they keep breaking, presumably because they want to implement peak pricing, but they're trying to monkey with the "scaling" factor, but whatever their implementation is breaking and nullifying itself.

If it was an intended feature, we would be seeing a few different things.

  1. Flea market prices would be staying in line with the conversion rates.
  2. We would be seeing prices for Euros stay static.
  3. The purchase cost of the currency would adjust appropriately.

But, well, here we are. Right now, the prices have ballooned- but by a strange amount that isn't actually reflected in the flea market. Anything sold with euros match in their rise.

The current RUB-USD conversion rate is 118:1, and 129:1 for euros.

The real conversion rates are 68.57 and 74.59 ruble per USD or EUR, respectively, according to this website. First hit on Google, and had consistent data.

If you compare the Tarkov and real conversion rates, you're at 1.7207 for USD and 1.7295 for EUR- close enough to where you can call both 1.7:1 as a flat price hike for foreign currency items to balance them.

When you compare the prior prices of items with their "event" prices, you'll find the prices have risen by 170% (approximately) and so have Peacekeeper's purchase values.

This is why the flea hasn't adjusted appropriately, why you did and will find AUGs for 63kRUB, then Peacekeeper asking $1055 (124,490RUB) for one, then 64kRUB. Why you'd find these listings all over.

Item case was around 28,000EUR during the bugged times, and it's around 16,000EUR normally. EUR is tied to the USD, I think, then adjusted for the actual euro's relative USD exchange rate.

So how does this affect BTC? Bitcoin is tied to the USD, not to the rouble, so when you screw up the conversion rate and make the dollar about twice as strong compared to the rouble, something worth a flat dollar value will lose about half its value.


Fiat is a scam

Am from India. I love coconut water. 4 years ago big coconut I used to drink everyday cost 30 inr here at ahmedabad. (Small town it might be cheaper). Because of covid BS and lockdown and mask fine(police fined us if mask was exposing nose slightly) I went away to home town at parents place as am single and all restaurants and tiffin services were un available so hard to find good food. now I return back and same coconut cost 65 inr. I drink 2 coconut daily. Its cost me now 3900 inr per month compared to 1800 inr per month. And coconut water is costly comparer to avrg income. Most lower middle class and middle class cannot afford coconut water on daily basis. When I was kid/school. This coconut cost 5 inr. Also 500 gram banana 20 years ago was 5 inr. Now it is 30 inr. Labour used to grow this stuff aint much. Thanks to fertilizer this stuff grows in abundances. Also petrol price in 2002 to 2005 was around 35 inr per litre now is above 90 most places in India. Compared to other countries out current gov i.e NAREMDRA MODI's party have refrained from printing money. still savings of common people is robbed because of geopolitics and international events occurring thousands of mile.

Every kid should be taught 1)LAYERED MONEY 2) bitcoin standard 3) fiat standard. This 3 books should be taught before kids enter labour market.