Any lawyers want to weigh in on whether you have some sort of first-amendment right to parody crimes?
(it may be I spend too much of my non-tech-internet time reading /r/legaladvice)
How can you commit fraud if you are telling the truth?
I'm sure there are legal implications of running a Ponzi scheme too. I'm positive that telling someone about the illegal thing you're doing does not absolve you of responsibility.
In the specific case of a Ponzi scheme, which by definition is a scam where “investors” are decieved as to the nature of the operation, disclosing the mechanics make it not a Ponzi.
It does seem to still be an illegal pyramid scheme, though it doesn't rely on an entrants recruiting their own downline, instead having a shared downline.
https://www.joeyskaggs.com/works/bad-guys-talent-management-...
"I'm gonna make this pencil disappear."
Superb concept.
The problem with ponzi schemes is the fraud. It is not the gambling part of it.
In most US jurisdictions, gambling is generally prohibited, though there are generally some specific exceptions (often with licensing requirements). So...probably. But this seems to be illegal independently of gambling laws.
> The problem with ponzi schemes is the fraud. It is not the gambling part of it.
Pyramid schemes that aren't Ponzi schemes are also illegal; while it's called PonziCoin, it's actually more of a (passive) pyramid scheme.
"Well i'm settled. Case dismissed!"
I'm pretty sure this was done before. As a dapp even.
Its fine -- those that do not learn the histories of the past are doomed to repeat them
> A: We use Equifax-grade security.
haha
not https
Figures.
I remember these 'transpararent ponzis' from years ago.
Screenshot from 2014: https://web.archive.org/web/20140208200431/http://ponzi.io/
[1] https://etherscan.io/address/0xe3f64dc522a66405c51d96aae2342... - accessed at Wed Jan 24 16:10:39 EST 2018
[2] https://etherscan.io/address/0xe3f64dc522a66405c51d96aae2342...
Edit: the source itself is based off of [2]. The custom part is ```contract PonziCoin...```. It's well written in the way that all Solidity code is well written...
Unless they were running the scheme, it can't have been a Ponzi if they, as participants, were aware of its structure. Presumably, you mean a pyramid scheme.
Now that is a ponzi i could trust
There's $9,047.32 worth of ETH in the contract already. Price seems to be 0.08 ETH
That line made my day.
The way you can rip this off is buy a bunch of coins at once, push up the value, and then sell them all. You have to buy a maximum of 400 PonziCoins before you can start making a profit, but then the more you buy, then cash out, the more profit you make.
This is if the current price is .02 ETH per PC, which I've heard it's not anymore.
+----------+------+----------------+
| numCoins | cost | return if sold |
+----------+------+----------------+
| 100 | 2 | -1 |
| 200 | 6 | -2 |
| 300 | 14 | -2 |
| 400 | 30 | 2 |
| 500 | 62 | 18 |
| 600 | 126 | 66 |
| 700 | 254 | 194 |
| 800 | 510 | 514 |
| 900 | 1022 | 1282 |
| 1000 | 2046 | 3074 |
+----------+------+----------------+
You can't make money forever, you will just take all ETH that has been put in before, which will be a small amount. Then nothing is left and it will be bankrupt until someone else puts money in. But it's a guaranteed way to get your own money back, if you can afford to go at least 4 rounds, if it works exactly as the site says, and if no one cashes out coins before you do. The risk is that someone waits and cashes out after you put your money in and before you have cashed out, you have to do your transactions all at once to be successful.
I don't know how this works behind the scenes, I don't advocate for any of this, and I won't be trying it myself. I also am a little disappointed to realize I may have provided the best argument yet to make this thing go. So don't put your money in there, you are probably going to lose it.
> This has gotten crazy out of hand, I apologize but we will no longer be selling PonziCoin on this site because this was a joke. I cannot terminate the contract but I will not be selling any coins that I own.
The Buy button is disabled on the site. Also, if you checked the eth contract you will see it has basically $0 in it, down from over $175,000. I think what happened is that the BUY button was disabled on the site, the message added, and then people started dumping their coins and it was all gone.
https://etherscan.io/address/0xe3f64dc522a66405c51d96aae2342...
A: It's as much a scam as 99% of the ICOs out there, but it's more transparent about it.
If only real life had such easily spotted scams. "Warning: This is a scam" labelling would be so helpful.