Bitcoin Forum

So I would like to give everyone the chance to check their coins on this thread. The time limit is 2 months from today. Also I would like to give you the advice to redeem your coins ASAP because I will not be backing up any claims or accusations after this 2 months. My coins are worthless so i am told and a lot of you have lost plenty of MONEY :(


So film yourself withdrawing the coin and if it in't there I will refund it. Providing the withdraw date is not after yesterday30/8/2017  :)


Some people think I kept the keys! Some people know I didnt fund some (accident man jees) but some people think I am going to scam EVERYONE!


So after 2 months the legitimacy of my business is finished and I will not answer anything. I have an extremely good lawyer in the UK so you have 2 months to act.

What I say to you is this. WITHDRAW ALL FUNDS NOW AND IF YOU DONT YOU RISK LOSING EVERYTHING. - for people that withdraw I will even provide a sticker for you to make it a DIY coin. Postage will be my pleasure.

You have 2 months to throw abuse at me. I am looking forward to it but kinda dreading it at the same time.

THIS IS MY LEGAL CONTRACT I HAVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE COINS FUNDS as of DECEMBER 1st. - Until then I will sort out all problems.

seriously I thought there would be so many people saying 'buthurt' buthurt' the end is here. Come on lads give me something to go on here please.

Can you please clarify what happens after 2 months?  Are you implying that you will be redeeming what is left on all of your coins?? Because that's how this comes across. 

I guess its like terrorism. Some people are nasty fuckers who kill people but most of them in the same situation are actually nice. But the evil bastards kill each other to prove a point and the rest of them follow blindly because they do not feel associated with the victim. Just someone say a good word out loud about me before these savage assholes cut my head off and leave me for the worms.



SAVE THE SCAMMER GRAVITATE.

Very confused

I have purchased a few of your coins, and apart from having to PM you a couple of times to get them funded after receiving them in the mail, I've never had any issues. 

That said, you are giving me a lot of concerns about whether you intend to redeem these coins two months from now.  Please clarify whether your funded coins are at risk. 

OK, I'm currently having issues redeeming a 0.05 Silver coin.

1Aa7Bm7v

Your suggestions for sweeping it as so far the apps I've tried have failed. Electrum/Jaxx

Viz

You are doing a disservice to anyone who has chosen to continue to hold your coins. Your post sounds as if you are declaring "no confidence" in your own product. You are hurting the value of your coins, and in so doing you are actively hurting your past customers financially. What was your lawyer's advice about this?

All I said in the written contract is that after 2 months I will NOT sort out any problems. Do you really think I am gonna fly round the world demanding peoples coins back? The only one interesting is bitenvy but I dont like angry parents. Just claim the coins or you are liable for anything that happens after that. I am through here. Scam this scam that scam anyone. I am out. Also I will not be providing the list of public keys until I get a computer to do so. How I feel right now I am seriously not bothered. Some nice people will probably not peel their coins. Then they will come to me saying ' hi sorry you had a hard time in the coin making industry, is it possible I can get a full set of public keys please?'     To those kinda people I would say yes. But all I give you now is 2 MONTHS. I will also make STickers AVAILABLE for 2 months and any mistakes repaid for 2 MONTHS :). Use this time! Listen to the people who call me a scammer and take the bitcoin which is yours. After the 2 months there is no guarantee.


I am not doing anything I am legally stepping away. When did you guys sign terms and conditions here? Are all of you claiming your bitcoin profits in tax? Are you all declaring your coin profits in tax from the sales of coins because I could name a few? My 3k profit in 3 years  is like laughable. 

I am not saying anything bad about my product I am saying I will no further be involved with these bull shit troll artists that you guys support. I am totally out after 2 months so MAKE THE MOST OF IT :)

Sucks for people that bought these at a premium  :-\

OH wait yeah people payed a premium for the russian roulette. So ok I will put 0.5 bitcoin as a roulette for you charming people. Who want to run the competition? I will send immediately.

no one?

Wow ive never said anything to you.  Just commenting that is sucks for people that paid a premium for your coins thats all...you ok man?

what the fuck do you mean premium? I worked my ass off selling them cheaper than anyone else. Explain. Yes I am ok. Just interested what your thoughts are :)

People paid over what the loaded amount was, now you are devaluing them.  Im not attacking you but you seem unhinged.  Was just saying for people that bought your coins and now you are running them into the ground.  Maybe not from you but second hand sellers, etc about the premium.  Dam man im out good luck.

Are all coins created under the Microsoul brand affected or only certain series?

100% all. None to spare. Before december like I said I will sort out. Then we are 100% finished. If the coin was cashed out before today 31st or over 5 hours of you posting a complaint your coin is gone . Quite simple really. If its gone then I will allow the police to come raid my house and find my stuck together collectors magasine.

unhinged? really? Well no one jumped to my defence when I was getting called a scammer. I get it follow the load obnoxious ones its fine. Hype and threatening behaviour. Thats the coin community today

Ok man, all i was saying is that a bunch of people bought your coins second hand at a premium thats all i was saying and now they have to redeem them at face value.  And yes you seem a bit unhinged.  As far as defending you i never knew you, talked to you or dealt with you.  What other people do and do not do is not under my or anyones control but you seem to feel like devaluing ALL of your coins is a good way to get back at certain people or this community i dont know....but collaterally people who never dealt with you are now getting shit on....thats all i was saying

OK well take a deep breath and post the video. If you did it incorrectly and someone steels your bitcoin I will not pay. Maybe send privately 1st

I estimate like 5%  of peolpe have problems which sucks I know but I always sorted them out. But I refuse to come to this shit hole to take abuse from blatent trolls who have no life or care for anyone elses thoughts. I am not an active part of this community and I am not a YES man. So you can blame yourself. Trust me I know a lot of other coin makers who complain about this shit. I am the 1st to say it. well there we go. 2 Months. After 2 months i am officially out. Simple.

well not quite as easy as that. All of the gold digger series will have to be numbered and 0.5 BTC sent to one of them. I can get a list together tomorrow then someone trustworthy sends it. Who wants to send it?

You're off your fucking door mate, sleep it off!

Hey I am not actually drunk. I like your name by the way though. takes me back to UNI days. I am totally sound seriously. These messages are my written contract from now on.

Video sent

Viz

The "key" problem it appears is that the easy to read code on the bit of paper does not sweep into any of the wallets I've tried.
Now I've checked and rechecked my typing of the code but to no avail.

There were no issues removing the holo from the coin and the text was easy to read. It just doesn't appear to want to be swept. Now, that could be me using the wrong method hence my request for you advice. Which wallet do you recommend to get this key swept?

It starts with a 5

Cheers

Viz

I thought the roulette coins were cool looking and a great idea.  I'm sorry things turned out this way.

If it's a mini key (30 characters) it starts with an S, maybe try that?

Printed on the paper its most definitely a 5. I tried the S and s though. No luck in electrum.
https://i.imgur.com/5t1uAcJm.jpg

Viz

As the chances are reasonably high that the private keys are broken I would welcome a refund of the Bitcoin contained on the 2 Silver coins I have.
The one that has been redeemed in the video sent to you and the other in the pic here. As they are from the same batch I think it is fair to estimate that this coins priv key is also worthless. Batch error?

Please send the 0.1 refund to this address - 16xaiWYHhEw28gySEG9zJBXMX7MbiBZDKV

I would also welcome your comments on the 0.01 Coins in the second picture. Are the keys on those coins likely to be a problem? I believe they may have been part of your zombie batch. If so, again, a refund of the contained bitcoin would be appreciated, again to the above address.

https://i.imgur.com/3BVHYf1m.jpg https://i.imgur.com/XrwJCSvm.jpg

Thanks in advance

Viz

Hey gravitate you made some real nice coins, I picked up two Russian Roulettes from another member and they are definitely in my top 3 favorite coins I own.

The funding issues suck and I'm sure staring at strings and strings of numbers while funding them may have led to the issues presented. Care and attention is so important with bitcoin and mistakes have cost a lot of people (buyer and seller) a lot of their hard earned money. I believe this to be a problem on both sides of the situation here.

It will prove interesting once people begin to peel and we will see if it may have been an honest mistake or if it were malicious. We all buy physical coins and put our blind trust in the coin creators to do the right thing... Probably more than we should to be honest..

If you peel please speak up here guys.

I'm glad you're warning the buyers of your coins. But, I've been doing this for almost a year.  

Legitimacy?  You never finished the gold digger series.  You never made me whole in my scam accusation #1.  You never addressed my scam accusation #2.  You have scammed me two times now with 3 different coins.  This is fact!  I have laid out all of my evidence which points to both coins being received without funds!  I bought 3 different coins and were sold "funded" according to you, but yet they were not.  Want to talk about legal?  It is illegal to sell an item advertised as "funded" as you have done, but then ship coins to customers with no funds on the coins.  It is also what scammers do.  

And, now this post...  This post is no legal contract.  You refuse to make me whole again by putting these stipulations on time frames when I posted this latest accusation a month ago.  Basically, excluding me from receiving a refund.  What a way to treat a customer!  And, you have done absolutely nothing to address the legitimate scam accusation.  This is about more than a refund at this point.  But, what are you doing about my coins that should be funded?  I, like others have lost out on huge premiums because of this and by redeeming, then only to find out there aren't even any funds on the coins! 



How about your terms on your sale that says the coins will be "funded"?  I bought based on those terms.  Others did too.  I am not alone.  Vizique is showing multiple coins that were not funded when they should have been.  Jackblack90909 had multiple coins were not funded in recent thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1975259.0).  More evidence of a bigger scam.  So, how many of your coins are NOT funded?  We will find out...  



Your coins had a huge premium because of the puzzle reward that no one is receiving because you didn't finish the series.  Once again, another scam.  Your coins are worthless because you made them worthless by making mistakes, not funding them, mixing up private keys to coin id's, messing up orders, upsetting customers, not handling things professionally.  I didn't do it.  I didn't want to post a scam accusation.  But, you forced me to because of how you handled everything and with the evidence I had.    

He is just saying there will be no more support or after 2 months from now. You don't have to redeem Microsoul coins if you don't want to. Maybe I will redeem some of my coins because there is also bitcoincash on them, but I will sure keep 1 coin of each type unredeemed.

So if you have any problems regarding his coins act now within these 2 months and after that just leave him be, get on with life, enjoy life, be happy  ;D

Matthew just wants to stop with microsoul, that is his own choice and we have to respect that. Too bad, coins are nice and Matthew is nice and trusted guy.

What is there to redeem if he never loaded some coins? Thank God I do not have any high value Micro coins..only one 0.01btc..but in the past I was planning to buy more.

 He should stand behind his product not just fold shop and leave.

What about the buyers from outside this forum? Are they being told about this? These people who are under the impression their coins are loaded are holding coins that are either not loaded or have the wrong private

public keys being matched. What about future sales? Are unscrupulous sellers gonna tell their buyers about this? Probably not if they want to unload them.

Action speaks louder than words fellas, and this is deeply disturbing indeed.

This situation sucks... I like Microsoul coins, they are nice in my opinion. I'm not really motivated to peel those I have  :-\

It especially sucks that you cannot redeem, even if he refunds the 0.1 BTC.  You still will lose out on the BCC associated with the address. 

What is this crap???
 
If you made the coins you will be responsible for eternity. No excuses when you play with private keys.

Indeed, roughly $30 a coin for the silvers and $6 per brass 0.01BTC so $78 bucks down if BCH is included.

Disappointing to be sure.

Viz

Has anyone managed to actually successfully redeem one of these coins?

yes, in the past I redeemed some 0.01 microsoul coins, all were funded. I also checked my unredeemed coins on blocktrail and all are funded.

Thanks for that, I only have the one 0.05 which is funded as per blockchain, didnt see much point in redeeming it. Gonna see how this plays out

No!  He can't just stop being responsible for his past coins not being funded by posting this thread!  He is handling other people's money and is responsible if he steals, or defrauds his customers past, present and future.  Period!  No excuses!  This thread is a cop-out!  

I will echo what moonrock said:




Just because the public key shows funded doesn't mean the coin is!  The coin ID (or public address) and the private key under the hologram may not be correct.  I found this out the hard way.  The private key when trying to sweep had no funds, the coin ID and public address Matthew supplied did not match the private key.  So, you talk about trusting gravitate with your momey?  He is saying in this thread, you cannot trust him or his coins!  I am saying you cannot trust him or his coins!

Gravitate,

It's funny that you are lashing out at your customers when you are the one who has repeatedly fucked up so many times on customers orders.  Whether it's putting the wrong keys on coins, not funding the coins, or in the case of Vizique putting invalid keys altogether on the coins.   One has to assume that you are either a scammer or totally incompetent handling private keys. Either way, there is no room for these types of issues in this business, and I'm glad that you are finally admitting it.   

The next Encyclopedia needs to include a Hall of Shame of scammers and incompetents with Microsoul front and center, along with Coinographic and Alitin. 

Indeed. What about the people that own a coin and do not visit the forum. How did you make up the 2 months ?

oh yeah! That would be awesome!  ;D

  A section devoted to scammers and incompetents has been suggested already and will probably be added. This will enlighten people who are not aware of what we know of, to stay away from certain coins that have a bad reputation.

What is this crap?? eternity?? you are always responsible for you own actions and buys. You know the risk when buying a coin from somebody else then you who knows/handles the private key. You should have thought about that before you bought the coin(s), this is with every coinmaker.

Years ago I had money on a bank account, the bank had a official license, the bank went bankrupt, bye bye money. I trusted the bank with my money, a risk I took. Legally I could do nothing, all my money was gone. That is the risk you take when you trust a third person or company with your money, you own responsiblity.

Ping....

Gravitate... what news on sorting those coins out?

Cheers
Viz

Remember to claim the airdrops for Clams (CLAM) (http://www.clamcoin.org), Byteball (GBYTE) (https://wiki.byteball.org/airdrop), Bitcore (BTX) (https://bitcore.cc/claim.php), and the Bitcoin Cash (BCC/BCH) fork (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2059111.0) before your private keys are completely compromised. Lumens airdrop wrapped up Aug 27 (https://www.stellar.org/blog/bitcoin-claim-lumens-2/).

Why would I bother redeeming coins you never funded ? You sold me empty coins but said they were loaded.  Plain and simple..

Shit like this made me realise why the community is so averse to funded crypto products.

People like you impact progress by either displaying pure incompetence or actually having the intent to defraud.

Either way... this is disappointing!

All the coins I've purchased from gravitate are currently loaded (even though some took a while). I just checked the following:
- 0.05BTC Russian Roulette (funded by you and confirmed by me at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1248541.msg15394656#msg15394656)
- 0.05BTC 2016 series (funded by you and confirmed by me at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1248541.msg15394656#msg15394656)
- 0.01BTC 2014 series
- 0.01BTC 2013 coin

The Zombie coin (https://i.imgur.com/R6aXfyd.jpg?1) you gifted me (or I bought, I don't remember) seems to be loaded as well (firstbit (https://www.walletexplorer.com/address/13LR5yCRGbqb4TVEM9YcF71xzteiZJQ1LA?from_firstbits=13LR5yCR)).

Of course, I did not peel the coins, since that would be quite wasteful as I prefer coins in pristine condition if possible, so I cannot confirm if the private key matches the public key. I sure hope it does.

---

---

That sounds like a threat gravitate. Are you going to empty my coins, which means you kept all the private keys?

I just checked all of them, so if those are suddenly empty I'll know what's up. I would hate to lose 0.23BTC.

It appears that gravitate is a crytpo- cluster-fuck when it comes to public relations and private key/ public address handling and is a major fuckup as a coin creator....  It seems ,  The addresses he funded are not the addresses to ANY of the private keys on his coins.... How the fuck do you overlook Something this serious in the business.... So if you want to preserve and protect any digital bitcoins that were supposed to be loaded...... Peel now or forever loose your bits....  He will only honor this til DEC 1, 2017.. at which time he will then vanish and move on to another scammy venture.....

This is the way I am taking this....  It is both a threat and a promise.......

Now My personal opinion....  everyone should Peel and get back any coins you can...  And Bitcoin bankrupt this mother fucking scum bag if he is going to man up and honor his mess for only two months... 

At least he is doing that much.....to correct the problem.. I have to give him that at least.... But only that...

Surprise, surprise. The negative ratings are warranted and I regret ever removing the initial one. I hope that we never see you or any new coins produced by you in this section.

Deserves more negative ratings.

Are the 2016 Microsoul coins (0.05 silver and gilt) affected by priv key error too ?

Ok, I hope my set is correct too. A few days ago I thought about selling my microsouls coins but after what gravitate said I bet nobody will buy them -_-

The decision gravitate is forcing me to take is not one I enjoy taking. I'll either lose 0.23BTC (currently around $1100) if he goes through with his threat or I'll ruin six (currently) pristine coins. As a collector, it's a very hard decision to make. At least with Coinographic it was taken for me (and only 1LTC, which was nothing back then).

I felt the same then read through this thread and now just want to recover the BTC ...

whether the other "extras" like BCH and Clams is possible to recover I don't know but now I am withdrawing all sales of these coins.

I confess to being disappointed. I've liked many of the designs microsoul came out with. Ah well. It was not to be it appears. my own experiences of "making" has shown that it's not an easy task to cover all the bases.

Viz

At this point, what evidence do we have that he will actually honor his mistakes?  At least if one keeps the coin in tact, it has some collector value and a public key that shows a balance. If I peel, I have a worthless coin and a promise from a scammer/imbecile that he will make things right.

Pinging Vizique. Any updates on the coins you recently peeled? 

There is a market for sweeped coins. Maybe minerjones and digicoinuser can "Pod-ify" these.

Nothing yet.

Viz

I believe so, when I asked the below question he stated "100% all" which I took to mean all Microsoul and collaboration coins made under that brand (Cryptoimperator/Microsoul Philopsoher coin for example).

Unfortunate.  There are people who have been loyal customers and because of a couple people he is deciding to screw everyone over.  As btc rises those "smaller" coins arent so small anymore and it does make the decision tough....this whole thing is wonky.  Anyone hear from grav privately since his last post on here?

This affects all of his coins!

Please see my scam accusation (part 2) on his 2016 Microsoul 0.05BTC coins (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2055992.0).

Someone should make a google spreadsheet listing anybody who has a Microsoul coin, that they either want to redeem or get the original fiat sales value for it. Gravitate must be under immense pressure right now, whatever the rights or wrongs, and knowing who is owed what would be a fair start. You could also link to a photo in each with a hologram view and timestamped+username on a piece of paper.

This is a nightmare he created.  I would say, good luck making this list because it's a real life russian roulette!  That's ironic!

There is a reason why people want the manufacturer of the coins to have a list of public addresses when they sell them.  The manufacturer should be organized enough to 1) Handle private keys securely.  2)  Manage those private keys in the utmost care (and destroying them after applying to coin).   3)  Maintain a list of public addresses (not private keys)!  Did gravitate do any of these? 

Who are these "people" that keep being referenced as having harassed this guy into losing his marbles?

I take it that he is talking about the people who he has outright scammed, such as bitenvy: reference link (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2055992.msg20505331#msg20505331).

I must say that this is disappointing to run a business like this.  Can we at least get a full reaching guide of all the coins that we should look through our collections for that are affected by this?

Essentially anything by Microsoul should be considered to be unloaded/faulty unless found to be otherwise (by peeling, don't assume from other coins in the same series). Depending on who did the key generation, the same should be assumed for the CI/Microsoul collab coin.

Yes that and a couple people here and there.  But what do you expect people to do when they buy "money" and you guve them a piece of paper with garble on it that isnt the right priv key info.  He cant claim to be the victim under those circumstances thats just common sense

Agreed.  It makes you wonder what other precautions aren't being taken.  bitenvy made a good point earlier...


The writing is usually on the wall.  

Sad to hear such information. I have almost whole series Microsoul, I can not imagine to peel off my coins. I heard that the first coins (2013 or 2014 0.01) are zombie, hope that only those.

I still have many of these coins and they are too beautiful to peel. Im going to keep them. I think the way you have gone about this to be quite foolish.

Knowing that bitcoin on them is unrecoverable makes them worth significantly less. Sadly, I doubt even the interesting history these coins have developed because of Mathews handling etc etc will ever make it worth NOT peeling then. With coins that are KNOWN to be at issue it seems to be the smarter move.
Where coin series have been shown to be good, and there were some I believe? Then yes, hold on to them unpeeled... but of course its your call.

I've chosen to redeem all that I have but maintain them in good condition once peeled.

Viz

I could slap a public key that shows a random BTC balance on any object, doesn't make it worth more.

Yes.  How many times do I have to repeat this??  Read my scam accusation posted above.    ???


I agree with BG4.  Peel and redeem.

He will not honor.  He has not honored mine.  And, never will.   >:(



Because of a couple of people?   :o  Basically, me.  Seriously, are you blaming me for this?!?  He is to blame.  Only him.  I was only a customer and I didn't get what I purchased.  He is a scammer.   Don't put blame on me for his own mistakes.   :-\ 

Dont take my words out of context i am on your side.  All i was saying is that he is doing this cause a couple people got on his case (and rightfully so) id be hellbent if my loaded coins were found to have no coin on them.  If you read all my comments i am dissapointed he is doing this entire sharade over being hassled by people who have 100% right to hassle him.  Its not like people randomly are harassing him.  Either way i hope you get your dough back even if its just the loaded amount.

Sry, I read your scam accusation. I've the same coins, graded, thinking about redeem them hurts me a little...

I would understand if a coin maker does some minor mistakes like funding a coin with delay etc, if he sells hundreds or thousands coins, but there is just too much problems with Microsouls coins, and huge problems like priv key errors, the way gravitate handles them is not professional, this is innaceptable.

An update?

I'd like to take you up on your offer and get all of these coins redeemed now.

Cheers
Viz

Which coin was the CI/Microsoul collaboration?

Either the CI halving or unchained?

Oh bummer... It was tough to do but I just peeled three of my 2014 0.01 coins.  All three have zero BTC.  Two of the private keys were for different bitcoin addresses and one was completely invalid.  Naturally the addresses with the first bits still have 0.01 BTC on them.   

I did peel one of my 2013 0.01 coins.  The private key did match the public address.  I'm going to keep the rest of my 2013s hoping they are funded (but not banking on it).

I will assume all my 2014s are worthless.  We'll see if Gravitate honors the 0.10 he owes me....I'll ignore the BCH.  I'll peel them all or send them back to him too...either way is fine with me.  Not holding my breath though.  Thankfully I only have ten of the 2013s and 2014s.

I really hope he can come back and address the users who I've assumed PM'ed him since he started this thread.

Very sad to hear dumbchump and MJ.   :'(

At what point do mistakes turn into a scam?
Private keys not matching isn't something to be taken lightly...

Keeping in mind that there aren't any back-ups, so those funds are non-retrievable. (Or so gravitate can claim.)

---

Sorry to hear DumbChump and MJ. Hope you guys get a refund.

this is the ultimate long con.. create coins with little value at the time, fuck up a few times then try to wash hands...

I wouldnt be surprised if all the coins get swept within a few months.

OK, so it looks like we've been screwed.

So Mathew, going to come here and pay at the address supplied? Or do I come to you?

Viz

So it could be possible,. That the public addresses were intentionally not the same as the private keys in hopes to not have anyone peel the coins. So when people fine out, play stupid and just repay the people .....   Hence ... The Long Con..

Yes, and with the small amounts (0.01 - 0.05) who would want to peel them anyway?

And those who do find out would definitely contact Gravitate first.

I have had all the Microsoul coins I have graded which is adding to the investment made over face value

So am I to crack anacs slabs, peel coins and then what...

If they are empty, I have ruined a coin for nothing, and haven't seen anyone who has got an empty coin getting their funds

If they aren't empty I have needlessly ruined a coin (if they were going to be swept wouldn't they have already?)

This is such a mess

Yeah this would be a good time for gravitate to chime in here.  Vizique seems to have done everything that was asked to get a refund and hasnt gotten any response it seems.  Bad position because if you do crack them like you said, then what....

If it we're me , I would not crack open a graded coin unless you have it sent back to be reslabbed and the title changed to something that reflects that the coins were nothing but a scam????

What exactly did you mean by this statement?

A private key is just a random 256 bit number.  A private key maps to exactly one point on the specified secp256K1 elliptic curve.  The point on the curve can be expressed in only two ways:  the full form with the full x and y coordinates of the point and the short form with just the x coordinate and a sign bit.

Then these two forms of the point can be encoded into exactly two different Bitcoin addresses.

Are you saying you found a way to get more than the two possible Bitcoin addresses from your private key?

There are 4 options for public keys
Public key
Public key compressed
Public address
Public address compressed

There are 5 private key options

Private key WIF
Privatekey WIF compresses
Private key Hexadecimal
Private key base64
Private key BIP38

All from 1 random 256 bit number

These:

Private key WIF
Privatekey WIF compresses
Private key Hexadecimal
Private key base64
Private key BIP38

are just forms of private keys.  A single private key (a 256 bit random number) can be stored/transported/encoded in one of these forms.

These:

Public key
Public key compressed

Are the two forms of public keys.  A single public key (a single point on the elliptic curve) can be stored/transported/encoded in one of these forms.

These:

Public address
Public address compressed

Are the two forms of Bitcoin addresses that correspond to the two forms of public key above.  A bitcoin address is the check summed triple hash of the corresponding public key.  They do not represent new forms of public keys.  They are hashes of public keys.

In other words:

The private key on the coin will be stored on the coin in exactly one and only one of these forms:

Private key WIF
Privatekey WIF compresses
Private key Hexadecimal
Private key base64
Private key BIP38

You need to decode the private key in the correct form.  There will be only one correct choice.

Then from that one private key you can generate exactly two different forms of the one public key:  compressed or uncompressed.

From these two forms of the one public key you will get exactly two forms of the Bitcoin address.  The compressed public key form will give you the compressed Bitcoin address form and the uncompressed public key form will give you the uncompressed Bitcoin address form.

One private key -> one public key -> two public key forms -> two bitcoin address forms.

Where were you when Gravitate was generating private keys.....?????

I remember redeeming my 0.01 a while back.   You may want to try either using a magnifying glass or enlarging a high res photo.    In the font used a lot of characters looked the same.    Im not saying your coins arent empty, because it appears a lot of them have been, but at $45 a pop, it's worth a shot.

This picture clearly shows that the private key starts with a 5 and that is followed by letters and numbers.  This means that the private key is (probably) in the "Wallet Import Format".  This means that the key is base 58 encoded.  This means that the only allowed characters are the following 58 characters:

     123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz

Notice that 0 (zero), O (the capital letter O), I (the capital letter I), and l (the small letter l) are all missing.  So your private key will not contain those characters.  Also there is a checksum in the WIP format so if you type the private key into a good private key decoder it will immediately be able to tell if there is an error because the check sum will fail.

Obviously if you see any of the illegal characters then transpose them to legal characters "0" and "O" to "o" for example then try again.  

Assuming you get a good checksum you will then have a valid WIP encoded private key.

Since the encoded private key starts with a 5 it should correspond to an uncompressed public key.  However since there were some issues in the key pair generation and encoding just try both the compressed and uncompressed forms of the public key to form the Bitcoin address.  Does not hurt to try.

The private key you get can give you two different Bitcoin addresses as I stated above.  First try the correct version, the uncompressed version
 (since the private key started with a 5).  If that does not work then with some contortions you can calculate the compressed version of the same public key and the corresponding Bitcoin address. If neither of those is the correct Bitcoin address on the coin then you are out of luck.

Reference:  

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet_import_format

Is this picture from a PBC coin? Try this,

1. write it out in reverse (bottom right- left) (middle right- left)(top right-left)
2. add a 5 on the front
3. Swap the the last 2 digits
4. Swap the 15th digit with the last digit
This is your private key

I do not know what the heck blockchain.info is doing with the improperly formatted private keys you are entering there but using the "WIF checksum checking" dialog on this page:

http://gobittest.appspot.com/PrivateKey

We find:

L4iBNP5mEeoYznpS4Mhwe5ruZTmWWyitK5TyCvrqB7nHd8Yv3L6F has a valid check sum (2767919C)

L4iBNP5mEeoYznpS4Mhwe5ruZTmWWyitK5TyCvrq
L4iBNP5mEeoYznpS4Mhwe5ruZTmWWyitK5TyCvrqB
L4iBNP5mEeoYznpS4Mhwe5ruZTmWWyitK5TyCvrqB7
L4iBNP5mEeoYznpS4Mhwe5ruZTmWWyitK5TyCvrqB7n

all fail the checksum test as is expected.  All of these should have been rejected as they are not properly formated WIF private keys.

BTW since this starts with an "L" you should use the compressed public key format and the corresponding compressed version of the Bitcoin address, which you did.

ALSO I found that if you use the "Wallet Detail" tab here:

https://www.bitaddress.org/bitaddress.org-v2.4-SHA1-1d5951f6a04dd5a287ac925da4e626870ee58d60.html

It will give you both the compressed and uncompressed bitcoin addresses, which in your case are:

13DQcF6FwiqNqzN38CP5Ux6KqpfHYv4VCe  (compressed)
12X1rVtFnzYAZKskBakfAZYPF4HeqkgUSq   (uncompressed)

And it properly rejects all the incorrectly formatted keys you generated by hacking off the tail of the WIF formatted key.

WTF?  Are you serious?  Where did you get that?  Did he screw up printing the private key like that on purpose or by accident?

Yup, on purpose. At least for the specific number I bought this is what I was told would work. I never tried it but it's worth a shot to anyone trying to redeem these coins.  

Edit: Can anyone confirm receiving similar instructions from gravitate? Please post any variations.

Holy hell, what?  So he turned the key into a puzzle?  What kind of wizardry is that.  Are you serious?

BHcoin did something kind of similar on their CoA cards. This is for the original PBC coins.

Edit: It didn't seem that weird at the time. If someone stole your coin, they couldn't access the private key without the cipher is what I thought was going on. 

Nope, never received any of this regarding privkeys. I redeemed several 0.01 coins in the time Clam got popular, all private keys imported in the bitcoin-qt without any problem. Also importered some on blockchain.info without any problem.

I dont get it.  Who would want a key pair that is intentionally scrambled for funded coins or unfunded.  Is that publically know for the microsoul coins?  I feel like i missed the memo or something.

Maybe Gravitate screwed up the PBC coin keys and he sent this out with them instead of redoing them. I think there were only a handful of the original coins sold. I trust the person who gave me that cipher and they bought the coin directly from gravitate early on.

This just gets wierder as we go along

I don't have the exact sequence but this sounds about what gravitate told me for a funded 1B PBC coin. 

Thanks for the confirmation. The dark background under the holo in vizique's image made me think it might be from a PBC coin. Vizique, I hope this helps recover your BTC.

what now?

Each PBC coin had a different set of instructions for what you needed to do

[Scratches Chin ]
[With a soft tone Speaks]  

 "Make the Private Key a puzzle"....

[Nods head up and down]
[Slight smile]



BG4

This has to be turning into the most insane scam thread ever. If Gravitate ever comes back (Not holding my breath), I would expect nothing but bullshit as always.

Anyhow, on that note, I want to apologize to anybody here I ever resold those shitty ass scam coins to. I feel dirty right now. Fuck you gravitate, you are now a real scammer.  :-[

Edit - can we get this moved to scam accusations? Cyrus? .... :P

That is insane.

So, anyone who bought the coins on the secondary market better have known to get the unique instructions to cache in that specific coin?

If you do not have those unique instructions for that coin then you have to go back to the person you bought it from and try to get them.

Hopefully most of the people with these "puzzle" coins have the instructions with the coin.

Does anyone have his full Dox?

To me he has issues, he has 0 client service skills and is lacking in organisation and technical skills.

This happens to RL businesses all the time, he needs assistance and not an attack from the community, maybe a sit down with someone who can help him out and sort the issue.

either that or he is a total scammer and needs a good kicking. Either or I think Dox might be a step towards helping the community...

I bought a PBC coin and redeemed it successfully a couple of years ago. I'm trying to remember what I was told as there was a little process to go through but it wasn't as complicated as the one listed. The private key printed on the coin starts with a K. I must have written the process down somewhere so I'll dig around.



He used to have a scan of his passport on his website. He certainly looked after me when I bought from him so it's a shame it's all gone tits up.


Edit - I wrote the correct private key down too. With my PBC coin I had to add a 5 to the front and reverse the final two letters of what was printed on the coin.

Okay, this site https://coinfirm.org/product/pbc-coin (https://coinfirm.org/product/pbc-coin) provides a brief history and talks about the cipher process for the PBC coins. It sounds like Gravitate probably has a master list of these codes.

At some point in time I'm sure that was true but as the countdown to the two month deadline closes, this becomes a much slimmer chance.  He stated there were technical issues surrounding his digital components (hard drive/laptop/etc.) so I would have to assume all details are currently lost.

waiting for a response ...

And with the lack of responses now i would assume that when he said 2 months he meant, sorry you guys are all screwed.

Somebody in that line of work wouldn't have the gumption to back them up? You can obtain a hard disk or another laptop for a heady fifty bucks.

I was scammed as well as everyone else here. Imagine having to go through life always looking over your shoulder, never knowing when its coming.  No thanks.. I learned my lesson in - BTC. How could he possibly relax? Think about it..  ???

But you cant hide forever and I'm a very patient man......

This article has his full name if that's of any help, but I'm pretty sure I've heard it before, so I know it can't be some big secret. ::)

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/microsoul-physical-bitcoins-everyone/

Has anyone contacted the authorities yet???  I haven't....  I'm in the US....so I call and say someone from France sent me some funded bitcoins that are actually not funded.... yeah, that would be a fun conversation.... "bitcoins are online...I heard about those...what do you mean he sold you actual coins?"  "The hologram acts as a wallet?"    Uggg.

Not worth the headache...,,but I'll add my losses to a complaint if someone has one going...

It was like this for me as well - it wasn't a complicated transformation or anything, it was just reversing a couple letters. Unfortunately, he either didn't send me the instructions with the coin (bought directly from him), or they weren't quite right, I don't remember -- regardless, I had to contact him to get the correct redemption instructions.

In his favor, he was very helpful and did help me redeem the 1 BTC PBC coin. But of course then I was glad I'd redeemed it, because if I'd sold it to someone else and then it had been unredeemable, and he'd been unreachable... the blood runs cold with terror.

And now that's where we're at all over again. I've re-sold a few low-denomination Microsoul coins. Are these people going to be knocking at my door in a few years when BTC hits $100k, and somehow I'm on the hook now? Thanks, gravitate.

OK, lets bring this forward...

Matthew, here's your chance, as you yourself said you would, to make me whole on my coins.

You claim to be "a good guy" .. .well lets see that in action and you close this complaint down with some modicum of professionalism.

Pay me the BTC that was "supposed" to be on my coins and we'll call it a closed deal....

Viz

I'm just not so sure why he chose to even make this thread if he wasn't going to respond or follow through.  What is the point?

It's a long con. He keeps dragging everything out forever. Classic scammer... ::)

Hi All if you keep a list of all missing here I will return 23rd of this Month and will pay everyone back. My replacement Mac book has arrived but I will be traveling to then. Same for PM's I will answer all then. Thanks for your patience with this and I am not just dragging it out. Until I get the register I literally can not do anything.

Why would you need a register to repay the BTC you already acknowledged you own me ?  Just curious..  ???
Would you like my payment address Matt ? It's been over a year now...

Whole thread screams "audit your manufacturer & his method before you buy"

Sorry for your lost gents.

Your whole post screams "I'm late to the party but just want to chip in some trivial input". Microsoul has been around since 2013, these issues have only been realised (in bulk) during 2017. Unless you physically demand to be part of the minting and hologram generation process, good luck with that, you're just working on trust with any coin manufacturer. What other pearls of wisdom can you bestow upon us?

Pretty certain I have some microsoul coins, will have to dig them out.  ???

Don't think it matters much but this goes to show not everyone who owns microsoul coins visit here often enough to get the 2 month warning...I mean contract from gravitate.  Piss poor way to handle it as I'm sure many will be bought and sold on ebay with zero knowledge about this one thread that "clears" gravitate from any wrong doing after the 2 month period is over... :-\

Bah, was in a conversation with Matt then had to go out unexpectedly.

Viz

"Customer service"

What I was planning on doing is listing all the problems I EVER had with coins so then coin holders can make a decision to peel or not. But all this exit scam stuff. Well guess that makes not much difference now.

Also as promised I started refunding people last night and today. But Viz wanted me to refund an unpeeled coin,. I cant do that. I refunded the peeled one but doing it for an unpeeled one is a bit unfair.

The problem he had there was one of the zombie coins.

And look in realistic terms I am not disappearing. But I will not be as reachable as usual so its best people consider peeling them now and I will also send some holograms so they can keep the coins as DIY.

Are you serious? I refunded you

Peeled coin refunded as promised

Matt also promised to refund the second coin once he had his register together and offered some holos to replace the peeled one (s) if I wanted them.

Thanks Matt

Viz

Hopefully the replacement holos will be marked in some way as to not undermine the security of other coins in circulation.

Wow!  It's amazing...  You refunded one person.  Do you want an award of honor?   ::)  When are you going to refund mine?   And, everyone else that ever bought one of your coins that are not funded? 

Hey we went through this. you owe me money. I asked you for your address to send 0.1 BTC but then you said I owe you 1.85 BTC + 0.1 BTC. the 1.85 BTC was to pay you back for all the coins you bought. Well I told ya that because of your stress you made me not turn up to work for quite a few days so I think it is you that owes me money. Seriously lets just go lawyer to lawyer. This would be best.
Your claims for damages are as real as mine. Lets move on from this but the 0.1 BTC offer is not going to happen now with out some form of legal action. Lets go what are you waiting for?

I own three of the 2013 microsoul limited minted only 500 made coins 0.01 btc

when I enter two of the there first bits into uberbills microsoula analyzer I get its still loaded,

I enter the third coin and all I get is error and nothing showing me full address.

I would like to get a full refund on these three BOSS.

I PAID TOO MUCH ON EBAY FOR THEM RECENTLY JUST TO FIND THIS THREAD, MY HEART DROPPED@!!!!!!!!!

CAN THIS HAPPEN WITH CASASCIUS AND LEALANA OR DENARIUM COINS????

ALL MY BTC IS PHYSICAL HOLDINGS.

PLEASE SEND ME REFUND ASAP! TO

1HdzQqE2w3XWoywAXaJPjmVsqFBXmAzE7q

I PURCHASED THESE ON EBAY FOR $525 EACH THINKING JUST PLACE IN A VAULT.....WRONG ,,,IM GLAD I GOT TO READ THIS

PLEASE EMAIL BOSS

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE ON THE FORUM

LFI333@AOL.COM

ALL I WANT IS THE BITCOIN VALUE AS OF TODAY 11/20/17

I HAVE LOST ON THE COLLECTIBALITY

ONE OF THE COINS THAT DOESNT READ ON THE MICROSOUL ANALYZER SITE IS SHOWN ON THE COIN AS

1JBgNMhh

2013 coin

500 minted

0 results for:
'1JBgNMhh'

lfi333@aol.com

refund please

please send donations or refunds to

1HdzQqE2w3XWoywAXaJPjmVsqFBXmAzE7q



thanks so much

Looks like gravitate's last login was November 08, 2017, 11:52:29 PM

Could sent him a private message just for the extra exposure and hope that he sees it and does refund you.

Wait, did anyone actually get refunded?!  I haven’t seen a single satoshi

No need to panic, the analyzer site has a partial list (circa ~2013) of microsoul addresses to go off of. No result just means there is no data.

naypalm

I found a 2013 0.01 with 1HUWzFpa its not showing on uberbills site anyone know how to check if its still funded please?

Your coin is funded. There are a few block explorers that allow you to check bitcoin addresses using firstbits.
A quick scan shows that yours has been funded.

https://www.walletexplorer.com/address/1HUWzFpa1nodPgkMEytrTcR9DgmcwMEP4R?from_firstbits=1HUWzFpa

Consider yourself lucky. The remaining 1-2 of the ones that I have don't seem to show up on any block explorer suggesting that they might have never been funded at all  :(

Thanks for the information sounds like I'm one of the lucky ones, sorry to hear about your coins :(.

No you aren’t a lucky one.  All microsoul coins should be considered unfunded.  I peeled 3 coins that were funded...but the private key wasn’t to that address....so no BTC.  I know I wasn’t alone.

Anyone that had followed this thread that is selling them as funded is committing fraud in my book. 

Ah ok that's not good so we should assume all coins are compromised.

Well the fact that his are funded is a start. Mine isn't recognised at all.
Did all the coins have issues with the privkeys or only a number of them? if not then there might be a chance that his coin is actually loaded.
However, I'm more curious about knowing how this major mess up happened?

I peeled five funded coins and two were in fact funded....so he has a chance. 

I think it’s still unknown if he defrauded everyone on purpose or if he was just really disorganized and screwed up really bad.

dumbchump - Were all of the firstbits showing up as funded on the blockchain?  I'd be curious to see any pics you have of the holos and the keys (assuming they are spent). 

2 out of 5 is unacceptable.  This type of half-assed exit scam where the producer only rips off a subset of the users, and subsequently offers them a limited time window for repayment, is still theft. Let's not forget that.  Remember Alitin? Exact same thing. 

There should be no ambiguity about it.  Gravitate is a scammer and belongs in jail.

I'll take some pics when I get back from the holiday break.  I don't have them with me. 

I completely agree....I think he needs to be held legally accountable.  I also haven't heard of him actually paying anyone.  I bought 2013 and 2014 sets and requested to be refunded the BTC value of both sets of coins and never got anything.

The coin issue I raised in this thread where I peeled and tested the priv key that had failed. Gravitate did replay the 0.05 that was supposed to be on that coin.

The promised coins Matt was going to send out are yet to arrive.

Viz

So... I'm one of those people who bought Microsoul coins back in the day.

However, I've never actually redeemed a private key before. How do I go about doing that? ELI5 :)

I've never redeemed a microsoul coin before but if the key under the holo is a full private key than all you need to do is import the key into a wallet.  Although it seems as though it looks as though it's a game of luck at this point... :-\

It depends on what wallet you use.  Some wallets have an "importprivkey" function.  Look for a way to "import a private key" into your wallet.  Check their help function if they have one.  Use Google.  If you have an HD wallet more than likely the function you are looking for is "sweep private key".  In this case the wallet will automatically move the BTC from the imported private key on to one of the HD generated private keys in the wallet for safe keeping.

Blockchain.info should allow you to import private keys, however depends on the private key working.

Have users redeemed their microsoul coins based on this thread and if not, have you added your addresses to a watch list?

I used the sweep option in Electrum and this happened:

https://i.imgur.com/73Wmjcy.png

After I hit "Close", nothing changed. Nothing in my history tab or address list.

If I try to sweep again, either with the previous private key or a new one, the "sweep" button is greyed out.



I checked out Blockchain.info, but couldn't find an import option. Seems like it was a feature in the past, but not anymore(?)

It's now located Under "Settings > Addresses > Import Bitcoin Address".   The link is text and it used to be a button from what I remember,   ;)

https://i.imgur.com/tWNw97Kh.jpg

Found it, thanks.

I just get "The value you entered does not appear to be a valid Private Key or bitcoin address".

I get the same message when I use the key that I sweeped in Electrum (previous screenshot) and a new one I opened.

Just to say, I peeled a 0.05 2014 coin this morning and it was funded (thankfully)

Great stuff 8)

How did you go about redeeming them?

It is very simple if the coin is funded, the private key under the sticker is the correct private key and the code under the sticker is the actual private key and not a private key that has been modified by an obfuscation algorithm (as some of the private keys were).

1. Peel sticker
2. Import or sweep the private key into one of any number of Bitcoin wallets.

Almost all modern Bitcoin wallets have either a private key import function or a private key sweeping function.

blockchain.info firstly to sweep the btc. Then downloaded electroncash to redeem the bitcoin cash.

I really didn't want to peel this coin, it felt wrong. But there is no way I could sell it with this type of controversy surrounding them, it didn't feel right.

Don't forget to also claim your Bitcoin Gold!

So I have been out of the game, but it seems that might be to my detriment.  Some of these coins are NOT funded?  and looks like I missed the cut off if they are not because i wasn't here.  That seems pretty shitty, didn't realize i would have to keep checking the forums after a purchase to ensure that my coin is funded.  

Indeed it is, making mistakes can happen.  Giving people on one forum 2 months to ask for a refund of the btc value when people don't always jump on here is indeed shitty.

I certainly make mistakes daily, but a  arbitrary cut off date decided by the person who made the mistake is stupid.   

Since I missed the cut off should I even try peeling the coins?  Seems pointless

There was no real cut off date and no meaningful amount of refunds.  I requested a refund immediately and never saw it.

Some coins do have a valid private key...some not....so it’s worth peeling if you want the btc.  Please just don’t sell the unpeeled as funded and screw the next person...

 

That is not something I would do.  But Still very concerning.  I guess I'll have to find out when I get home.   Sigh. 

Hopefully this attempt to reach you will not be in vain, graviate (I notice you haven't been on in a while). I have a 2014 .01BTC Microsoul that, according to the firstbits, is funded. I would like you to explicitly tell me that you are suggesting removing the holo and redeeming the funds to ensure they are in-fact there, effectively eliminating the [substantial] novelty value these coins have, and that I paid for. Furthermore, I would like to know how (and if) you plan to compensate for this lost novelty value ($200+/coin). Or, can you assure me that since the firstbit lookup says the coin is funded, that it is in-fact funded.

Either way it looks as though you aren't gonna get the answer you want.  Novelty value you won't be refunded.  Can the coin be determined to be loaded without peeling and try to redeem, nope.  You peel and there is funds on there, then the funded coin price goes down because it's peeled....

Agree...I have a loaded Microsoul...Does it say it is loaded..yes...Is it? probably the public and private keys do not match. That is the way I will let it stay as the amount of Btc in it is very small.

It will be a part of our Physical Bitcoin collectors history, and that is the only reason I am keeping and not peeling.

All 3 coins I bought had BTC on them.  Shame I had to peel them.  Never peeled a coin before :(  My god are private keys much harder to read than I thought.  

Also whats the easiest way to deal with bitcoin gold?  I really haven't done much with it.

Yeah if the private keys are good don't forget about all the sh*tcoins on them like bcash and bgold and whatever air drops since they were loaded.  The whole fork thing is getting tough to buy/sell coins

Same...not peeling.  At this point they are conversation pieces for me.

I used this method   https://99bitcoins.com/how-to-claim-bitcoin-gold-btg-guide/

 Remember remove all your BTC first and once you are done never use that wallet again!

Thanks for the info! I'll look into this when I get home from work. 

I used the free coinomi wallet (https://coinomi.com/). 

You can import/sweep the private key to claim Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold in the same wallet so it is very convenient and free.

Just redeemed my coin and it was funded, guess I was one of the lucky ones.

https://bitref.com/1HUWzFpa1nodPgkMEytrTcR9DgmcwMEP4R

I'm unlucky. My two coins are simply empty.

Gravitate you are an asshole. Some pm to every user who paid for that brass crap would do. Not everyone sitting 24/7 on this board. I understand problems can happens. But you knew from round one what you was doing.

2016 I purchased this and today someone I gave it as a gift called to ask how to redeem them. They empty. Gift failed. Than fuck at least I have decency to pay them back and pretend everything is fine.


Good job. What a dick move.
This space is so shit. And yeah, if I met you I would tell you to your face what kind of douche you are.

I figured early that he was a scamming baboon, but many didn't want to believe me at first. ::) Sorry for your loss.

Problem was that he was actually endorsed by some trusted fellas from the board. So u know it always 50/50. But I get your point. Don't trust, verify I guess.

People should also read the Coinmakers scammers list anytime they plan to buy a coin.

Sorry to hear for your loss...wish I had made that thread sooner>> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3315347.0

Not possible with any physical coin with anything implanted. I think it's an idea whose time has been and gone. Like bitcoin itself the conditions for something like the birth of casascius can't be replicated.

Gravitate sorted me out back in the day when he was pre microsoul but appears to have gone mental like so many others in bitcoinland who stick around too long.

Was the BTC moved from the coins or were they never funded?
If it was moved when was it moved?
Just trying to get a # of how many were not funded vs. breached.

-Dave

This is my concern as well.  Was it swept if so can you provide the sweep day.  Swept coins while still assembled and/or a private key which is incorrect while both horrible, are 2 different issues.  One indicates sloppiness the other indicates theft.

Were the coins unloaded or did someone move the funds?

Looks like someone moved coins in 2018 from one coin. Second looks like is empty and never was funded.

This is what I found:


by searching this : https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/0f76d0f86f4021b2d5bf8e7f64e5e19f86200dba5c36203450982188ab57bd12

 can see my coin today is empty. It has been emptied in 2018 which is really sad.
My coin addy starts 1C7: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1C7ZBe1RxT3U9YbJkXvBkw888iXs8N9iA2


Second one if addy was wright looks like never was loaded.

Both priv keys brings " unrecognized format" issue on btc sweep option.

Thanks

The coin I bought off him had the private key dicked with just in case someone else got their hands on it. If I remember rightly he removed the 5 and swapped around the last two characters of the private key which he mentioned in an email on posting it. Good job I remembered that bit.

Dunno if he did that for later coins, this was when he was calling himself PBC or something, but worth checking if anyone has a similar issue.

I redeemed a bunch of his coins in the past (the earlier ones and the 'lucky round' coins, never had issues.

Maybe , maybe not. For sure my coin- one of them showing swept in 2018. Second one not sure but both priv keys brings error when tried to sweep.

So sorry but I will be sceptic about his credibility.

Well,
I have 5 coins unpeeled.
They are the 0.01BTC  bought in Feb/March 2014 from Gravitate himself.

What are the odds of them being empty?
Is anyone interested to "gamble" and buy them?
I guess if a lot of people peeled them, I may have some of the last unpeeled coins.

I'm a little bit gutted as I gave one to my younger brother (a no-coiner) last Xmas and told him that one day that would pay for his son studies (he doesn't have a son yet  ;D  )


I have checked on blockchain.info and the addresses he provided me are still funded.
But no way to know if the private key under the sticker is matching.

so, to peel or not to peel?

Id peel that crap in a heartbeat.

Beheadings on bitcointalk ???  ;D ;D ;D

Tbh there are plenty of non-peeled coins out there. You could always try an auction with the starting price set to
the minimum you’re willing to accept  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

^^^

i still have many microsoul coins and they aren't peeled. and they gonna stay like that for quite some time

+1 for  Auction

I had a few of his 2014 coins that I purchased direct from him. The issue was that the private keys were not valid when trying to redeem. So despite the address showing the coins as funded, there was no way of actually redeeming the balance.
Not saying yours have the same issue but it’s not unlikely.

Gravitate does appear at CoinFest UK in Manchester in April next year if you needed to bring it up  with him directly.

Viz

Considering what many have discovered there'd be far too much doubt for me to ever consider attempting to sell coins that appear to be funded. I'd peel them and sell them afterwards. No possibility for a grind then.

msg me buddy about details. I will approach him. No issue for me. He did took broken priv keys and never got back to me. Hate scammers like that.

Quick update

After quick search thanks to user: vizique i found gravitate and exchanged few messages over TG
I got my BTC back which should be on the coins.

On top of what should be there OP acctually sent me little bit extra for that hassle.

My beef with him is over. I will post some screenshots to prove my words:

https://i.imgur.com/4ynxOxW.png 

https://i.imgur.com/1Opqh26.png


Convo is more about how he seems to be a victim. All in all got my 0.02btc which should be on the coins.

Good luck all.

Glad it ended well for you.

Could you ask him if he wouldn’t mind me contacting him.
I have 5 coins, haven’t peeled them yet.
One is with me at home, 3 are in a safe and not easily available (I have to take a plane and stay overnight) and the last one was gifted to my younger brother.

I will peel one, I could ask my brother to peel the 2nd one.
If none of them are funded, I would like to ask him if he could do something about it.

Would you be able to relay my request ?
Cheers

He is the victim? ::) He's a degenerate French scamming wanker and he can fuck-off. Glad you got your money back, one less victim it is.

---

Just created a flag if anyone cares about it:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;flag=1119

After all this time I still don't quite understand his attitude to all this, whether he'd admitted to anything or what has actually occurred.

Either all the coins were created correctly in the first place which means he has no ongoing obligations and no need to throw teenage girl wobblies, or they weren't. It seems plenty weren't.

That will help in understanding and publishing his full name (pre or post the conference) online into lists of known scammers and frauds. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well said Lauda.  The only thing I would add is he is also incompetent.

Thanks. There's too much distraction in this place. I can only apologise for not doing it sooner, as I've seen it pop up in my watch list and read the thread many times before today.

If you have TG just message me @s1lverbox and lets talk.

I rather just provide you his details and you can just follow my steps to recovering some of funds.

My advice would be to peel all coins. Because first two rounds was guaranteed btc.
Convo with OP might be difficult but personally i wouldnot leave this that way, Every coin owner didnt do anything wrong so they should not pay the price for others mistakes.

Good luck all.

Jesus H. Christ...!!  

I had no idea about the length of gravitate's misdeeds as there was a period of time where I wasn't active on here and apparently that was when all of this was coming out of the woodwork. I had bought some MicroSoul 0.01s from him back in the day and IIRC there were some issues of sloppiness/delay in funding even then. But when I stumbled upon this thread tonight I was completely shocked and disgusted by his attitude towards his customers who had more than legitimate complaints! Just terrible man...  

It seems Casascius set the model in motion and then things have only gone downhill since then as the BTC price continued to increase and almost nobody else seemed to match the strength & caliber of morals & secure practices that Casascius himself had.

And by the way I'm not just necro-ing this old thread for nothing- when I started reading this thread and clicked on gravitate's profile it seems he was active on here just barely 2 months ago.

If I was one of the handful of members that is still royally screwed from his shenanigans I would seriously consider tracking him down from the couple people who have most recently spoken of his contact info. And he was a speaker or guest at some BTC conference or something after all of this mess it seems (see quote below)?? That sounds like a most unfortunate idea as well; someone of that nature should be blacklisted from the BTC community for Life. Who knows if/how many more people he was able to continue to scam after seemingly appearing at that conference and switching up to different forums/websites.

-snarlpill

I have said may times. A hot wallet on a phone is not secure.
I have also said the said, a coin / or anything else that has a key that was not generated by you is also not secure.

Do you know where it's been? Do you know who produced the holograms? and how many were made? and if they are all accounted for?
How difficult would it be for a dishonest person at the printer to print out an extra roll of holograms, then buy the funded coins, peel copy the private key and paste them back on and sell them?

Even when you think you are secure you can still have other people do stupid things: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5280338.msg55326759#msg55326759

I actually have WAY more in funded collectables then I really feel comfortable with.
Everyone has their own risk tolerance and can make their own decisions.

But yeah, Gravitate is an ass.

-Dave

Casascius vs everything else has a similar trajectory to Bitcoin's virgin birth vs all the shit that came afterwards.

The first is the purest. After that the vultures get a sniff of blood.

There are of course many solid makers of physical items but there's too much trust required and it's too obvious a temptation for the nefarious.

Indeed.  Trust on this forum is something too often not earned, and when earned not appreciated nearly enough.