Bitcoin Forum

I am concerned about the credibility of this Electroneum team.

Electroneum is founded by an experienced digital marketer, Richard Ells. Richard Ells is director of Retortal (http://www.retortal.com), a UK based digital marketing agency. He has a wealth of experience in digital based businesses but no evidence or experience in cryptocurrencies or blockchain technologies.

Richard Ells is a digital entrepreneur who can execute an effective digital marketing strategy, this ties into his track record nicely. The insane hype and aggressive marketing surrounding Electroneum becomes clear when we understand more about the person in charge.

What I find interesting is that the Electroneum team is almost entirely formed of Retortal employees. Is Richard Ells using his personnel to create a team that convinces us into believing in trust and credibility? How do Retortal as a business operate with their own day-to-day duties now that Electroneum has obtained a $40m investment, 200k userbase and blockchain ready to go live in a week? Has focus been shifted from Retortal on to Electroneum?

What experience does this digital marketing team have with working with blockchain technologies? Are they just a bunch of glorified marketers who know the smell of online money by getting involved in what many think is the new ‘get rich quick’ scheme? Team profiles on the Electroneum website highlight achievements at degree level education but do not touch on industry or professional experience and achievements. There is little evidence to suggest that these people have the capabilities of operating a multi-million dollar digital currency. To put in perspective, Retortal is a company with a networth of just £30k (https://companycheck.co.uk/company/08515141/RETORTAL-LTD/financials). Richard Ells is now dealing with a 175595% increase in funds (based on $40m investment).

The whitepaper (both versions) does not provide a high-level technical overview of the idea and how the technology ties into this. Many questions remain unanswered with the blockchain going live in less than a week. The document standard and writing style is akin to college assignment standard.

However, my biggest concern is Mark Robinson, the alleged advisor for Electroneum. Sitting comfortably in a private jet. Are we being sold a cheap story about this character?

http://electroneum.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/markk-in-jet-v2_300_300.png

Further research into Mark Robinson directed me to this video (https://youtu.be/JgjzteliFks) with Richard Ells. Forever Living Products is a previous digital venture from Richard Ells. During the video, Ells, demonstrate his social media platform to a wide audience. At  3:00 during the demonstration (https://youtu.be/JgjzteliFks?t=3m), the face of Mark Robinson appears as a placeholder or persona to this product demonstration.

Being intrigued by this discovery I researched Mark Robinson some more. His identify is being used on other websites (http://mark1234.marykay.social/) which seem to be microsites based around the Forever Living Products product. I am not sure.

At this point, I am starting to believe that Mark Robinson’s identify is being used as a persona for Richard Ells’ digital ventures. In the case of Electroneum, I believe the persona is being used to inject a perception of wealth backing, credibility and trust into the brand.

An image reverse tool on Mark Robinson’s profile picture directed me to another website, Power Faculty (http://www.powerfaculty.com). This website also lists a contact number for Mr Robinson. Searching this number on Facebook reveals a profile for Mark Robinson (https://www.facebook.com/mark.robinson.3363334). The profile is full of spammy content that does not reflect any level of professionalism that is usually expected of a wealthy businessman.

Mr Robinson’s LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-robinson-8105391/) no longer exists.

Nice research! Have you tried calling the number you found? If not pm me and I'll do it.

Exactly! All this bluff concerning investing in ICOs, which are runned by British/Americans instead of those runned by Chinese, Russians or Latins due to their idea of "merit". Or whatever that nonsense was. There are scammers all over the world and it has nothing to do with nationality. Check and mate, KKK

They clearly said that they need to employ more competent people regarding coding and engineering, and they will use the 40 millipn€ raised to hire new software engineers and blockchain experts. They clearly stated they are going to hire the best minds with those money. The original team is the marketing team they were always clear about that. .

I don't think it's an outright scam, but they have no technology or anything interesting apart from a guy that tweeted them on Twitter.

They know that and are clear about that. They said they will hire the best programmer in crypto world to perfect the coin. They are doing marketing, yes, but they are doing it great. And that is the main factor for success in buisness

Good research. It doesn't necessarily mean it's an outright scam but it definitely should be looked into.

I agree with the most that is said , but have invested some in case there is slightest of possibility to go 10X.

Success in business comes down to the product. The marketing are sugar coating a bad product. People are easily convinced in the cryptospace.

That picture of Mark in the jet bugged me from the start for some reason. Be nice if someone from Electroneum comes come here and responds.

I think that, as with many ICOs at the moment, it's a matter of wait and see what happens. I do not think it is a scam personally but I do understand your reasoning entirely. Could it all be a massive marketing ploy by a seasoned digital marketing specialist? Possibly. Could a digital marketing specialist actually pull through and get the right people on board to make the project a success? Possibly.

It seems that, at the moment, a lot of fear has been struck into the community due to the 'wild west' times we are in. It is starting become a bit like everything is called a scam if the devs aren't updating you with every little facet of their lives from what they ate for breakfast to the regularity of their bowel movements.

That is so true ;D

Me too.

It if looks like a scam, smells like a scam and quacks like a scam...

I remember commenting on a post some time ago about Electroneum's association with Healthy Living Products. If anyone is familiar with MLM companies like Amway, then be aware that there are so many similarities, especially when it comes to referral programs. This does not of course equate with a scam, since Amway and their ilk are legitimate companies with impressive strategies that keep them alive.

But if you need a reminder of what MLM does to crypto, look up OneCoin.

The picture of Mr Robinson on a jet is maybe to attire the attention of people dreaming to become rich.
I think, Electroneum were very good in Marketing their projects. We will see what happened after on November and on next years. They succeed to attain the maximum budget in their ICO.
I don't think it is a scam. It is a good way to attract more people into the Crypto market. And that's a good thing for crypto holders.

its looking increasingly more like a scam with the way that its hold ups and security issues have held back the wallets and coins of the investers, yet a massive amount of seemingly pre mined coins goes onsale on crytopia.... if there are any of you familiar with the blockchain explorer could you check and confirm my findings that 12.6 billion coins were pre mined before the blockchain went live on the 1st november...

i just want to be sure that what i am seeing is correct...

And if you are doing that also could you tell me if there is a may to check my mined transactions from my wallet address without going through each individual block?

I haven't researched the project, but just from the scuttlebutt on Twitter it comes across as shady and dodgey. I plan to stay away from this one.

I think it's clear now that Electroneum team know nothing about crypto.

One must wonder how Retortal operates and handles its existing projects and clients with the Electroneum project firmly on it's shoulders.

They lost their funds due to the previous hack, there is no way to recover those funds because now they are lost in limbo, not even the hacker has access to those funds, everybody lost their money.
This is why i am always suggesting to everybody to stay away from those kind of faky-icos, they are fake as hell, those were probably not even the real managers, they were fake ones too, and it happened with a lot of icos until today, because they dont even have balls to put their real face.
This is bad, but i read this notice today, and it was very annoying, but i dont know.

Nov 1 was always about the release of the block chain. There was never a firm date for the release of wallets. In fact, the release of wallets was said in writing to come into play only after electroneum was accepted into multiple exchanges. That hasn’t happened yet. There’s one exchange thus far. The strategy about mining prior to the release of wallets is a wise one, since it markets the currency, gets many people involved who may have not had a chance previously and it allows for a tester to initialize in the marketplace on a single smaller exchange. So far, this strategy has been positive as a result of ETN’s ranking climbing from #96 to #26 in a very short window. As mentioned previously by other contributors, marketing will either help gain momentum by increasing the number of interested parties which will have a direct result in a greater chance of landing large investment-business partners such as larger exchanges, iOS app, gaming corporations, and other companies who focus in on the amount of people in the millions interested in a currency prior to teaming up. ETN has the most wallets created over 300k prior to full launch, that number is more than XRP’s wallets, fyi.  From a strategic point of view, it is a very wise investment and a very smart marketed ICO. Their goal is long term, meaning years not days, weeks or months, because the entire business model depends on if ETN can land a gaming partner & nothing more. That is the only goal with the whole ICO. My guess is that wallets will be released around Nov 15-16, but that is only a guess & just so everyone is aware the admins all knew the release was going to be way after the 1st of Nov and anyone else who read the white paper should have understood that as well. I did and I don’t work for them.

Lets see what happens on the relaunch in early December :)

I dont know how you people can tell a project scam, just by looking at their photos and social media profiles.It is rediculous Stop being this kind of stupid.