Bitcoin Forum

Paying an interest rate above Prime? You could lower it through the following methods (% rate reductions are absolute, not relative):
*Provide gov't ID & utility bill. Bill & ID must show same home address. Verification results in an interest rate reduction of .5% MPR
*Provide pay stubs, income tax forms, or proof of funds showing you could repay $10k+ within a year. Verification results in an interest rate reduction of .75% MPR.
*If verification information shows you live in the US, you'll receive an interest rate reduction of .5% MPR. This isn't intended to discriminate on prejudice, but it's much more economical and less complicated to collect from someone domestic.

**If verification information is not in English or Spanish, your rate reduction will be reduced by 50% (relative, not absolute) to compensate me for the time to run the documents through OCR, try to correct all the blunders the OCR software made so I can get them translated, and ask someone in your locality if the documents look legit.


ETA: Please also see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=97214.0 for more information on how to get the best rate for your loan.

364 / 32 = 11.375
1.04 ^ 11.375 = 1.562263314
1.562263314 > 1.5
Profit?!

You can lock in a 50% return for the year, or risk a suspension of deposit taking.  It states that deposits are taken at discretion, and interest rates move.

There are also costs for committing to a one year term versus a shorter duration.  Many bank deposits have different rates for several months versus several years, and often have a bow-shape.

Yeah - a 364D loan for the depositor is "set it and forget it," but for me, it likely means a lot of PMs exchanged, feeling more nervous and trapped while making sure things line up so I can fit in something like 12 30D loans with only 4 days worth of "slack." Having 32D loans gives me relatively more slack (assuming I'm making 30D loans), and if I want to, I can simply refuse to renew CDs, go enjoy vacation for a few months. On top of that, the compound interest I'll enjoy as extra profit will most likely exist only as unused change in my wallet.


That said, I'll adjust the rates, probably remove the almost-a-year CD entirely. Thanks for pointing it out.


ETA: OTOH, buying a 364D CD means the depositor is taking on a fair bit of risk, too. It means having money tied up that much longer without much extra reward, and the USD price of BTC could plummet, while the depositor is unable to save anything during a major crash. The more I think about it, the more I don't like the option even existing.

ETA2: Changes made in OP. Interest rates increased slightly all around, over-half-year and almost-full-year loans removed.

BDK is pleased to announce we will now be issuing CDs for SolidCoins.

SolidCoin CD rates for CDs purchased in March (D=duration in days):
32D: principal - 10.05% @ date of maturity
63D: principal - 21.35% @ date of maturity
94D: principal - 43.5% @ date of maturity
(see terms in OP for additional details on CDs -- note that if you request early withdrawal, unlike with BTC CDs, negative interest on SolidCoin CDs are still taken into account)


h/t Pat

It's been talked about. It costs nearly $100 to create a new asset, but would give bond-holders a certain amount of liquidity I think they'd appreciate. It's in my thoughts. For now, this is messy, but it works well-enough. I intend to live up to my name.  :)

Cheers!

Thanks  :)

It's talked about a bit here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=66733.0 The "Banking Cartel" talked about it on Skype, too. I think Nefario's reasoning for unreasonable fees was to prevent scammers, perhaps similar to why Silk Road charges so much to register as a seller (something like $125 IIRC) when it used to be free. It's good for investors, but definitely turns away potential asset-creators.

Listing CDs/bonds on GLBSE would definitely be worth the fee if other lenders were on board and we started a collaborative effort. It's just a matter of someone having enough balls & interest to take it seriously, get everything prepared, and just do it.


ETA: Thanks for the re-sticky, someone.

Upon the launch of GLBSE 2.0, BDK will begin offering fund management services, with interest in funding community projects which can't take out rigid high-MPR loans.

How it Works
IPO shares will be available @ .1BTC/share. I will always have a bid placed @ .095BTC/share. At most, you can lose 5%.

95% of profit is paid out to shareholders as dividends. This will be done every Sunday. I keep 5% of profits (as well as dividends from shares I bought) for myself. There will be a focus on making loans, but GLBSE assets will be purchased as well, with particular interest in acquiring favorable IPO shares.

I will issue more IPO shares @ .1BTC/share as I see fit - without warning, and without a vote.

If there is ever a month where there are losses, I will personally make up the entirety of those losses from the general BDK fund. Fundamentally, BDK funds will NEVER devalue.

Disclosure & I/O reports will be filed in the same manner as current BDK reports (found in the OP).

When I decide to close these funds, I will offer .105BTC/share. A trusted third party will have access to the keys to access the account and disperse funds were I to be incapacitated, but that file will be encrypted with a passphrase they'll receive when I die or am otherwise incapacitated. That said, I have no intention of dying within the next 40 years.

There will be 24h votes on investments I feel are appropriate, with explanation of what the fund's buying. If the majority of shareholders vote against what I want, I won't do it -- simple.

Different Funds
Funds will be split into four assets -- BDK.Mining (self-explanatory), BDK.Community (will fund large community projects which grow Bitcoin, such as a call by BitVPS for a loan to acquire hardware), and BDK.WeirdShit (Fund for some of the quirkier ideas in the community, such as the race horse, Satoshi's Daemon.

BDK.Mining -- 5,000 shares will be initially issued. There will be focus on longer-term solutions such as FPGA & ASIC mining. I'd like to keep ~50% in loans, ~50% in GLBSE assets.

BDK.Community -- 5,000 shares will be initially issued. There will be focus on helping (non-mining) community businesses form and improve.

BDK.WeirdShit -- 1,500 shares will be initially issued. There will be focus on "creative solutions" which either advance Bitcoin's adoption, use Bitcoin in an novel way, or do something else I never could've imagined.

Why should I invest in this instead of investing coins myself?
There's much lower risk of loss for you (assuming you aren't operating on the assumption I'll be running off with the coins). I will always be offering to buy back shares @ 95% of IPO value, and will personally eat all losses, sending personal/BDK coins to different funds' wallets to cover losses. The funds will never fundamentally devalue.

BDK has operated for three months now, with dramatically increasing profits each month. Know I have no experience managing funds. I've read a couple finance/banking textbooks, and that's about it. I don't expect you to have faith in my ability to make picks & connections to buy shares under favorable conditions, which is why I cover losses & buy back shares @ 95% of IPO value if you are dissatisfied or you're in need of more cash than the market could otherwise provide.




There will be a separate thread with this information. For now, I'd appreciate criticism, and if you'd like to pledge to buy IPO shares, it'd be good to know there's interest.

This may be irrelevant after receiving some PMs. If they deliver, trying to compete with the same people depositing with me would be silly. As such, plan's on hold until further notice.

so you're going to IPO at .1BTC/share and have a perm bid to buy back that is 950% higher at .95BTC. sign me up.

derrrrrrrp

Hello, trust me with your money. I can't distinguish .95BTC from .095BTC, nor do I read through my own posts enough to catch that.


:'( (fixed)

ETA: Expected release date for GLBSE 2 is Monday (3/19). I intend to have the assets up on Tuesday (3/20).

CD rates have been increased. Please check OP for detailed information.

All CDs purchased in March prior to the CD dividend rate increase will be given the new, higher % at time of payout.

Thanks for the retroactive bump!   :D

Surprising amount of sudden interest in this, so... bump.  :)

(Updated examples in OP to reflect new, higher rates, updated OP text to reflect current stats, and changed thread title to reflect higher rate)

Congratulations, you won the sig advertisement lottery!  BDK is now advertised in my sig :)

Fiat banks can go explode.

I accidentally sent cash through Paypal using the wrong bank. I had $50 in my bank, sent $100, resulting in an over-draft. My bad.

~15 days after the transaction, they alert me to tell me I owe $5/day for each day after the transaction. That's 5% daily. ... I'd like to publicly disclose my intent to default on the $5/day they're charging me. The idea that they're taking losses so extreme from my $50 overdraft that they feel they need 5%/day is utterly absurd, and the delay in informing me inexcusable. I'm really pissed off -- tomorrow (they didn't call until a few minutes before the branches closed), I'll try settling the debt with them and close my account. My credit's perfect, and I have no problem losing it because a bank's charging me 5% daily on debt and not even telling me I have the debt until my debt's (in their eyes) doubled. Fuck that.

Let me give you some back-story on this bank, too. ~2 months ago, I used my account there for the first time in ~2-3 years. They told me I had to fill out a Change of Address form when I went in there to deposit some checks. I did so, right in front of them. I gave them the checks and the form. ~2 weeks later, they call me up to tell me I need to fill out a Change of Address form. This was the same fucking teller -- the SAME TELLER! I tell her I already filled out the form. She puts me on hold for ~10 minutes, to come back and say she found it and it'll be sorted out. ~2 more weeks after that, I go in to cash some checks. The teller tells me my account's marked dormant (even though I deposited checks and filled out a change of address form just a month prior) and I need to fill out THE SAME FUCKING FORM I FILLED OUT A MONTH AGO! The "head teller" (the one who called me and originally accepted my form) tells the teller I was using that I already filled out the form and to mark on the deposit slip that my account is dormant. I ordered some checks for $18 and a debit card. The checks came ~2 weeks later, and I still haven't received the debit card or PIN for it. I'm guessing they forgot to process my form... again.

So, when the main HQ called me today, I assumed it was an update on the status of my debit card order. NOPE. It was to tell me they're charging me 5% daily on debt they didn't tell me I had until 15 days after.

http://www.countynationalbank.com/ , kindly go explode. I'm furious. If they try to charge me an account closure fee or tell me I can't close an account with a negative balance, I'm liable to blow up.

Edit for the sake of Google:
County National Bank
County National Bank overdraft


ETA: I was truly infuriated when writing this. Really, they were charging me 10% per day in overdraft fees (50*.1=5).

You should turn off that over-draft coverage.  Personally I find no use for it.  A bounced check is a $25 fee and a over-draft fee can be up to $40 plus the daily over-draft charge. 

I have no idea what was enabled or disabled there and they haven't given me the information to use their online banking service I requested months ago. AFAIK, I never requested any type of over-draft coverage. I only use the bank to cash & deposit checks -- using it for anything else was an accident. I would've preferred the bank simply disallowing the transaction to occur since my account didn't have sufficient funds. At the very least, they should have told me when it happened.

If that is the case then you can probably fight the charges.  In 2010 Congress passed a bill requiring that bank customers had to opt-in to getting over-draft protection (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/overdraft-protection-expi_n_682825.html).  I remember because my bank seemed to be begging me every time I logged in to my online account.  So if you never told them you want over-draft protection then they should not have accepted the charges over the $50 you had in that bank account.

Alright -- I'll bring it up with them tomorrow when I go to complain. My account's been dormant for years -- I probably haven't used my account since the opt-in requirement (prior to when I re-opened), and I certainly didn't ask for it or agree to it when I had to fill out a Change of Address form a couple months ago. I've never had any problems with my out-of-state CU. It's really stupid of this bank to start piling these kinds of fees on my account, because the money which was going toward my house which's being pulled out of investment accounts now was going to be deposited at this bank. They'd never apply these vulture-like fees on a larger client. Thanks for the tip!

Also part of the law is that they can't opt you in automatically if you didn't respond to their request, they have to opt you out, so don't let them try to tell you that cause you didn't respond that you are automatically in.

I went to the Fed's rules, and now I'm not so sure I have the upper-hand.

"The new rules do not cover checks or automatic bill payments that you may have set up for paying bills such as your mortgage, rent, or utilities. Your bank may still automatically enroll you in their standard overdraft practices for these types of transactions. If you do not want your bank's standard overdraft practices in these instances, talk to your bank; you may or may not have the option to cancel."

Does an "Instant" Paypal transaction fit in there? I'm assuming it's an ACH transaction and thus likely subject to overdraft bullshit.

I would say no because it is a user generated transaction and not an automatic one. It's the same as you going to Walmart and using your debit card, that transaction should be declined if you have in-sufficient funds unless you signed up for their overdraft protection. You initiated the transaction, it wasn't an automated transaction such as a mortgage payment or auto credit card payment where you only supplied the bank info the first time to set it up.

Yeah, I agree - effectively the same. I spoke with the VP an hour or so ago, and I feel fine about it, now. I settled and paid the balance plus almost all the fees (amount owed was $102.85, we settled on $87.25 [refused to waive the initial $3x NSF fee [yes, they charge an overdraft fee one-time, then a recurring fee each day after]), but I only had $20s, so I asked if I could settle for $100 and just close the account right now -- I guess he didn't think to offer me change). Pretty sure it's incompetence, not malevolence, and I got in a lot of digs. He claimed (with a straight face) the overdraft coverage was a service long-standing members are automatically enrolled in (I never did opt-in to it), then insisted the bank sent me a notice about the overdraft fee every day since the transaction (which is either not true, or my postal carrier hates me for some reason). It went on... he asked me if I had a debit card, I told him I ordered one with the checks but it never came in the mail, and he said the paperwork was never processed for the card (I did receive the checks).

Oh, well. Account's closed, and I feel fine. Thanks for the help, everyone.

Just a quick notice -- I'm expecting a large deposit within the next couple days. Until GLBSE 2.0 is released and I'm comfortable investing there again, I feel comfortable taking only ฿600 more. I feel uncomfortable with the liabilities beyond that and do not believe I'd be able to push the deposits out as loans in a manner timely enough to recoup costs (BTC loan market is becoming saturated, and soon I will have to settle on lower rates. I am much less willing to expose myself to debt for significantly lower returns). Availability now exceeds 1kBTC. The maximum CD amount per person was increased to ฿300 a few days ago. I am open to issuing CDs larger than that, but I need to know I have the ability to turn that BTC around within a couple days to others. With ฿200+ CDs, I am willing to offer my address, utility bill, email address, phone numbers, and a Skype account (which is most preferable for contact).

Cheers!

O/T - I'm also pleased to announce I pre-ordered a couple FPGAs from ngzhang. You can find the new group purchase thread (with VERY reasonable rates) @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=73773.0 . Best of luck!

ETA: Also would like to announce I now keep a reserve of $500 USD in MtGox in case of emergencies were I for some reason am unable to pay out a CD as intended. While it won't be kept track of in the I/O & disclosure sheets, I hope it will still bring some comfort to depositors as it brings to me. As well, I'm making another BTC buy. This is intended to ensure ownership equity is never at an unsafe level (well, and because I'd like to make more loans ;)). Cheers!

ETA2: Assets will be shifting largely from loans to equities in the next couple months. I'm not fond of the hassle & default rate which comes with consumer loans. The intention for the June disclosure report is ฿1000 in an Insured Pirate Program, ฿1000 in an Uninsured Pirate Program, ฿500 in TyGrr, ฿512.5 in TyGrr Bank (very possible it will be partially liquidated prior to June), ฿150 with imsaguy (+ first in line for excess BTC, up to ฿500), ฿500 with other projects of Goat's. Any assets beyond that are uncommitted.

The CD rate in April is expected to remain at current rates. I will consider increasing the CD rate in May.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74216.0 S² Capital Management (the reason I decided not to go through with directly selling BDK bonds via GLBSE for the time being) is now selling IPO shares. BDK is not affiliated with S² except that S² is supposed to be purchasing BDK CDs.

ETA: text disclosure #s in OP updated, too.

Finally bothered for a few seconds to register on Heatware. http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=80153

If we've done business, I'd appreciate a mark, and I'll return the favor.

Oh, right. I thought of something else before I went to sleep this morning which I've now remembered. It's a bit complicated (probably due to my poor explanation), and I suspect the vast majority of people won't care about this.

All Bitcoin CDs are now automatically partially insured against BTC drastically devaluing as a service to CD-holders. With CDs, you are now granted an option you may exercise no later than two days before your CD is set to expire. PM me, and I will pay out your BTC CD in MtGoxUSD, PPUSD, DwollaUSD, or I will send you a check in the amount granted by your insurance plan -- whatever you prefer (but nothing outside of those payment options). Having your CD paid off early by me in BTC voids your option to receive a USD payout. Receiving a USD payout voids your BTC CD. You may receive partial payment in both currencies if you like. For holders of CDs on a plan above Tier 5, I will not pay off the CD in BTC prior to the date of maturity, to ensure you have a chance to request payout in USD if you prefer. Tier 5 CD-holders will still have their CD paid off early as I see fit. USD payout DOES include accrued interest (unless you request to be paid prior to date of maturity, in which case you are entitled to no interest on principal). You must specify you want currency risk insurance prior to purchasing the CD. You may not purchase currency risk insurance after you've purchased a CD. See examples at bottom of this post to see exactly how this is supposed to work.

**Expect DwollaUSD requests to require at least 10 business days to be processed. Checks will be sent Priority USPS with signature requirement & delivery confirmation #. MtGoxUSD may take ~10 business days if in an amount >$500. Otherwise, should be within a day or two. PPUSD is instant, but it's Paypal, so....**


The plans are as follows (these plans are valid on new CDs while the last trade value per ฿1 on MtGox is between $4.60 and $5):

Tier 5 ($1/฿1) - All CD-holders are granted this option by default. This applies retroactively, so all CD-holders currently have this option. You may request your CD be paid in USD. The value of your BTC CD will be worth $1 per Bitcoin. If you have a ฿100 CD and request full USD payout, you would receive $100, and your BTC CD would be void. There is no penalty to MPR attached to having this plan.

Tier 4 ($2.75/฿1) - For each BTC your CD is worth at date of maturity, you are entitled to $2.50 USD payout on the condition that it voids your CD. If you have a ฿100 CD and request full USD payout, you would receive $250, and your BTC CD would be void. Requesting Tier 4 currency risk insurance on your CD reduces CD's MPR by .5% (absolute, not relative).

Tier 3 ($3.50/฿1) - For each BTC your CD is worth at date of maturity, you are entitled to $3.25 USD payout on the condition that it voids your CD. If you have a ฿100 CD and request full USD payout, you would receive $325, and your BTC CD would be void. Requesting Tier 3 currency risk insurance on your CD reduces CD's MPR by 2% (absolute, not relative).

Tier 2 ($4.25/฿1) - For each BTC your CD is worth at date of maturity, you are entitled to $4.00 USD payout on the condition that it voids your CD. If you have a ฿100 CD and request full USD payout, you would receive $400, and your BTC CD would be void. Requesting Tier 2 currency risk insurance on your CD reduces CD's MPR by 3% (absolute, not relative).

Tier 1 ($4.60/฿1) - For each BTC your CD is worth at date of maturity, you are entitled to $4.35 USD payout on the condition that it voids your CD. If you have a ฿100 CD and request full USD payout, you would receive $435, and your BTC CD would be void. Requesting Tier 1 currency risk insurance on your CD reduces CD's MPR by 4% (absolute, not relative).


Examples:
[1]You would like to purchase a ฿100 32D CD... so you do, and don't bother specifying wanting any complicated currency risk insurance. It turns out Bitcoin & Silk Road were constructed by and are monitored by FBI/CIA/ETC which are now doing a massive round-up of transactors to imprison them. Bitcoins are unable to be sold on markets due to lack of demand (effectively being worth nothing). You're entitled to demand USD payout for $1 per the BTC you're entitled to as specified by CD terms. A week before your CD matures, you tell me you want DwollaUSD instead of BTC. I'll pay you $105 ([100BTC principal + 5BTC in interest currently on 32D CDs]*$1) via Dwolla, and your CD will be void.

[2]You purchase a ฿100 63D CD and specify you want Tier 3 insurance. While the CD is active, weak demand and heavy selling pushes BTC down to $3. A few days prior to your CD maturing, you tell me you want to exercise your option to sell the CD for USD, and would like payment via check. So, I send a check in the amount of $346.13 ([100BTC principal + 12BTC unadjusted interest on 63D loan - 5.5BTC for insurance on this particular CD]*3.25) to the name and address you provide. Once the check is sent, the CD is void.

[3]You purchase a ฿100 32D CD and specify you want Tier 2 insurance. 10 days into the CD's effective start date, you tell me you need PPUSD immediately. I cash out your CD in PPUSD in the amount of $400 ([100BTC principal -- no interest paid due to early withdrawal]*4).

[4]You purchase a ฿100 32D CD and specify you want Tier 1 insurance. Immediately after the transaction, you tell me you want the CD cashed for GoxUSD. I pay you $435 ([100BTC principal -- no interest paid due to early withdrawal]*4.35) in GoxUSD, voiding the CD. I wonder why you went this complicated route instead of just requesting USD for BTC.

[5]You purchase a ฿100 32D CD with Tier 4 insurance. One day before the CD matures, you tell me you want to be paid in GoxUSD. I roll my eyes and point you to this thread, where I specify I require at least 2 days' (prior to the CD maturing) notice.

[6]You purchase a ฿100 32D CD with Tier 1 insurance. The price of BTC remains pretty stable, so you don't request USD. You'll be paid ฿100 (5% MPR - 5% Tier 1 MPR penalty = no interest earned) at date of maturity.

Any questions, please ask. Fwiw, I think reading through the examples will clear up many questions. I will not be adding this ridiculously long post to the OP, but linking to this post. Cheers!

Just thought I'd make this more visible since I'm still getting a steady stream of PMs. There's something up with my Dad, too. I'm not sure what, but he never calls (ETA: And that tid-bit of info is relevant because he did call, three times yesterday while I was sleeping - no message). I'm going to be out-of-town between 4/9 and 4/11, too, for something unrelated to all this. I don't carry anything which connects to the Internet while I'm away from home. I'll update as I know and try to give time-frames on when I'll be slower to respond than usual. Please don't quote my phone #, and please don't call between 5pm-8am US Eastern (and PLEASE don't call me for the sake of conversation).

Thanks.  :)

Just found this gem, nicely done.
Wish you good luck with your family.

I'm sorry to hear what has happened to your family, Kluge  :'(. Good luck to you and your family!

Most of my family stuff should be done and I ought to be able to reply in a timely manner. Cousin's husband most likely (according to the same doctors which said he had a 98% chance of having lymphoma) does not have lymphoma. They found two tumors (instead of the one they previously thought), but they're liquid-filled and thought to be benign, though they're waiting on another biopsy.

The I/O report for March is completed, and April's has been started. We ended the month with ~฿60 in profit (excluding profits from equities), with over ฿4 pushed to IBB & BTC100 (these donations should finally start to be significant in May as "forked" loans expire). We begin April by writing off >$400 in loans, though I still expect profits for April to exceed the value of last month.


Other Recent News:

     S² Capital Management (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74216.0) recently made their first deposit which should signify the beginning of a long, mutually-beneficial relationship. First dividends to S² will be made on Tuesday, and each Tuesday after.

     The transaction to get in on Goat's latest (and, IMO, his most interesting) project has gone through. I'm looking forward to being able to talk about it. Also considering investing in his Spread Bot.

     For better or worse, I have gone through with investing more directly with Pirate (currently, only ฿100 is invested in Pirate without it being insured by someone else). I have received a PM from someone who was interested in buying a CD who then cancelled because of this gamble. While I don't yet intend to change course (expecting ฿1000 in Pirate within a few months, though that's the hard limit), I would like to just point out that ownership equity far exceeds not only what I have in Pirate now, but the limits I've set (฿1000 in an insured program, ฿1000 uninsured), so if Pirate defaults AND the insurer defaults, ownership equity will still exceed liabilities -- BDK will still be solvent.

     CD rates will remain the same for the month of April.

Received another large deposit a short while ago. I'm doing another buy-in soon to increase ownership equity to a level I'm more comfortable with.

63D CDs are no longer available and fwiw, I'm expecting to lower CD rates in May (not dramatically, but significantly) due to being less able to find investing opportunities I like outside of partnerships in future ventures (which have no guarantee of RoI), Pirate, and low-return opportunities. I have no qualms investing in those with my own money, but I don't want to be liable to pay out CDs when I'm receiving either much lower revenues or much higher risk. Also toying with the idea of cashing out. Will likely need to greatly reduce my stake within a few months assuming my house ever sells.

Tomorrow or "soon," I'll once again start accepting loan requests from people I don't have a long-standing relationship with. I'll start another new BDK thread for it, and lock this one. Will look into the different ways other lenders have developed to ensure the lending process is both smooth and relatively secure. Anonymity (pseudonymity, rather) is ideal, but it requires a big leap of faith -- it's quite likely I'll be requiring lendees wait a few days for a postcard with a code on it, then have them repeat the code to me via PM, on top of other methods to ensure identity and ability to repay. I'll see if the other lender has decided to make that website public yet or not. Now that I have the equivalent of well over $8k of others' money, this is no longer an experiment. As they say, shit's getting real.  ;)

In other recent news, due to how what the middleman-insurer between Pirate & I wants (which is deleveraging), I will not be putting a total of 2k BTC into Pirate's programs between uninsured & insured loans as intended. ~250BTC will be insured, ~1000 will be uninsured - by June. Again, ownership equity far exceeds potential losses in Pirate's programs or Goat's programs. Other news... BDK has honored a 6.2-ish BTC pledge to BTC100, as well as a small sum to IBB. No loans are currently "forked," so all interest income off current loans will have a % taken out and donated to IBB & BTC100. Other news... For a fee, I will sell BTC for USD -- PM me. I do not care to sell more than 100BTC at a time. I might be willing to consider selling for PPUSD if I trust you very much and you're extensively involved in the community.


Cheers & good night,

Ben

ETA: BancoKluge.com purchased. More on that soon. ;)

ETA2: CDs are no longer being accepted. I'm quite pleased with what I currently have. This may change ~next week, but rates will likely be reduced.

I'm considering splitting CDs, where one will function as they do currently, and another will operate more like a messy, partially-insured fund.

CD A would pay 2% monthly, go toward very conservative, diversified investment and give loans to truly productive individuals. These CDs would be 100% insured against loss.

CD B would pay 10% monthly and be lent aggressively to 1-3 high-paying individuals and/or organizations. In the event that one of those lenders default, the loss is immediately written off, and it gets passed on to all holders of the CD (as well as myself insofar as how many special CDs I issue myself, which could, for example, always match the amount of deposits I have). However, I pay out 25% of all losses depositors incur in case of default.

Example of CD B in action: I have 1000BTC in deposits (one person holds 100BTC, two hold 200BTC, and one holds 500BTC). Also in the "fund" is 1000BTC of my own coin, for a total of 2k coins in the fund. The loans are split between two people, both being lent 1k BTC. One defaults.

The person holding a 100BTC CD incurs a loss of value on his CD of 50BTC, but I will cover 12.5BTC of his losses. At date of maturity (we'll assume his CD was for a month), he's paid 50BTC in "principal," 12.5BTC in insurance payout, and 10BTC in interest, for a total of 72.5BTC return.

The person who held a 500BTC CD (let's say it was for a month) would take a 250BTC loss, but I will cover 62.5BTC of that. At date of maturity, he's paid 250BTC in "principal," 62.5BTC in insurance payout, and 50BTC in interest, for a total return of 362.5BTC.

You can figure out how it'd work for the other CD-holders. For myself, I would lose 250BTC due to insurance payouts, and 500BTC in "principal."


Any thoughts?

Yes, a little constructive criticism. :)

CD A sounds like an actual CD.  No problem, sounds good to me.

CD B sounds a bit like a venture capital fund.  IMHO calling it a CD is misleading.  If you have time, I'm sure you could find more detail on how they work, but essentially the fund managers go to investors to "raise a fund" and when they reach the tipping point they close it to new investment and begin investing in companies.  You might want to work option B like that, since determining ownership percentages for allocating losses could be very difficult if you do it on a rolling basis.

No matter what, you'll have trouble raising capital for the June 2012 fund if the April 2012 fund proved to be a big loser in May.  Its the same way for professional fund managers.

I've toyed with the idea of just listing separate funds on GLBSE for a while (I have a detrimental attachment to doing everything by hand -- if there were a local "community currency," I'd honestly prefer it be a few people with paper ledgers keeping track of a finite number of "IOUs" to replace taking useful goods out of the economy as is done with the barter system). I think it was the first "BDK" thread where I proposed three or four different funds listed on GLBSE which would go toward different types of investments. "CD B" really isn't a CD at all, but a messy partially-insured HYIP fund, as you mostly say. If I ever took a loss like what I made up in the scenario for CD B, I can't imagine I'd keep it open. - Pay debts due, close it, and focus on CD A.

I don't like how "BDK" operates right now. There are a few high-risk, high-yield investments mixed in with low-risk, low-yield investments, and asset trading mixed in with loans. Issuing CDs makes the most sense AFAIK, but I don't think all CD-holders appreciate the potential of their money going directly to a Pirate account, or Goat's latest scheme. It also ends up making me feel like I need all investments to return more than what I'm paying for interest on CDs. For example, if I issue a 63D CD @ 12% over principal on maturity, I get the feeling that I need to make two 30D loans @ >6%, instead of realizing two 5% MPR loans would be fine given higher-yield investments more than balancing out the difference - assuming the 5% loans are significantly more safe (IMO) than the higher-yield opportunities.

I don't know why I keep posting alternatives to just issuing one-size-fits-all CDs. I have no intention of not paying any of them, and it's profitable. I never follow through with doing something alternate. *shrug* Maybe I'm just passing time until I'm able to fall asleep.

Thread updated. I am now both issuing CDs again and entertaining loan applications from strangers. Rates have been lowered a smidge. This does not apply to previous CDs, even if they were made in April. However, if you renew your CD (except for renewals committed to prior to today, even if in April), I will only pay the reduced interest rate.

I was hoping to have a website up, but am still playing around with different options, and don't have much energy to do it anymore, so the OP will remain where information is given. As well, the I/O report has been updated to include new quarterly reports. Until June, the Q2 report will have almost nothing in it. An annual report will be created at the end of the year.


While I am now doing loans to strangers again, I currently have no money available for loans. If you ask me for a loan, at least check the I/O report to see if I have cash on hand for it. It's unusual though quite possible for me to have uncommitted coins, so if you have a few days before needing the loan (or even better, a few weeks), feel free to PM me if I haven't disclosed having any coins on-hand. Cheers.

Interest rate structure is roughly as follows:
Very-highly trusted (done extensive business with before or very reputable on forum, solid concept given with prototype) -- 6% MPR (no limit)
Highly trusted (done significant amount of business with before or very reputable on forum, solid business plan given) -- 7% MPR (no limit)
Trusted (done business with before or reputable on forum [or extensive reputation elsewhere], adequate business plan given) -- 9% MPR (500BTC max loan)
Untrusted (no business done with before, has a few successful transactions on forum, adequate business plan given) -- 11% MPR (75BTC max loan)
Distrusted (no business done with before, has at least one successful sell transaction on forum, "fuzzy," optimistic business plan given or consumer loan) -- 12.5% MPR (10BTC max loan)
Very distrusted (no business done with before, no successful transactions, no or likely-nonviable business plan given) -- No.

CD rate increased beyond pre-reduction rates due to lack of interest. These will not apply retroactively, but do apply for renewals (not renewals already committed to). I'll keep it at this rate until I receive 1k in additional deposits, then it will be lowered again.


Cheers!

I am also looking for $5k USD in personal loans (all these loans/"CDs" are, in fact, personal loans) for myself (to be repaid in USD, of course). There will be a 96D commitment required. Minimum amount per individual lender = $500. Pays 2% every 32 days. I reserve the right to pay off principal + interest at any time prior (assuming it isn't the due date, in which case I must pay). However, if I pay early, the full amount of interest will be paid. Payment will only be accepted in DwollaUSD or GoxUSD. Paypal can be too-easily reversed, wires are expensive, and ACH transfers & checks take too long. However, if you want to do checks or ACH, that's acceptable so long as it's understood the start date doesn't occur until I have the money in Dwolla.

192D loans pay 2.2% per 32 days on otherwise identical terms.

384D loans pay 2.35% per 32 days.

PM me if interested. ID & utility bill can be provided, but I'm too cheap & lazy to get a promissory note. I'll send you an agreement via email if you'd like, however.

Example: Send me $1k GoxUSD for 96D. On 32nd day, I pay you $20. On 64th day, I pay you $20. On 71st day, I decide it's a good time to pay the loan off and send you $1020 to close the loan.

USD loan likely covered. Continuing to push for the BTC loans. 200 deposited, looking for 800 more, then rates will be significantly lowered.

Hi Kluge,

200 BTC sent to:
1QGKCXjzgUFCgP5uJvghmaApwkK88r7eii
200BTC CD starts 4/11/12 and matures to be worth 225BTC on 6/13/12

Repayment address:
142DZ66NBHUn6FyBogQa6xjvPREi9HznzQ

Please confirm, cheers!

Confirmed. Thanks.  :)

First, if anyone missed it, I'm offering a portion of "BDK" up for sale. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76628 Around the beginning of May, I'll keep shareholders and users more separate, with only changes affecting lendees and depositors here, while masturbatory information will be presented to shareholders in the GLBSE thread.

Next, I've added the ability for the spreadsheets to fairly easily track gains and losses through equities, including dividends, though I'm not going to post every single dividend transaction, but instead go off the GLBSE log every few days and add in non-GLBSE dividends. I posted hashing rigs a while back as equities -- the 5850 about breaks even @ what I pay for electricity, so I'm not going to bother even counting mining income from that. To compensate, I will not factor in expenses in running the Icarus boards.

With all that sorted, I'd also like to announce BDK equity is in excess of 3k BTC, monthly profits are almost touching 100BTC, and monthly %RoE is at a record high, >3% (well... in fairness, that's because I started including equity profits, but we did start the month with >80BTC in debt write-offs, so.... still pleasing to announce!).


And finally - another reminder CDs @ 5.5%/32D won't last much longer (... hopefully). Still seeking 800BTC in deposits.

I've received as many deposits as I'd like for now.

CDs will now pay 4%/32D, 9%/63D, likely at least until ~ the end of May. I'm not sure whether or not it will increase or decrease in rate at that time -- depends on how loans are doing and how many people renew and how the public offering of BDK monthly profit goes.

The rate change does NOT affect active CDs, and CDs may be renewed at the rate they were originally given at. For most, this is 5%/32D after the rate of all CDs was increased retroactively a month or so ago. Any rate above 5.5%/32D or 12%/63D is NOT permitted to be renewed at that rate (if currently active, however, they'll obviously still pay that at date of maturity). If you have CDs out above that rate, I am willing to renew @ 5.5%/32D or 12%/63D, but not a hundredth of a % higher.

There will be some major shifts in loan diversity in the next few months. Increasingly, I'm getting out of Pirate (will be reduced to 500-1000 BTC on June first -- there's currently ~1.1k with him which isn't insured by a middle-man - total loans out equal ~3.2k), and have interest in buying IPOs again. By lowering CD rates and relying more on selling BDK profits in the future, I'm hoping BDK will be able to offer more reasonable rates to well-known producers.

The Currency Risk Insurance nobody asks for has been updated to reflect the higher price of Bitcoins and lower CD interest rates. Tier 5 Insurance (the one everybody's given by default) has not been changed.

Can't wait for this to change, spent the morning reading up on your information over coffee.

CD rate changed again as a few CDs didn't renew. The current rate is 5%/32D, 11%/63D.

As well, the minimum and maximum amounts have been changed. Previously: min - 10BTC, max - 300BTC. Currently: min - 50BTC, max - 1000BTC.


Also very interested in hearing business ideas. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77647

BDK IPO a smidge over a week away. Will reconcile spreadsheets & OP when I wake up tomorrow (also need to make sure the Google spreadsheet is updating -- would be a real disappointment to use such a limited tool just to be able to share it publicly, then find out it isn't even sharing properly). Lots of changes in the past few days, and more tomorrow. Will likely move "WGSE" into the BDK equities portfolio as it's become a more complicated partnership. Will have a link, soon. Another equity I haven't talked about is also at a critical point in development (mostly, what to do with it) and may be showing returns & giving me a fair idea of a trajectory within a month.


Spreadsheets may be prettied up and have junk removed within a few days, too, so it looks a little less... kludgey prior to the IPO.


Currently have some USD to loan if there's any interested, too. Cheers!

BDK I think you are doing an awesome service to help start up bitcoin companies.

I hope it would be appropriate to release a video in my locale garnering support for the bitcoin loan cause and also to help build interest in your ipo.

I will be releasing this video free of charge.

Fucked up the name but I'll be linking everyone to this thread so they can check you out!

Hope you enjoy the video here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7-mmax-tJY

Suddenly, everything changes.

Yesterday, on top of two business loans to review with our group, I'm now a probationary member in the DCAO. Holy balls are there a lot of projects in need of funding.

I'm pleased to announce a set date to get entirely out of Pirate. June 1st, we're out. Entirely. Never to re-enter. CD rates will be much lower, but depositors can see exactly what kinds of exciting projects they're helping grow, and investors who are fearful of Pirate defaulting? Again, June 1st, we're out entirely. A large withdrawal will occur on May 19th. Along with the help of IPO funds being raised, BDK will finally transition to something entirely business-oriented.

DCAO?


???

http://dcao.org/

OP updated to reflect current status.

Still seeking new USD deposits. $2k fulfilled. Looking to take on an additional $4k GoxUSD or PPUSD, with a preference for PPUSD. Will no longer take DwollaUSD due to new rules they've implemented. Since their rules cut off my ability to cheaply transfer cash within a reasonable time-frame, I will now very grudgingly be using these loans exclusively for PPUSD & bankUSD loans/investments. Rate has been increased to 2.25%/32D for a 96D commitment, 2.4%/32D for a 192D commitment, 2.5%/32D for a 384D commitment.


I also have a smallish amount (~$1k USD, ~300BTC) to lend for those interested in simple loans. ETA: Sorry -- I don't update this thread as often as I should. Will pay it more attention after the IPO tomorrow. Already lent out everything I have and funds are committed to pending loans until ~ the end of May unless I receive a bunch of large deposits.

BDK will be handling escrow between SgtSpike & Junaid. SgtSpike is selling a website to Junaid. Waiting on a payment address from SgtSpike. Can accept the escrow funds @ 1DTE17dL6yeEHJCTDgwH43AcXsUv6djf1W.

Escrow sheet is @ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ao892S4MOoDZdGZSbjJVd1ZTbFVLZE5aRE95bE91NVE&gid=9 and will be updated as progress is made.


Cheers!

Junaid has sent the agreed-upon 198BTC. http://blockchain.info/tx-index/4670234/68ea1d8b78e4da49afa6ce0be8529833bb13d46232992afda6a609c3c55f4a85

SgtSpike has begun transfer of digital goods to Junaid. Waiting on Junaid to give green light, now. Estimated to take ~ a couple days for transfer to complete.


Cheers!

ETA: Since I now have four active escrow deals going on, it's very possible sellers will be paid "out of order." Since oldest coins are paid out first, this will likely cause addresses to pay the "wrong" seller. Don't be alarmed if you see the coins sent to a wallet sent to an escrow address going out before you've released your coins from escrow -- I still have them in the escrow wallet. If you really want to check, take a look at my spreadsheet and the different TxIDs I have listed. They should add up to to the transaction amounts for the four active escrow deals, +-.1BTC I keep in the wallet as a "fee buffer."

From 5/7 (after paying dividend to shareholders) to 5/10, I'm going on vacation (and by vacation, I mean going a couple towns over to a trailer without reliable Internet access to stay with family). Fair warning. Will likely have access to email, no access to wallets. Trip cancelled - nevermind.


Cheers!

Escrow deal done. Junaid released escrow. SgtSpike paid. http://blockchain.info/tx-index/4720518/1e5ccef04bb4d965ea24823a4ef906e5e6c2b2e53f541df686acc890b5548c1a

Cheers!

Thanks Kluge - everything went smoothly!

Escrow services suspended until around the beginning of June or whenever I'm less worried about pulling wife aggro from sitting on a wooden chair staring at a computer screen all day to ensure nobody sends payments or tells me to release escrow and has to wait a while for me to respond.

I'll pop in and out every few hours to check for updates on current escrow deals. Otherwise, all coins are tied up or promised to be lent until May 19th, so not too much need for me to be staring at computer screen.


Cheers!

Ever tried having an 'escrow day' where all funds are released/picked up at one shot per week in exchange of the 24/7 escrow-on-demand? That'll lessen your workload  ;D

Or even a cutoff time on certain days.  When I need to send a wire, I know I need to get it in to the bank by 3 PM on a business day, otherwise it goes out the next day.  

If you want to be fancy, you could post a schedule in the OP... e.g. "This week I'll be processing escrow txns at 1800 UTC on May 1, May 3, May 5"

Although, I hope you're out celebrating cinco de mayo on May 5.  ;-)

Not many May 5 festivities in Michigan. Too close to the French.  :-\

I'll consider scheduling. Thanks for suggestions. I guess I always assume people will start getting anxious about their BTC staying with me if I'm unresponsive for more than a few minutes after they've told me to do something. If the delays are scheduled, though, I'd guess they'd feel better about me taking scheduled leave.

Someone walked me through how to use OTC and I'm finally on. http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=bdk_kluge

Would appreciate ratings. Skimmed through a couple hundred names and rated who I've done business with. Would appreciate ratings and if I've done business with you, feel free to remind me if you're registered.


Cheers!

Now I feel old... Out of all of the people who have rated you (which are currently some pretty big names!), my OTC account is the oldest.

Hrm. So close. Seems a lot of doctors are giving definite statements pulled from their ass. Originally, there was a slight chance he was dying, then he's probably dying and needs chemo, then an "all clear" saying it was fluid-filled/benign, and after what was supposed to be a relatively minor surgery, he's come out missing 1/3 of a lung and given a death sentence again. Supposedly, it's now assumed he has very aggressive cancer. They couldn't get all of it around his lung as it's invading his heart. I'm taking a couple days off and may be unresponsive for some time in the future. I'll always check emails after waking up and before going to sleep, fwiw.

He's in his late 20's, I believe. Experienced more than enough death for my liking, but this is the first time interacting with someone suffering imminent death who still speaks coherently. (ETA: I may appear as online in Skype or IRC, but don't assume I am unless talking there. If it's important, please email me @ kluge@bancokluge.com )


ETA2: So... Now it's up in the air. Chemo/radiation already started. Cousin's insisting the doctors got it all, which goes against what another family member said who was with his doctor. Lung which had a section removed is totally non-functional, so he'll have to rely on one lung for the rest of his life. Cousin's kids get a lesson in not transmitting germs tomorrow from wife, who's coincidentally well-studied and experienced in aseptic techniques. Just wanted to keep everyone informed -- always get paranoid someone'll start freaking out and make a big scene if I don't respond to them within a few hours.

2 Icarus boards arrived today and are hashing on a separate pool. Income will be included in spreadsheet. Cheers!

Oh -- and I'm doing escrow again until further notice. All previous transactions have been completed. :)

Thread being closed again. CDs (bonds, now) have their own thread, and shareholders have their own thread. Almost everything I do is done in private, now, so there's no purpose served by keeping this thread here.

If you want me to handle escrow for you, that's cool - just PM me.


Cheers!

Thread re-opened and re-stickied (thanks, Maged). I have coins needing a home, and IOU-BLoC isn't launching for at least another month. I generally do not offer escrow anymore -- low on time. Please don't PM or Skype me asking me to do escrow unless there's some exceptional reasoning behind it.

If you're looking for a loan, please provide me as much information as possible. Best time to catch me now is between 1p-1a US Eastern. I'm going to be out all day tomorrow (Saturday). I may be brief for a few months, but no intent to come off as rude -- I do appreciate all business.

I re-wrote the OP with gaudy colors because it seems to be trendy. If I left something important out, please tell me.

Cheers,
Ben

What is the minimum investment for CDs?

does this include gpumax?

50BTC. Sorry for leaving that out. BDK.BND can be bought in any amount so long as you can afford one bond @ ~.1BTC, fwiw.

No.

Normally do not post depositors' info, but it was requested.

Willowbitcoin (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=61904) bought a 32D 59BTC CD on 7/14 (tx (http://blockchain.info/tx-index/12160128/0f072b6dbdfceaa5c33ef3fe97ad47103d53a3b6d431fb8092f4390e842d0699)) @ 5%. Thus, on 8/15, the CD will pay out 61.95BTC, to be paid to 1E62kUsNNUSr8z28m2kNTD24kT7BvDiZCV.

Cheers,
Ben


(unrelated ETA: I took out the "Insurance Tier" column in the spreadsheet. Nobody's used "Exchange Rate Insurance" in the three or so months I've offered it [I don't think anyone's even posted about it], so it's no longer in effect. If you [not depositor this post is about, necessarily] really want Exchange Rate Insurance added to your CD, PM me.)

Over 400 coins still looking for a lendee, with 1k more expected to come in on Monday.

PM me!

1.5k available to loan out! Loan rates reduced!

PM sent.

Bank holiday today. Severe drought ended. Very rainy -- hasn't rained in a month, triple-digit heat, no good for me. But - it's rained and I'm going to take some time out with family.

Will get back with everyone before I go to sleep in ~12h.

Cheers,
Ben

i am glad bitcoin forum allows people to lend BTC
hope this services not gone

Just for curiosity's sake,


Why would one place greater emphasis on OTC than on eBay?  Someone can have eBay history back to '98, I'm not sure about this other thing.. 2011?

I suppose eBay would be more prone to have stolen accts, but if you can verify the person's identity?

I would trade with someone with 1000's of feedbacks on eBay with account since 1998, rather than someone with 50 on bitcoin-otc,  the second  would be much more likely to be building up reputation for a massive take

Ebay's feedback ratings were not very robust until 2007.  Before that it was easy to build positive feedback without having any substance to back it up.  Still now one could have thousands of penny auctions and still get quality feedback.

Ouch.  :(

From BTC:  -41.98   13Kqkv3QAvfQRGnuZySLBXPhJTtbWiAiyr   2012-07-22 14:49:23
From BDK: -85.8435   13Kqkv3QAvfQRGnuZySLBXPhJTtbWiAiyr   2012-07-22 14:51:43
From BDK.BND: -216.2935   13Kqkv3QAvfQRGnuZySLBXPhJTtbWiAiyr   2012-07-22 14:54:19

Just noticed that the bidwall @BDK.BND is gone. :-[

Yes, his GLBSE account was hacked and appears all the shares/assets were crashed into whatever bids were there.  Expect some reversals.  14000 BDK.BND at basically zero price isn't reasonable.

I'd be taking a good look at any GLBSE accounts that just happened to place low-ball bids on those securities...

My assumption of the events so far:
[1]Everything from Bitcoinica has been leaked, including credentials. I haven't been keeping up as much as I should have since I had nothing in there -- maybe that's already public knowledge. The other alternative is that EMC's credentials db was compromised, but I find that hard to believe. There are some other alternatives, including a brute force attack, which seem even more unlikely.
[2]It's possible I was stupid enough to use the same or similar password on Bitcoinica as LastPass. Clearly, I was stupid enough to use the same Gmail pw as Bitcoinica. I no longer have history of what my old LP master password was before changing it.
[3]The attacker accidentally logged onto Gmail using Tor, without realizing Gmail has Tor mostly blacklisted. He was not expecting me to be alerted. Perhaps he did not expect me to wake up relatively soon. Had he been more clever, he would have used the AWS server in MI to begin with.
[4]The attacker then....? Well, I'm not really sure what he did from 6am to 1:30pm. Maybe took a nap.
[5]While the attacker was napping and I was alerted to the unauthorized use, I changed all of my passwords to sensitive sites, including GLBSE, and LastPass, obviously.
[6]I eventually emailed Nef (11:30am? I don't have access to that email account right now), asking him to freeze my account and release recent activity info to me.  He did not respond, I assume because he was sleeping.
[7]I'm assuming the session the attacker had active from before I changed the password never expired on GLBSE, nor was revoked when I changed the pw. I did not think to enable 2FA for all activities until after the withdrawal. I did not have 2FA enabled prior to this attack because I'm too cheap to buy a cell phone -- that "frugality" has obviously bitten me in the ass. (Actually, I would've had an AT&T smartphone a few days ago if they allowed me to have a different shipping and billing address....)
[8]Around 1:45pm, I was alerted to BDK.BND being dumped. You can see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67446.msg1046806#msg1046806 for how much was withdrawn. The funds from the BTC account were withdrawn by dumping the few remaining securities I kept. No new securities were issued, but the attacker sold all securities in the account. At that time, it was obvious what happened. I emailed Nef somewhere between 1:45p and 2p, asking him to halt all withdrawals (withdrawals from GLBSE are not immediate). I assume he was still sleeping -- he's in the UK and works just about his entire day, so understandable. At least one other lender texted Nefario as an additional alert, but it was quickly too late, and the withdrawal was processed.


Currently, I am not aware of any losses outside of what I have already reported. I have moved all coins out of my possession in case the primary OS was compromised. Ideally, Nef will reverse the fraudulent transactions.

Current "hard" losses are 344.117BTC. "Soft" losses (currently non-reversed GLBSE transactions) could push total losses near or above 2kBTC, but I'm assuming Nef will reverse the unauthorized transactions. Either way, BDK is not at immediate risk of insolvency.

Best of luck sorting everything out.

This thread has shown me how important it could be to have an emergency, secure address to send your BTC to.

You should also set up 2-factor auth for your gmail account.

Not so much a relief fund, but it helps.  It's pretty sucky to see a heap of hard work plundered.

And yes it is a re-used address, but tagged specifically for Kluge (Ben) - current balance 90 coins: 1J4qAYqQsNJbTDhwyf7A9eCPykNLVysnp2

Edit: 120 coins - thanks to Ineedausername
Edit: Thanks also to Brendio and BurtW  (current total 180)
Edit: DollarTrader and BrightAnarchist have provided donations.  (current total 216)

I am still surprised that GLBSE does not have a session expiration.  That nap the scum had would have been prevented if the sessions expired after a period of inactivity.

"Hello Ben,

We have received your report of unwanted access to your Gmail account from an Amazon IP address.

We have completed an initial investigation of the issue and learned that the IP address you reported did indeed belong to an Amazon EC2 instance. Amazon’s EC2 service allows EC2 customers to run their applications using Amazon’s infrastructure, including IP addresses. The accesses that you reported may have come from an Amazon EC2 customer’s application. You may learn more about EC2 at http://aws.amazon.com/ec2 .

The customer we have identified runs a Social Media/Networking Site or mobile device push service. You may have signed up for this service and granted permission and provided username/password to their application to access your Gmail account. We have passed this message on to the customer that uses the IP address mentioned in your abuse report. However, we have no reason to believe that this is an actual intrusion attempt. This issue was also addressed in our security bulletins: http://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/ (see July 13th 2010 bulletin).

If you continue to see unwanted activity, please contact Google and ask that they initiate an investigation with Amazon.

Regards,

Amazon EC2 Abuse Team"

Considering police report, police I don't think would bother doing anything, vs. attempting to contact Google, a company I doubt would want to get involved without a police filing, at least. ETA: Made an indirect request to Gmail. They don't allow direct contact by default, so hopefully someone will see what I've written and contact me directly. ETA2: Made a direct request. ETA3: Also made another request of AWS.

I've been advised the only way to get Google to release the IP activity AWS wants is by going to the police, filing a report, and hoping for a court filing leading to a demand from Google/Gmail to release information. At that time, that info can be sent to AWS, who would then hopefully release the information I'm seeking without requiring a separate demand -- or the demand could be sent directly to AWS. Then, further action can be taken.

Sounding like a strenuous, time-consuming task, but it would be nice to catch at least one of these fellows, and set a precedent that it's possible.

After speaking with Kluge(verified it was him) we've done a few things.

His account has been frozen, as have both BDK and BDK.BND assets meaning they can't be traded，　ｔｈｅｙ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｒｅｍａｉｎ　ｆｒｏｚｅｎ　ｕｎｔｉｌ　ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ　ｈａｓ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｃｌｅａｒｅｄ　ｕｐ（ｌｉｋｅｌｙ　ａ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｄａｙｓ）.

We will be reversing those transactions for these two assets from the break in, those who bought will have their BTC returned.

Dividend payments due soon (within the next 24 hours I　ｔｈｉｎｋ）　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅｓｅ　ａｓｓｅｔｓ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｂｅ　ｄｅｌａｙｅｄ，　ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｙ　ｂｙ　ａ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｄａｙｓ．

Ｔｈｅ　ａｌｔｅｒｎａｔｉｖ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｂｅ　ｔｏ　ｃｌｏｓｅ　ｄｏｗｎ　ｔｈｅ　ａｓｓｅｔｓ．

Ｋｌｕｇｅ ｉｓ ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｒｏｕｔｅ　ａｔ　ｇｒｅａｔ　ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌ　ｅｘｐｅｎｓｅ．

Ｎｅｆａｒｉｏ．

I've contacted the police and will head over in the afternoon. I have no expectations.

Fwiw, current damages in the form of funds withdrawn are 344.117BTC. Current damages in the form of funds needing to be sent for the reversal of transactions related to this are 204.85BTC. The grand total, then, is 548.967BTC in damages, or a bit over $4.8k at current rates. However, the various lenders and related contacts, have, in a show of extreme generosity, provided 180BTC worth of relief, significantly offsetting losses.

I was a shack, I am now a barricade, and within a week, I will be a fortress. :o

Cheers,
Ben

(and thanks, Nef)

Hmmm, formatting of my post is all messed up, sorry about that.

For future reference, our very own Mike works in Google's abuse department.

That's what I like to hear. I was thinking of buying in, then this happened =( I will reconsider after you get your fortress up and running and you publicize the types of measures you have in place to prevent future theft. Best of luck! Can't wait to jump in once the moat has been dug.

i want to apply loan
22BTC

Lastpass, GLBSE, and Gmail accounts are currently locked down with Google Authenticator, on top of the GLBSE account being more-or-less temporarily deactivated. I've thought about dumping LastPass for KeePass, and maybe it would be workable since syncing for networked computers is relatively simple, but haven't decided for sure. Credit Unions have notice to watch my accounts and confirm >$x transactions/day with me (none reported login attempts outside the IP address I provided). I can't talk about the police report, except to say AWS has stopped communicating with me directly and they will not be asking me to provide hard drives. Non-Gox Yubikeys are on their way to provide "3FA" where available, and 2FA where GoogleAuth/QR-auth isn't an option. SMS auth is also being utilized where available, but that's a pain in the ass to use with shoddy reception. I also intend to mix up 2FA, so not all permissions will be on one device, utilizing JAuth for an old offline laptop. A master backup of auth codes (the codes to produce codes) will be kept under lock and key in case one (or both) auth-code-producing device were to fail. The OS I was using has not been wiped, yet, but that will come soon -- fwiw, I only use it as necessary, a few minutes per day, usually with LAN disconnected. I moved all funds out of my previous wallet, and currently (temporarily), all funds are being held by two extremely-trusted individuals. I have not investigated to see if there were any network intrusions, but I'll look through logs at some point. I do not currently have evidence of any type of local intrusion, and doubt there was, but I am operating on the assumption that there was - just in case. Government documents/numbers will eventually be revoked for new ones to be assigned -- I again have no evidence that any of that was compromised, but there's nearly a decade of emails in my account, so I'm not sure what all I saved, and for a while, I had some ID saved on my PC as there were so many corporations and individuals demanding it to proceed with transactions. I also had tax filings saved unencrypted, so if there were local intrusion, it should be assumed the attacker could provide my ID, a utility bill, and my SSN if claiming to be me.

All "sensitive" site passwords are now unique, not a variation (and certainly not a shared variation) on a few sets of "brain keys." If anyone has any additional tips, the security is starting to feel over-burdening, but I'm keeping an open mind...

[Current BDK/IOU Depositor Services]
*Access to "Ghetto P&P Exchange" services. Ability to immediately (if you choose an instant method) exchange BTC for USD, and USD for BTC, at rates lower than BitInstant.

[Proposed New BDK/IOU Depositor Services]
*Cashback when you use BitMit. Use a referral ID I provide, and have all transaction fees you pay to BitMit fully refunded in the form of a credit to your IOUcoin account. I don't much care to bother Tosaki about this, so instead, I think we'll try out scraping the site, matching User IDs on my referral and commission page to BDK usernames.
*x% MemoryDealers discount. This needs to be negotiated directly. Idunno the exact e-commerce platform they use (whether or not this'd be feasible), but perhaps it would be preferable to ask for a code to apply to accounts, which provides a lifetime discount. It may be more worth talking to Netveano folks about this, as they handle quite a few other merchant-type sites.
*Discounted stays at 20Mission. This should be fun and easy to negotiate.
*Free gifts sent when lifetime amount of BTC deposited surpasses certain thresholds. For example, perhaps when you deposit 150BTC, you're given the option to be sent a free page of IBB BTC checks. 500BTC, free one-year BTC Magazine subscription. 1500BTC, free lower-value casascius coin. 3000BTC, free higher-value casascius coin. 10k+, you get.... Idunno, a free greenhouse kit with exotic seeds from "Galt's Lab" and a $50 giftcard for Menards.
*Monthly drawings for active depositors to receive a collection of interesting stuff in the style of IBB's treasure chests.

If anyone has other ideas, lay 'em on me.

Still have a boatload of coins looking for a good home. Hit me up. Cheers,
Ben

Returning phone tomorrow for a different make. Reception is simply terrible. Someone using a phone of a generation ago gets far superior reception (that is to say she gets a usable signal) on the same network and same connection settings -- 3G connection's useless for data, and frequently for phone conversations. I called someone yesterday, had my head pressed against a window, and it was still cutting out too much to have a comfortable conversation. Reversed roles with grandparents today when I called... I had to ask them to repeat everything they just said back to me.  :-X

Aside that, tomorrow I need to hit up the nearby PNC bank to open an account, buy some groceries, grab a ladder and go tape up an air exhaust "chimney" in a property we bought so birds will stop dying in the garage before we move in, and some other small errands/chores. Will be mostly away tomorrow, and unresponsive to phone calls as well as email until I grab a different phone. Should be responsive to all contacts by the end of tomorrow.


Cheers,
Ben

A few months ago, I had thousands of coins in Pirate, the vast majority of that insured. I eventually got out completely because I did not know what Pirate did, and have been fairly critical (though quietly) of him. Without understanding an investment, I had no interest in going forward with it once my insurer dropped out. This has very recently changed. I now believe, with a high level of confidence, that Pirate is legitimate, and his business model (certainly not the interest rates, however), are sustainable and sound. In fact, it is one of the most believable, surprisingly simple, and clever (across the board - including his clients and his own model) schemes I have yet come across in the Bitcoiniverse. I additionally believe, with a high level of confidence, that Pirate does exactly what he's said he does multiple times, and in our cynical imaginations, we have created unpleasant, convoluted explanations for what Pirate "really" does.

I will not disclose, for anyone, what he does unless something goes terribly wrong, at which point I will corroborate with the others who know what he's doing and probably posted well before I will. I intend to put roughly 15% to 25% of total BDK/IOU assets in an uninsured Pirate account until further notice.



With that said, I recognize the hypocrisy in what I've just written with regards to why I disliked how Pirate handled his affairs, and you'll have to trust I intend the best for my investors and have been truthful in my statements. To 1kBTC+ depositors, I can provide a notarized promissory note upon request, with full current USD value of BTC for collateral.

OP updated. CDs are being offered again. This is likely the last time I will reduce deposit rates until Pirate either significantly reduces rates, refunds depositors, or defaults, at which point I assume interest rates will drop dramatically across the board for everyone. I currently have moderate interest in obtaining 500BTC worth of new deposits, and low interest in obtaining 2500BTC worth of deposits.

Current BDK Pirate exposure is 1kBTC. I intend to deposit ~430BTC more, and then that will be the cap. Interest is to be fully returned each week. The remaining 2kBTC I'm seeking is to help consolidate imsaguy's loans at a reduced rate over what he currently pays his lenders/depositors.

IOUCoin is expected to launch in roughly one month. I may need additional funds at that time and may place an open order to sell BDK.BND at face value again. I'm currently willing to sell BDK.BND units at face value for large (100BTC+) investors.

ETA: Lending rates have also been reduced.

For a limited time, I'm re-opening the offer to accept USD CDs. 4%/63D, 6.3%/94D. GoxUSD, ACH, bank/CU instant transfer (PNC or a CU which utilizes Shared Branching), accepted. If ACH, deposit starts when it clears in my account. Minimum: $500 -- Max: $5,000.

Cheers,
Ben

I plan on being mostly unavailable until mid-Wednesday. Heading out to do the final walk-through (and move all the lumber to repair/replace the deck) in a few minutes, and should own the house within 2-3h. Don't plan on fucking around, so should have everything moved from various houses and the deck repaired by mid-Wednesday. Everything else should be done soon, but isn't particularly pressing... need to rent a propane tank, though. Forgot about getting that done. There is no Internet out there, yet, so I'll get that scheduled tomorrow, and see if I can get a decent cell data connection to tether the laptop, to. For investors, this also means the piddle 1GH/s of hashing power will be offline whenever I move it - probably last thing Wednesday, so hopefully will have cable service by then (though, the dividend blackout's still in effect until August 27th, so it won't have any significant impact aside from equity/assets being lowered by... Idunno, .7BTC over what they could've been in a truly ideal situation, which might reduce next month's dividends by .0000000000000001/share or something). I'll probably come back to the house I'm currently in, which does have an Internet connection, a couple times per day, but I don't know if there'll be people waiting on me, or if I'll be able to fuck around inside the house and get BTC business taken care of.

If you absolutely need to get in touch with me now, feel free to call/text 814-314-9308. Leave a message, I'll read it to make sure you're not a time-wasting sales rep, and then I'll get back with you within a few minutes (assuming I get any reception)... or just keep calling over and over until I'm pissed off enough to answer the phone just to make you stop.  :) Please don't quote my phone number. Cheers,
Ben

Should have Internet connection some time Monday. Apologies for how slow I've been to respond. Cheers,
Ben

One Icarus board is back up. Missing a mini-USB->USB cable. Should be able to find it next time I'm out. Don't think I've been neglecting finding business opportunities while moving.  :) Firstly, I've contacted a community-member about an existing, profitable operation I have a very profitable vision for (sells digital goods I'd be interested in a profit split of, but could make additional money selling it to depositors who'd wish to withdraw early at a penalty rate). I've also been talking to the extremely helpful-and-friendly deslok about setting up a Canopy connection in my area to get around DSL service going a mile too short. It's possible IOU.WIFI will be listed on GLBSE within a month. While lending services are paused, I'll be aggressively readying investor documentation and talking to neighbors, along with the DSL provider, about this new Canopy connection. I need to have this "set in stone" within four weeks, or I get hit with a $400+ cancellation fee from this shit satellite ISP I have to use. Expect me to be busier than usual, even with operations paused. As always, feel free to bother me on Skype (preferable -- check my forum profile) or cell phone (non-preferable -- 814-314-9308 -- please don't quote) if you have something important to ask.

Cheers,
Ben

Fwiw, I'm considering going Internet-less for 2-3 months while I wait for DSL to be installed in my area. I currently only have three depositors outside of BDK.BND and BDK. I'd buyback from the depositors and Imsaguy would handle payments to these securities during my departure. I'll update when I hear back from the engineer at the ISP on Monday.

Cheers,
Ben

Maybe you should buy back BDK before you go offline, and further erode the value of those shares. They pay virtually nothing at this point due to massive losses, and now, with you not really participating for 2-3 months, they're going to show no value increase for that time? Remember, dividends are practically non-existent on BDK, so we're looking for (positive) growth. This hasn't been happening. We're trading .08BTC below your last offering price. That's just over 50% of the last offering price!!! anyone who bought in at .18 has lost their ass. You taking time offline suggests that negative growth will continue.

Been holding onto this hoping to see some value from it, and it's apparently not going to happen. I've very disappointed in the performance of BDK (and your apparent lack of concern about this)

Accounting's finished, AFAIK. Need to go back and see which loans I failed to update, re-make my encrypted private logs of who I owe what since I lost that a while ago (I still have all the info, it's just scattered all over).

I'm going to be cancelling this shitty satellite service, soon, and replace it with nothing. Standard business hours will be solidified within a few days as I work it out with wife to drop me off at a damned Burger King, heh. Alternative is taking a riding mower to work, which I think'd be kinda fun. :D Oh... I guess I could take a bike. - Even walk.

I'm thinking 4am-10am as business hours. That keeps wife from claiming I'm abandoning daughter, gives me a time when I'm most awake, and also a time where I'm probably less likely to run into anyone I know at BK. Off those hours, I can't do much outside of phone calls and SMS. Phone might give me a Gmail notification a few hours after it was sent to me... but that's about the extent of how connected I can be.

I've decided to let BDK.BND move around until Monday - see what happens with it. I removed my askwalls, so we'll see if significant volume wants it up. If there aren't big nudges upward, I'll replace askwalls and set up bidwalls again on Monday for bond-holders. There are other factors poisoning the results (giving BDK.BND units for BDK units a few days ago, and current liquidity problems many face, as examples) I'll take what happens with it into account when establishing new rates when services resume... on Monday (9/10), I'm now thinking.

BDK/IOU will be permanently ceasing operations effective immediately due to negative equity beyond what I can currently reinvest to save the operation.

CD-holders and bond-holders will be paid what they're due. I am not stating intent to default, nor will interest be withheld. Loans are also still expected to be repaid.

Once the remaining three CD-holders are repaid, I will lock this thread.

So long as BTC price <$12 when wire hits Gox, there should be no problem getting CD-holders 100% in one lump. I'm meeting with a CD-holder tomorrow to hand him a lumpy envelope and enjoy some lunch.

1% a week is a massive amount of interest compared to even a credit card. Are you absolutely sure you should still be paying that if your debt level is already so high ?

Just wanted to say I had the privilege of meeting Kluge IRL last week to settle up a deposit I had with him.  I've dealt with a number of deposit-takers on this board and Kluge is clearly at the top of the list in terms of both honesty & communication.

I sincerely hope he doesn't leave Bitcoin for good - this community needs a lot more Kluges and a lot less Pirates.

+1.  In my book, people who put forth their best effort to make things right after a wrong are held highly compared to people who have never been put in that position, at least with regards to integrity and trustworthiness.