Bitcoin Forum

UPDATE Feb 9, 2013: People have been (understandably) very anxious as to why the site has been down, and no idea about how shares will be handled since GLBSE disappeared. I'd like to provide an update. I also encourage anyone interested to chat with me on skype (acc: evoorhees)

1) I'm current working to get the GLBSE FZB database from Nefario. Once I do, we'll get it re-listed, likely on BitFunder.

2) I'm paying to have the entire site redone professionally. It'll be very nice.

3) Once the new site is up (1-2 months) and the shares relisted, I'll start marketing it again. It will have a live support agent to help newbs learn how to use it.

That's the plan. I apologize for the months of sub-par service with this. The FZB holders deserve better, so that's what I'm doing now. Thank you for your patience thus far.

---------
Hello Community,

FeedZeBirds.com (http://FeedZeBirds.com), the Bitcoin Twitter advertising platform with nearly 3,000 users and over 40,000,000 ad impressions served thus far, is launching shares on Thursday, May 24, at 15:30 EST via GLBSE.com. FeedZeBirds is a joint project of Erik Voorhees (forum: evoorhees) and Ira Miller (forum: bearbones).

• 30% of the company is being released via 30,000 shares in total (7,500 pre-released)
• Shares will be priced at 0.08667 BTC each.
• Pre-Shares have sold out already.
• Release: May 24, 3:30pm Eastern Standard Time via GLBSE.com
• Ira Miller will announce this live on the Declare Your Independence (http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Program-Page.htm?No=0001) radio show (May 22, 11am EST).

Summary Review - http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Summary.pdf (http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Summary.pdf)
Comprehensive Review-  http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Final.pdf (http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Final.pdf)

PS - We're also Tweeting this via FeedZeBirds :) Earn BTC by retweeting it!  http://www.feedzebirds.com/l8zia (http://www.feedzebirds.com/l8zia)


UPDATE: Shares are released on GLBSE at 3:30pm EST May 24
UPDATE: All shares have been sold as of 3:40pm EST May 25

I like what you are doing here and the prospectus is good - I believe my first purchase ever on GLBSE will be FeedZeBirds.com  ;D looking forward to it!

Now *THIS* is what a prospectus should look like. It almost sounds like you have a business plan that extends beyond the IPO period! :)

Basically, what sold me on it couldn't agree more!

Bold pricing, considering you earned 47.5 BTC in total in over half a year so far...

At least you're honest about it and produced a nice document to read. :)

Good luck and it's great to see something different on GLBSE too!

I'm disappointed that I didn't get in on the pre-IPO.  It's one of the only pre-IPOs I haven't bought into. :(

Good luck, though!

Can I earn a few shares instead of BTC? I have a large following. ;D

I'm interested.

I see no mention of salary costs for the upkeep. Are the two of you working for no fixed salary (i.e. you earn just return on the equity you retain)? If so, how sustainable is this as the service grows?

The system pretty well runs itself. For the foreseeable future, Erik and I will continue to work at no cost to the company. For the duration of the plan outlined in the prospectus, this means I will manage the software development and design team. Erik will implement the marketing plan and take care of public relations. Nothing we have planned will require a significant increase in man hours after this build out. It is conceivable that we would hire someone to help with administration and support if the business grows much faster than expected.

Going on the Declare Your Independence show in 20 mins. Here is a live stream link, for anyone who wants to listen: http://lrn.fm/listen/online/ (http://lrn.fm/listen/online/)

Of course! Just retweet, get the BTC, then buy the shares ;)

The audio from the segment on Declare Your Independence isn't uploaded yet, but it should be here (http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/112145-2012-05-21-05-22-12-ibraham-qatab-steve-neil-ira-miller-listen.htm) in a couple of hours.

We talked a lot about GLBSE, FeedZeBirds and the IPO, but also discussed Bitcoin in general.

[EDIT]
direct link: http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/Media-Files/001-0522104036-2012-05-22-ernie-pm-FINAL.mp3 (http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/Media-Files/001-0522104036-2012-05-22-ernie-pm-FINAL.mp3)

Segment starts at ~1:23:30
[/EDIT]

This might be my first purchase on glbse.
Good luck with feedzebirds going forward!

Definitely going to buy into this, really excited. :D

Only 4 hours until launch! Hope some of you are as excited as I am. :)

I'm somewhat surprised there isn't more excitement for something that isn't pirate related, but glad that it looks like I'll get all the shares I can afford.

The more real businesses we get on the exchange, the better.

I think they're all being quiet in hopes of the same. ;)

We made a new campaign for a last minute marketing push. Everyone tweet! http://www.feedzebirds.com/3g9lk (http://www.feedzebirds.com/3g9lk)

I really like that you can retweet this and have the proceeds go straight into your GLBSE account where you can use it to buy FZB. You can bootstrap into bitcoin stock ownership without ever having your own wallet!

Can someone please tell me why are there bids higher than 0.08667? Is there any advantage in doing that? Thanks.

With a 6 conf requirement, and 1 hour left, this is your last chance to get the money in time. :)


I was wondering that myself...

It guarantees that you get the shares if there's enough bids to buy all the shares that are being issued
But as this is not the case it has no advantage.
//DeaDTerra

You can't be sure of that yet. IPOs tend to get sniped at the last moment quite often.

True, I just stated the case at it was at that moment :)
//DeaDTerra

Aha, Thanks for info DeaDTerra. I thought the sistem is time related (early placed bids are first to be executed).

No it's price that decides who gets the shares :)
//DeaDTerra

I believe that's true too. For bids that are at the same price, earlier ones get priority.

+1

In a real stock market priority going to early bids is important, but on GLBSE people can simply outbid you by 1 satoshi and get priority. Bidding 1 satoshi higher on an order of 1000 shares stills costs you well under $0.01, so there's no real reason not to do it. The result is that the practical cost of sniping shares is zero.

I love that about pricing in Bitcoin. Granularity is important. If the purpose of the market is to find the right price, then how much more right is the price when it is accurate to a an extra 6 decimal places? :)

It still makes things annoying given how flaky GLBSE can be under load, or when IPOs don't actually release their shares on time (since its a manual operation).

I wouldn't count on being paid out in time... ;)

The shares are in the wild. Have fun. :D

Congrats to all (especially Nefario) for a smooth IPO.

I'm definitely not, but it is interesting that there's multiple ways to get free or cheap bitcoins (admittedly in small amounts) and you can invest them in small amounts for some good returns. And all without needing a wallet of your own. Kinda reminds me of playing that Neuromancer game, where you started off waking up in a plate of spaghetti and have to build your way back up, bootstrapping a small start and growing it.

I was interested, but the company is vastly overvalued, IMO.  I think when I calculated it, the per-share IPO puts the valuation of the company at $43,000 or so.  It's just not worth that much given the past earnings.

Value is, of course, subjective. Based on how other companies with similar business models are faring, I don't think we'll have any trouble justifying our price pretty quickly. :)

Technically wouldn't the IPO'd shares at 0.08667 be "same time or earlier" than my bid, and thus no matter my bid amount as long as it is at 0.08667 BTC or higher, the trade will occur at 0.08667 until all those at that price have sold out?

I would think that to be a flaw in how IPOs are handled.  You want to have bidders willing to go higher, to know the true demand for the IPO'd shares.  This way it makes it that the investor needs to personally attend the account during the IPO, rather than allowing orders to be entered well in advance and let the system market do what markets do.

Saw this blog post today and thought it was interesting in relation to the discussion above on the minimum trade increments.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/05/should-stocks-trade-in-0001-increments.html (http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/05/should-stocks-trade-in-0001-increments.html)

That was a great read. I'd never thought about high speed trading as an alternative to precise pricing, but it seems so obvious.

So GLBSE has effectively taken this issue to the other extreme, where I would argue that the one satoshi increment is so small that no value is being added to the market by such small incremental bids in order to snipe shares.

Suppose an IPO of 30000 shares is offered and an arbitrage bot can outbid the offer price by one satoshi in the millisecond before the shares are offered, then turns around and resells the shares. Is the extra 30000 satoshis the issuer receives actually a benefit to them? Or suppose that two arbitrage bots are outbidding each other by 1 satoshi as quickly as GLBSE can process the orders. One will win the shares, but is that winner "smarter" at discovering the "true price"?  Would that price ever have been discovered if there wasn't a pointless race?

/rantcomplete

Thanks to a large purchase just now, we have officially sold all IPO shares!

This means we have raised the funds we need to put our development plan into action. As a matter of fact, it has already been started. Roger Ver of Memory Dealers has been kind enough to translate FeedZeBirds into Japanese for us, and the mobile site is more than half done. Time to get to work!

were they sold on the GLBSE platform or "off the books" as it were. don't see that volume on GLBSE

All on GLBSE. Not sure why they wouldn't show up on the books...

maybe just takes time to update

Was this it?

trade:500@0.08667:FZB.A

I'm sorry my mistake the volume is there.

There was over 1000btc traded today, so at 0.08667 that buys the remaining IPO shares I guess. For some reason I was getting mixed up with the 22,500 shares and thinking the volume should be 22500 rather than the btc amount.

Anyway congratulations on a successful IPO and best of luck with feedzebirds.

Nope that was just me buying some shares :P that was before the sell off of all the renaming shares :P
//DeaDTerra

Big congratulations here on a good ipo. Now go out and show facebook how to really make an awesome business...

 Seriously, good luck!

like rising after the ipo instead of dropping?

up more than 10% already.

up up up!

Congratulations FZB!

Does anyone want to loan me some shares?

Is this appropriate to discus here?

you are shorting?

I just read it and WOW...

Totally +1 :D

To add to Shiresilvers reply it seems so perfect that I can advertise Bitcoin using Feedzebirds at the same time as making Bitcoin doing that and then as he says having that go directly into buying more shares for Feedzebirds!!! I am so loving this!  :D!

Doesn't make it effective advertising.

Perhaps but it certainly beats none at all. Advertising is all about exposure and this is giving as much of that as twitter can deal out?

Yes, but spamming is ineffective advertising.  I haven't seen the .1 or .2 advertisers return.  All I'm seeing now are .02 ads.  This doesn't give me hope. g/l

Yes, I borrowed some shares and I've sold some of them.

Agreed however their enforced time delays between post seem to be fairly effective fix for that. I dont want to lose all my followers by spamming!

Someone created a feedzebirds tweet targeting the largest bitcoin accounts on there including mine. So I bought a few shares because of that lol.

So now I am using the platform too and spamming twitter  :D

what is the current strategy of expansion?
How are the collected funds used?
how do you hedge the worth of the Assets owned by FeedZeBirds?
what is the state of progress concerning other payment implementations like paypal?

when it comes to marketing FeedZeBirds' Services, i would for now focus on gaining more attraction by interested fundraisers. there need to be alot more campaings concurring with each other.

if possible a identi.ca and similiar services implementation would also increase the gross reach. how about facebook?! if this would be possible, i see good days comming!

good questions in above post and last but not least: what about dividends and when are they scheduled to kick in?

some update would be nice

+1

Absolutely! We were busy out in the woods for porcfest last week, but development is ongoing. Here is the breakdown:

July 6 release target:
Paypal deposits
dedicated server
mongo DB
link tracking for campaign performance data
Japanese language site
mobile site (maybe, is 50:50 for this release)

Next release (July 27 target)
Twitter Streaming API integration
other languages (German, Spanish, Portuguese)

Thanks! looking forward for upcoming releases

When do you plan to start paying dividends?

Relevant:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011/03/twitter-tells-third-party-devs-to-stop-making-twitter-client-apps/

from... Mar 12, 2011

Have you guys thought of syndicating this on the Chinese Twitter equivalents? weibo (t.cn (http://t.cn)), QQ channels, WeChat ads etc..

and from today:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2012/06/29/twitter-unlinks-from-linkedin/

http://dailysocial.net/en/2012/06/30/third-party-apps-in-danger-as-twitter-severs-ties-with-linkedin/

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/did-twitter-just-deliver-third-party-apps-a-death-blow.php

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406565,00.asp

and the blog post from Twitter, dated today

https://dev.twitter.com/blog/delivering-consistent-twitter-experience

See paragraph 4 for the important bits. The March 2011 post was the shot across the bow. Now they are finalizing it. So yeah, relevant.

That could be interesting.

I froze the build last night, and will be installing the following this weekend (prob. Sunday night):

Dedicated server
MongoDB
Paypal payments
bit.ly stats for links
Japanese language pack

Together these should speed up the site, and get rid of the intermittent wallet connection issues. In addition, paypal will be live and advertisers will be able to better assess the success of campaigns, by tracking link stats.

First round of updates are published!

Bitcoin addresses - Now link using 'bitcoin:' URIs, and have option to show QR code.
Dedicated server & MongoDB - After I turn off debugging later this week, these should speed up page loads quite a bit. Just being cautious.
PayPal payments - Check out with PayPal at the bottom of any page you own, or those with a public donation address.
bit.ly - Clickthrough stats are available for all URLs used in campaigns. To access, visit the campaign page and click 'Click-through statistics.'
Japanese - We forgot to include the language pack changes in the new database, so I had to push Japanese off until the next build. That means it should be available next weekend.

If you're having trouble loading the website, your DNS probably hasn't picked up the new location yet. Please wait a while and try again. Assuming all goes well this week, we'll start advertising to the general USD-using public.

Just tried to log in to see if there was anything worth retweeting and got this: Invalid Twitter OAuth request

I'm guessing DNS change messed that up and it'll get fixed when DNS propagates.

I'm still seeing the OAuth error, although I seem to get signed in to the site.

Bearbones: any update on progress past this first build? The market seems to be disappointed that you're not a pirate passthrough :P

FeedZeUpdates thx

+1

The update so far is as follows
Erik and Ira are currently finishing off some key upgrades with Coinapult. After that upgrade has been completed they will move onto pushing FZB forward with the marketing plan, as mentioned in the IPO summary :)

There is no plans currently for dividends, instead all power is in growth and increasing income before they start paying dividends!

Also bid walls has been placed
3500 shares at .028
25000 shares at .02
For anyone that wishes to sell of their shares.
//DeaDTerra

this is just as sad as rebate stuff x4

why are you people issuing assets if you are going to focus on other business leaving current undeveloped and ignored ??? - no need to answer with feedzofBS

They are not leaving for other business they are integrating coinapult into FeedZeBirds, sorry if that was unclear.
//DeaDTerra

No updates, no dividends, there are no demand on the GLBSE, links to  Summary Prospetstus (http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Summary.pdf) and Comprehensive Prospectus (http://feedzebirds.com/Prospectus_Final.pdf) don't work "The requested page could not be fund".
The project looks abandoned.

How's that integration coming along?

Its nothing like rebate. For a start neither evorhees or Ira have prior scamming evidence outside of bitcoin.

I dont own shares but when they start paying dividends again I might get some.

I still think FZB is a brilliant idea, it just needs a little TLC again. If the owners stay on top of it and establish it's presence even if it doesn't make much money right now, I think it has the potential to be very big as more and more people discover bitcoin.

I would recommend appointing someone who can dedicate more time to the project, and awarding him a nice chunk of  royalty in exchange for managerial duties for as long as said duties are fulfilled in a satisfactory manner.

I just funded a campaign with some btc and now it appears the site is dead... any chance of getting a refund?

I talked to Ira and Erik yesterday.
The project has not been abandoned they are just very busy.
Ira is currently working on fixing the website and getting a new developer to take over.
//DeaDTerra

Any disclosure of the financial situation? Any deadline for dividends?

What is the future of the project?
Is FZB.A going to migrate to other stock exchanges?

Have not heard from James (GLBSE) regarding FZB yet. However I know he is going down the list and giving the shareholder databases to the respective asset owners. I know the S.DICE passthrough has already gone out, so let's see if FZB is handed over to me in the next couple weeks.

And yes the plan is to relist at one of the new platforms, likely BitFunder.

So Feedzebirds.com has been down for a while now. Any update on its development? Any updates on GLBSE migration?

Is FeedZeBirds dead? DeaDTerra, have you talked to Erik about this project lately? I understand he's probably way more busy with the way more profitable SDICE, but I feel pretty cheated as an investor right now...

UPDATE Feb 9, 2013: People have been (understandably) very anxious as to why the site has been down, and have no idea about how shares will be handled since GLBSE disappeared. I'd like to provide an update. I also encourage anyone interested to chat with me on skype (acc: evoorhees)

1) I'm current working to get the GLBSE FZB database from Nefario. Once I do, we'll get it re-listed, likely on BitFunder.

2) I'm paying to have the entire site redone professionally. It'll be very nice.

3) Once the new site is up (1-2 months) and the shares relisted, I'll start marketing it again. It will have a live support agent to help newbs learn how to use it.

That's the plan. I apologize for the months of sub-par service with this. The FZB holders deserve better, so that's what I'm doing now. Thank you for your patience thus far.

Why not MPEx, which seems to be a little more secure, etc., and let passthroughs list on places like BitFunder?

MPEx has a non-negligible fee to have an account there. Because FZB is not a huge stock, it doesn't make sense to list there, as someone would need to buy the whole asset to make the sign-up fee worth it.  MPEx makes sense for large offerings, but not small ones.

If I understand, the sign-up fee is paid to be able to trade (both buy/sell and issue) on MPEx so it is a sunk cost already incurred and would only be relevant to potential investors or those on the list you are waiting on Nefario for.

So, I think you make a good point about accommodating the current investors, assuming you ever get a list since it looks like Nefario has disappeared and absconded with a bunch of bitcoins, but couldn't the Bitfunder listing be a derivative passthrough of the MPEx listing?

That would allow for the underlying FZB listing to remain on MPEx where the security/PGP is a more solid and censorship-resistant. I hope you are not implying that FZB will remain a small listing; that is not very encouraging.  ;)

Look in all contracts, there's going to be a line like:


There's a cost to listing, and it literally doesn't make sense to list small. This happens to be all the better, because it allows MPEx's brokers to list things themselves and develop financial experience, it allows smaller projects to list without all the stringent qualifications required by MPEx and it allows investors to vary their investment risk profile. At least in theory it's a good arrangement for everyone involved, we'll see if it actually pans out that way.

That's good news for the first time for half a year, but i as investor have some questions:
Why you have't receivede list of investors from Nefario? All the others had already got a list of shareholders. Do you send a claim?
When did you the last time communicated with Nef?

Bitfunder requires Weexchange account, and Weexchange requires scanned documents to get the "verified" status. Did you consider using btctc.co or cryptostocks?

I think you only need to be document verified if you are withdrawing fiat? It is a bit anoying to have to go through one more hoop to move money onto/off the exchange, but I have used it for deposit and withdrawing bitcoins and it was not much worse than using other websites that hold bitcoins.

I much prefer BTC-TC if that counts for anything.  Looking forward to the re-listing.

It's been over a month... has Nefario at least given up the shareholder data?

No news about database, site is still down
evoorhees, can you tell us any news?

Yes, please, some news. Any news at all.

This has been an interesting virtual investing lesson for me because FeedZeBirds:

1.) was the first (and perhaps only) BTC securities issue that I've looked at that had a reasonably polished looking investment prospectus,

2.) had a well placed and marketed IPO,

3.) had a working business in operation BEFORE the IPO and a promising business model going forward,

4.) was not shady or semi-legal in any way,

5.) and was brought to market by some of the best known, trusted, and (otherwise) successful members of the Bitcoin community.


HOWEVER, since buying into this thing it has basically turned into the biggest DOG of an investment I have ever made (virtually):

1.) If I remember correctly (no more GLBSE historical data!) after briefly trading at and above IPO price, it began a sustained march South that continued until GLBSE folded.

2.) It never paid out a single satoshi of dividends or other income to shareholders.

3.) After more than five months since GLBSE's closure, we still have not received any confirmation that management has received a shareholder database from nefario, nor have they attempted any sort of verification (unlike every other investment I had there).

4.) The website and business have been completely nonoperational for months now, with only vague promises about a forthcoming reboot.

5.) The shares have not been relisted on any other asset market.

6.) For most of the time since GLBSE's collapse it seemed like this project had been completely abandoned.


Erik,

Given my points above and your own admission of what a "sub-par" investment this has been for us shareholders, don't you think it makes sense to perhaps consider a refund or buy-back with whatever's left of IPO proceeds rather than attempt a reboot of this dog?

With all due respect to you and your (otherwise) impressive entrepreneurial record, I bet it wouldn't take much more than a rounding error of proceeds from one of your other more successful ventures to offer an amicable parting of ways with the original FZB investors and remove this ugly stain from your track record.

Shareholders have had zero opportunities for liquidity since GBLSE and frankly may not be interested in sticking around even longer to see if this can be resurrected.  I'm sure you're very busy with other things.  Also, given the USD/BTC move since IPO and the very different Bitcoin investment landscape these days, I'm sure many other investors besides myself would be VERY HAPPY to get something back TODAY other than zero, rather than waiting around to see if this bird will ever fly.

What do you think?

Amen. If some sort of amicable settlement cannot be reached, I think the only other recourse the shareholders have are to apply for a scammer tag.

Its probably the only way you can force Eric's hand here.

Chill guys
I talked to Erik a few days ago, I contacted James and he gave me the list for FZB to give to Erik :)
So it's now in his hands!

Erik seem to be very busy at the moment, but I have adviced him to give us an update.
Last time I talked to him he said he was working on a major upgrade of FZB and that he would potentially offer a optional buy back in case people want out.
I have poked Erik and hopefully he will respond here in the thread once he comes online!.

No pitchforks just yet please.
//DeaDTerra

Why did he give the list to you instead of Erik? That seems like a breach of security? (You seem a trustworthy enough guy, buy why take the risk instead of just handing it to Erik several months ago?)

Wow .. since you seem to have such an in with these dubious characters, can you ask James to send me (and all other former GLBSE users) the 10% of our Bitcoin deposits that have not been refunded yet?

Based on market rates, sometime in the last few weeks he's gone from "misdemeanor theft" to "felony theft" as far as I'm concerned .. but I'm still willing to drop all charges if I get every single satoshi back promptly.

DT was the person actually managing the FZB asset, IIRC.

Hey all,

Apologies for my lack of presence here in this thread recently.

Here's the latest:
- My FZB dev will be working on the current site next week and turning it back on.
- A new team of devs is working on a newer, far superior FZB. I'm guessing two months until it's ready.
- I have a list of FZB owners from James (via DeaDTerra). I do not know if this is the full list, though James claims it to be. I know of one person who has contacted me personally, claiming ownership, yet he is not on the list I received from James. Perhaps the guy is trying to scam me, perhaps James' list is incomplete for any number of reasons, I'm not sure, but this list is the best list I can get.

At some point before the launch of the new verison of FZB, I'll be making the following offer (each shareholder can choose his perferred option):
 A) I'll buy back any/all FZB shares at the IPO price converted to dollars plus 20%. Thus if you paid $100 worth of BTC at IPO, I'll buy back at $120 worth of BTC today. I know BTC has appreciated so this means less BTC, but the dollar-basis will remain in tact and owners will get a 20% bonus on what they paid in terms of dollars.

-or-

B) You can keep your shares and they'll be relaunched with the new site, likely on BitFunder. There will be no dillution or anything. 1% of old FZB will equal 1% of new FZB.

I know this has dragged on for far too long and this is my fault. I'll maintain FZB as a priority so the new site is launched as soon as possible.

-Erik

Thanks for the update, it all sounds good.

By the way, I wasn't advocating a scammer tag above, as I don't think you're one. But until we're trading these shares again there seems to be no other way to really signal approval/disapproval of the management of the asset.

Shameless plug for btct.co:

- offshore incorporation
- zero usd ties
- lower fees
- motion voting system
- full oauth trade api
- full account history downloads
- yubikey
- assbot integration (#bitcoin-assets exposure)
- free listing for ex-glbse assets
- soothing green motif...

;)

Same fees on BF's top tier through. (0.25% every trade versus 0.5% when you sell only on BF). But that's a bit offtopic :)

Turn on 2FA for trades.  0.2%. :)

At least by some metric, this sounds pretty fair to me.

And sure looks a lot better than zero, which is where mine have been marked for the past few months.

Thank you!

Well..I guess I'll just take shares then. USD are sooo... 2012!

My vote too

If i have 1000 shares that i bought for 87 btc, now i can recieve 1000*0,087*5,11 (btc price at 24 may 2012)=445 usd plus 89 usd bonus or 3,81 btc. Is it Right?

May 24, 2013 was a great date. 1 year of operation of the site Feedzebirds
One year ago we gave the money to evoorhes and what we have now?
No website, no money, no shares. Only one promise.
You said that the site will work again in 1-2 months.
Where is the FeedZeBirds?
For me, it looks like an usual scam

Here's my mid-month bump.

When will one be able to request a re-purchase of FZB shares (as this was left vague in the Feb 9 update).

Any news on this?

You must be overpaying that programmer, because it is taking alot longer to get the site running than you said it would.

We really deserve better than this.

Right? I know I have better things I could be doing with the money I invested into this, I am sure other people do as well.

Well, considering that the btc that I "invested" would now be worth over 3000.00 USD ,  just holding on to it would have been the wiser decision. 

Another month, still no word

Hey guys,

This is still in progress. Original developer project collapsed and I've had to restart it. I'm spending a considerable amount to make a beautiful new site/service, totally redone.

Will post more when there is something to show. I know this has taken forever, but it will rise like a phoenix.

-Erik

Any word on this? Are you ever going to refund shareholders?

I've been away from the bitcoin world for a while, the GLBSE crap soured me massively. Just trying to catch up on some of the things I was involved with before. Not much idea how much I put into FZB, I'm sure I could work it out, but regardless, it'd be nice to see some action now rather than what appears to be a few words asking for more time every few months. I guess in bitcoin entitlement & rules etc. become fairly meaningless, but I'd like to think I'm entitled to something for what I've put in? And if I may be so forthcoming, I'd like something (buy-back, concrete product... anything other than a polite but worthless reassurance) pretty much now. Thanks.

If it turns out I only invested a measly amount, I apologise for sounding a dick, but a positive response to this would at least restore my, and many others, faith in the decency of btc folk, rather than increasing hostility as seems to be happening now.

bump

feedzebirds.com:

So, where is this going? Can the IPO be called a scam officially?

We should keep bumping this. We should also link to this thread whenever Evoorhees posts anything.

bump

I think it makes no sense.
The project has long been abandoned.

Well fine then. I want what I invested back. Not the USD equivalent from that time, but the full btc value. Erik Voorhees needs to make things right or have his reputation ruined here. 

+1. He is appearing at radio shows titled as bitcoin entrepreneurship superstar, when there's this cat in the bag still unnoticed

Everybody who was burned by this should put some negative trust ratings on Eric's trust page.

I have not forgotten about FZB.  A new site has been built (it is already working). I was not thrilled with the aesthetic design, however, so I am searching for a front-end designer to make it prettier. I also need to find someone to run the site. Regarding shares and ownership, I am in talks with a certain platform to explore listing (new shares wouldn't be sold, but anyone who had shares originally would then have a liquid market to cash out if they wished, etc.)

I am sorry that the project has been in the dark so long. I don't have good excuses or reasons for this other than that I'm overstretched, so again, I apologies for the delays - it is not fair to the original buyers and this is my responsibility to resolve. And resolve it I will.  If any of you know of good candidates for either front-end design work or for actual operations and marketing once it launches, please PM me (or ping me on skype: evoorhees)

Thank you

 

Thanks for the update ;D  There has to be some qualified folks around here interested in taking this project on.

MPEx? What's your view of them after finishing the Satoshi Dice deal?

I am interested in taking the project on. I have sent my details to Erik on LinkedIn. I have extensive web based startup experience including a successful 8 figure exit.

So glad to hear this - I thought that my FZB shares were "lost" (like my XBT holdings) with the sudden demise og glbse.

I wouldn't count on that yet; this thread has been near death for quite a long time.

@evoorhees, any news for the new year?

It's now been over a year since the "UPDATE Feb 9, 2013" was added to the thread title.

Any substantive updates or progress in that year?

Hi Erik, seems like you haven't visited the forum in about four months. Are you ever coming back here to give a status update or do they not have internet in Panama. I know everything from BitInstant to Satochidice has kept you pretty wealthy busy so I understand if you don't give a shit about FeedZeBirds. It was never going to be a big moneymaker anyway and that's what it's all about, isn't it?  ;)

Now that we know that Erik is being investigated over SatoshiDICE (http://trilema.com/2014/interacting-with-fiat-institution-a-guide/) I assume we'll never be hearing from him again.

Who would like the honour of starting the Scam Accusation thread?

WOW. Erik just settled with SEC (http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370541972520) over selling securities for SatoshiDICE and FeedZeBirds.

I'm quite shocked they went after him for this tiny business when SatoshiDICE was so much bigger...

Hopefully we'll hear some resolution now.

EDIT: linky

I think the difference is that satoshidice got sold and shareholders got a final payout. Feedzebirds didn't feed ze birds with anything but promises.  Erik Voorhees should be considered to have a very poor reputation and his word is not worth a damn. Settling with SEC is great but what about the people who were harmed?

Why not file a complaint with the SEC over your FeedZeBirds loss?

Wut? Eric is online right now!?! His last post was in November.

Erik, now that you're presumably in the clear with the SEC, any news on the FeedZeBirds buyback?

HaHaHa. Thats funny dude. Uh, sorry, but those 2600 stolen bitcoins paid for his legal fees and relocated his pussy ass to Panama so he would never spend a night in jail.

Because I'd rather give Erik the chance to do what is right. If not, I hope he handles the ruined reputation and reduced self esteem as well as I am handling the loss.

What happened to this?

The asset issuer, Erik Voorhees, likely laundered the proceeds of the IPO sale to personal/business accounts in Panama City, Panama. He then used said funds to back ventures like BitInstant, Coinapult and Satoshi Dice.

Why would he care? He made millions on his scams, paid off the authorities and is living large in Panama on the blood of the people he scammed. I had him pegged way back when everyone loved him. Charismatic preachers are all the same. Just keep one hand on your wallet while their preaching.

His defense attorney Brian Klein (http://www.bakermarquart.com/attorneys/brian_klein) who helped him keep those ill-gotten gains,  is head of the Bitcoin Foundation "Legal Advocacy" committee.

CRONY CAPITALISM

Are you kidding me? Jesus, the Bitcoin Foundation needs to be killed with fire. No wonder he's been the only intelligent scammer yet, he had help. I have to believe his attorney (I mean scammer) assisted in "guiding" the regulators determination of value to only $15,843.98. Even at $350 a pop 2,600 btc has a real value of over $900,000. I said on this forum in 2011 that no matter what happens that guy (Voorhees) is going to be rich. I wish I could predict the future price of btc that well. lol

Hello thread - wanted to post this here and address a few things. Recently mentioned by someone on Reddit:


A fair criticism I suppose, my response:


I'm not sure what I can do at this point to satisfy any of the understandable bad blood that has happened regarding FeedZeBirds. The list of shareholders I received a while back was incomplete to a fault, only covering about 1/4th of the shares sold. A number of people who contacted me claiming to be shareholders were not even shown on the list. I have no idea why it was so messed up or how GLBSE didn't have proper records. There is thus no way to figure out who actually was a shareholder. If someone has a verifiable list, please send to me.

There is no good news here. I am sorry that FZB failed, both as a business and an asset. I wish that the SEC would give the $15,000 they took from me back to the shareholders of FZB, but they, like myself, can't figure out who they are, and the SEC wouldn't do that even if they could (you know, because they care about shareholders).  I am also very sorry for my inability to even provide updates on this topic over the past couple years. Everyone has been in the dark, the whole situation sucks, and the only party who benefited from any of this is the SEC.

I have a few lessons I would love to share with the community regarding crypto-equities after my experience with SatoshiDICE and FZB, but again, because of threats from the SEC, I can't.

Keep innovating and building. I'm sorry I let you guys down on this one.

Step one would be asking for a better list.  James (nefario) is still around.  Worked at Coinfloor for a while, he's doing other projects now: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccarthyjames (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccarthyjames)

With the SEC IANAL but I have some experience and my lawyers (Angeli - Ungar Law Group, Portland, OR, Lane Powell PC, Portland, OR, & Jeremy McDermond, Corvallis, OR)  were outstanding.  I think the approach they want you to use is to make the investors whole prior to settlement, as I believe in my case the disgorgement was reduced accordingly.  I'd already dealt with the challenge of the GLBSE lists though so I had that taken care of prior to working with the SEC.  (Referring to LTC-MINING)  I also had the challenge of the fact that I'd spent / lost (lost in the GLBSE closure) most of the funds.  I had to buy the BTC back using what should have been retirement savings, and BTC had gone up in value quite a bit.  Not fun, but I guess it could have been worse.

Hope that makes sense.  I second the keep innovating and building sentiment.  :)  

Cheers.

"Flying private planes with convicted money-launderers".... wow.  Reality: friend has a prop plane, offered to fly Charlie and me to San Francisco from Phoenix after a payment conference. I chose to take that free transportation instead of paying $400 for a commercial ticket. 

I'm sorry I can't provide receipts for the spending of $15,000 raised... it didn't get very far. A couple months dev work, six months of web hosting, and a few grand on advertising. It got spent, the business wasn't earning significant revenue, we closed it down. And then the SEC took $15,000 more from me.  So investors are out $15k net, I'm out $15k net, and SEC is up $15k net. Again, I'd be happy to work with the SEC to transfer the $15k they got back to those who should get it - the shareholders.  That option was not permitted.

Isn't that convenient. He didn't keep the receipts. Oops, they went missing! Sorry, the money "got spent". I suppose the blockchain is missing too. lol

It is always the exact same story with EV, blame everyone but himself. I cringe every time he presents himself as a figurehead for bitcoin considering his trademark lack of character and selfishness.

Even in his little 'sorry you're screwed' message, he slips in that he accepted BTC and is sorry he can't payback the USD. BTC should payback bitcoin, you psychopath.

It was very foolish of me not to keep receipts/emails of that stuff for obvious reasons. Those complaints against me are legitimate and I don't have a good excuse for it.  

Advertising was done on OperationFabulous, A-Ads, and I think CoinURL. A few grand will get you a month of heavy advertising in those channels... it's really not much.

When you say "you WERE fined $15k for this," it's important to define what "this" is. I was fined for failure to register the securities with the SEC. It was not a fine for fraud of any kind, nor were there accusations of fraud from the SEC. I didn't get permission from them to do what I did, and so they took money from me and made life hell for a while.

Calm down kingcrimson. I'm absolutely to blame for the failure of FZB, and for the poor communication after it fell apart.

Now, "BTC should payback bitcoin," you say. First, investors don't get "paid back" when a business fails. I didn't take on debt from the investors with an interest rate and repayment terms. I took on investment in return for shares of equity. Second, it's absurd to say "BTC should payback bitcoin" unless there is some specific clause in an agreement specifying such.  When you invest or contribute property to something, there is a value of that transaction, called consideration. It would be same if you used dollars or gold or wheat. This concept is not new, and whenever business deals are done, the value of the consideration provided is how restitution or damages are calculated.

You will not find a single example in business case law where a debtor (and this wasn't even a debt situation, as described above) was required to pay back "in kind" instead of based on the value of the consideration, unless an explicit clause in some agreement stipulated that was to be done.

And something tells me that if the bitcoin price had fallen, and Bitcoin was $0.01 each now, that if I paid back the bitcoins to the investors, you would be here railing on me for not paying back the "real value", the USD value, of the investment.

You imply that this business failed. Yet, we have NO records that this business actually conducted business (no bills, receipts, invoices, etc.).

Ostensibly, the contract is equity. However, WITHOUT business records this may as well have been a personal loan. THIS would make interesting case law.

The website was live and operational - how do you think that happened without "conducting business?"

I recall using FeedZeBirds to create a campaign and fund it. There were technical difficulties and the ads were never tweeted or even displayed on the site. I contacted support multiple times for either a refund or a new campaign. My emails remain unanswered. Is that what you meant by "live and operational?"

I'm sorry you had that experience, it must have been after the site went down. I am probably to blame for that. It was working quite well for a number of months, and there were hundreds of tweets sent (each unique tweet being a customer), with thousands of retweets and hundreds of thousands of people reached by the ads: https://twitter.com/FeedZeBirds

By the way... if anyone would like to rebuild the service (using the name or not), I'd be happy to see it live again. I think with a team that executes better than we did, it could be a success.

I have a service running at http://re.2et.in which probably serves the same purpose as of FeedZeBirds. I'm neither good at marketing nor do I have the fund to advertise the service. So, it did not take off as expected and hence, you wont find much activity in it. The process of accepting bitcoin payment is not perfect either, but that can be fixed within a week, if the project can fly...

What's your accountant think about not having receipts of any kind to prove expenses?

Guys, did you see this pic of Erik's booth at the Miami Bitcoin Conference?

https://i.imgur.com/zgDo2Fs.png


Sorry Erik, but the cartoon cracked me up and reading thru this thread makes me feel like you might deserve this more than whoever it was intended for.

Any news about FailZeBirds?