I am not a hacker, but I believe there is a trail to follow (registered domain name with a payment, gmail account, bitcointalk account, google docs). My idea is to offer a bounty of half the stolen bitcoins (plus my 5 bitcoins) to an honest hacker to identify and locate VisaCoin. Once that happened the threat of prison would make it possible to recover the bitcoins from VisaCoin. Someone would have to approach VisaCoin once he was found.

We could then give each victim half their bitcoins back, but I think it better to try and start a new coin. A modified version of NXT with a larger genesis block is one option, but my objective is to catch VisaCoin, and as it stands nothing is being done. I'm open to suggestions!

At least my idea has flushed out a bit of debate, and hopefully VisaCoin is sleeping a little less soundly now.

To answer your question directly, I am not going to catch VisaCoin myself, but an honest Chinese hacker might decide that 70 bitcoins and the chance to become famous in the crypto community is worth the effort, so I'm hoping someone in China will find VisaCoin and "persuade" him to to return the bitcoins.

Whoever catches VisaCoin in China will get 70+ bitcoins and be famous/respected. That is the incentive. If we start a new coin they would get rewards from that too.

I want VisaCoin to feel nervous!!

Thanks for dropping by C-F-B (I'm honoured).

Good point. Maybe I need to analyse the VisaCoin payments a little. As it stands all the victims have nothing, so if we need to tweek their amounts in the GetVisaCoin genesis block to prevent big stake holder problems, then they'd still be better off than they are now. I know there is one payment of 29 bitcoins in the VisaCoin account - we'd have to remove/modify that one for sure.

It's just an idea. I'm a HUGE fan of NXT, and not trying to destabilise NXT.

The victims of VisaCoin are self selecting in a way, so part of the distribution has been achieved (a negative lottery).

I love NXT too, so I don't want to harm it with a nasty clone. The clone idea allows for a simple way to compensate the VisaCoin victims and still pay the bounty hunter. If there is another way that achieves that without simply being a matter of asking for donations then I'm all ears

The cloned NXT seemed like an elegant solution (it funds itself and pays the bounty hunter), and it MIGHT improve on the initial NXT distribution problem that people have had a problem with.

The NXT source code was released in the same week the VisaCoin scam became obvious, so they fit together in the timeline.

BUT, I want to catch the bad guy, and send a message to future scammers - not hurt NXT, so get your thinking caps on.

Suggestions welcome

I'm not a developer, so a NEW idea for a coin is not my area of expertise.

Yes, of course you are right! It should be GetVisaCoin::Sibling of NXT::Born for retribution & deterrent

I was trying to be cute

Anon136, would you consider acting in the roll as the trusted forum member to receive any funds should the need arise in the future? I actually had you mind as you cover both needed attributes perfectly - 100% trustworthy and knowledgeable on NXT - so I am very happy to see you responded to my idea.

If this idea took off it would really be better if the GetVisaCoin genesis block had a lot more contributors than just the victims of VisaCoin. Maybe we  should limit each contribution to 0.2 bitcoins from known forum accounts to prevent the distribution problems with NXT. The more contributors the better!

I'm not leadership material really. I'll probably float the idea and disappear .. wonder where that idea came from  .... is that the NSA calling .... better go and hide .... BCNext save me a spot under the bed.

Do not send GetVisaCoin any bitcoins!! This is a serious attempt to catch the criminal(s) behind VisaCoin.

The Plan
1 - I will donate 5 bitcoins
2 - The original 130 bitcoins stolen by VisaCoin - still untouched - https://blockchain.info/address/1PmsmFaNQraZVbBv3Q13jmyucXVJfUo4Hb
3 - Starting budget for GetVisaCoin - 140 bitcoins

4 - We offer a Bounty of 70 bitcoins for identifying the VisaCoin criminal(s) real world identities & locations
5 - Once located, fear of Chinese prison should make recovering the stolen bitcoins possible without violence

5 - We use the remaining 70 bitcoins to hire a developer to produce & promote a cloned version of NXT
6 - The GetVisaCoin genesis block is generated from the 130 bitcoins worth of contributions in the stolen VisaCoin account



The person(s) behind the VisaCoin scam currently controls a bitcoin address with over 130 bitcoins. That is a very large amount of money, and to my knowledge VisaCoin is the biggest scam the crypto community has witnessed in a long time.

It would appear that the scam originated from China, and in value terms, the 130 bitcoins in the VisaCoin account represents over 21 times the per capita income of China. An equivalent crime in the USA would be worth over $1,000,000 USD.

The VisaCoin scam was a major crime, and to my knowledge the crypto community isn't actively doing anything to catch the criminals who did this. There are many trails to follow - gmail account, bitcointalk account, website hosting, registered domain name, google docs etc. A skilled investigator can catch this guy!!


If the VisaCoin scam goes unchallenged the crypto community will suffer a great deal, and I mean everyone. That amount of money will motivate professional scammers who will present a much more convincing front than VisaCoin. While we can all laugh at the victims gullibility, the truth is the VisaCoin scam and all the copycat scammers who are sure to follow will prey on new users of crypto currencies. The scams that follow will undermine the creation of legitimate crypto coins in the future, prices will suffer, and your valuable holding of crypto coins will fall in price as all those potential new investors rush for the exit doors.

Bitcoin and alt coin prices have risen because of a surge in demand from new users. Every VisaCoin styled scam will undermine confidence now. We need new users to drive demand and adoption, and we make fun of the victims at our own peril.

It is already hard enough for a new comer to navigate all the legitimate new alt coins appearing on a daily basis without having to pick the scams. NXT could have been a scam, but it wasn't, and people got rich. VisaCoin could have been legitimate, and people could have made lots of money. 130 bitcoins can finance an elaborate scam. VisaCoin2 will be harder to spot, even for experienced users, or worse still, you wont invest in the next NXT, coz you'll be thinking it's a scam, and you'll miss out on a golden goose. We all have the benefit of hindsight now.

We need to act now to reduce the influx of scammers. We must catch VisaCoin.

Obviously the success of MasterCoin and NXT has given rise to a new style of IPO fund raising. eMunie has also been falsely accused of being a scam recently because it needs a pre-sale to generate the initial 'float' in that currency scheme.

We need to send a deterrent message to would be scammers to limit their numbers. Otherwise legitimate non POW coins will continue to be falsely labeled as scams, and the already crowded alt coin landscape will be forever littered with increasingly sophisticated scam artists.

We can all laugh at the amateurish nature of the VisaCoin announcement thread, and giggle at all those who fell for it, but the truth is the ENTIRE crypto currency ecosystem can become a laughing stock if we don't do something to catch VisaCoin and send a message.


Many can accuse the victims of being stupid for falling for such an amateurish scam, but this does not diminish the need for the crypto community to act now to catch the person(s) behind VisaCoin scam. We were all newbies once.


What NXT?
We have the option to allow further contributions to increase the bounty for catching VisaCoin, and maybe more importantly to increase the number of accounts in the GetVisaCoin genesis block. I am open to this, but the payments must be limited in size (maximum 1 bitcoin per user), and they must go into an escrow account controlled by a trusted forum member with rock solid reputation. That's obviously not me!

I am NOT a developer, so we'll need to recruit someone for that. The NXT source has been released so developing the software for GetVisaCoin will not be a problem.

We can always change the name later too, but for now the name 'GetVisaCoin' serves a purpose, and it's a good rallying cry.

I am here to get the ball rolling, and then hopefully the community can negotiate with the bounty hunter to determine if they have genuinely found VisaCoin. I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF VIOLENCE! After that we can hopefully rely on trusted forum members to help hire the developer to launch the software and start the promotion.

When VisaCoin reads this (which I'm sure he will sooner rather than later) he'll understand that 70+ bitcoins is over 10 years average income in his homeland, so it's sure to motivate a lot of talented Chinese hackers to reveal his identity and location.

If VisaCoin wants to avoid the pain and embarrassment of being exposed he needs to return ALL the stolen bitcoins NOW! He should either return the money to the original senders, or he should post in this thread and arrange to send the bitcoins to an escrow account controlled by a trusted forum user (i.e. NOT me!). If VisaCoin makes contact the original senders should vote on how to proceed - i.e. whether to proceed with the cloned NXT idea or not.

GetVisaCoin::The Cold Steel to NXT's gold in the POS crypto universe

Yes, trust no one! Look at all the scams going on at the moment. It's very damaging to the crypto movement to have all this scamming going on. I plan to offer a bounty to catch Visacoin. If he gets away with his scam there will be more. If he is caught and suffers the consequences of his actions, then the community will have sent a message.

[GVC]GetVisaCoin :: Born for Retribution--Send a message to scammers--You will be exposed and punished！！！