:snort:

-.-

Then just turn them sideways for lowercase.

Actually I think whoever started it is smart. Even though the premiums are high, it's pretty much the only option out there if you want to convert BTC to hard currency almost completely anonymously and avoiding the prying eyes of the tax man. It's great if... say you are a SR vendor and need some way to get tens of thousands of dollars a week without the money passing through though a bank on your end. Sell the bullion to a local dealer or oraigslist for cash money...

If it didn't start out in a fraudulent manner, then is it possible it ended up being one because he was no longer able to manipulate the market to pay everyone back in BTC bought back at a lower price?

I know that BTC is a currency in it's own right, but it's still largely tied to an exchange rate. I'm not sure it's smart at this point for anyone to pay or earn interest in BTC. I know if I asked or gave someone a BTC loan, I'd tie it to the amount in USD.

It seems to only survive as a quote from another poster:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50822.msg607752#msg607752

(I can't quote it properly since the thread is locked)

"Quote from: pirateat40 on November 03, 2011, 07:14:09 PM
The Business:
Over the last few months I have been selling BTC to a group of local people.  Now this is a don't ask don't tell group of people so I can't tell you exactly where and to whom the coins ultimately end up with but so far its been pretty painless.   During this last week I maxed out my available coins both personally and "leased" from other members and they needed a lot more.  Up until now, I have dealt with my core group of friends and been able to handle the requests, but they seem to be getting larger and more frequent.  So now I'm looking into other methods for keeping a consistent storage or on-demand availability of coins.  I have two plans available for those sitting on coins.

On-Demand
When an order comes in that is over what I have available I'll send out a request to users in this plan requesting the total needed.  The first to respond gets the deal and the transfer is made.  These coins will be tide up for 1 business day to give me enough time to settle the transaction and acquire the coins to return. This plan pays a flat 3.5%.

Storage
This plan works as an ongoing commitment.  You would send coins anytime to the address provided and you would earn interest on a daily basis.  You can withdraw your balance at anytime, but I do request that you give me a couple hours to insure I have coverage for the next order.  Interest payments are paid out ever 3 days until either you withdraw the funds or my local dealings dry up and I can no longer be profitable. This plan pays 1% per day.

Now I would hope to have enough people on the storage plan that I wouldn't have a need for the on-demand but I'll see how it goes.  I ultimately want the ability to provide coins at anytime and any amount for these guys and we can all share in the profits.

I've created my own custom management software that I've built to monitor deposits, withdraws and interest payments.  As this gets bigger I'll build a front end for it so users can view and manage there account and maybe putting that domain btclending.com to good use.   

For more information send me a PM or just ask below.  You can check out my OTC ratings in my signature.

Edit: I forgot to mention that dealing with anything less than 50BTC is more work than its worth so I've made that the minimum on both plans.

Thanks"


So, it seems like...money laundering!

If I was planning to scam millions of dollars, I'd put a bunch of work months or even a year ahead of time creating sock puppet accounts.

Pirate is probably competent enough of a scammer to confuse y'all with fake domain name registration names to distract you. Just sayin'.

I'm a mythical full blow bisexual. I've got some video's on the internet, but I doubt you want to watch a fat guy jerking off.

Repossessing the new parts if you default.

Yep, my dirty mind went there.

lol

And just because I find it hot, I'd probably be encouraged more to donate if there were before and after pix up for grabs.

The thing is that it's even easier to scam and get away with it if you're a legit company.

I don't know what a real solution would be in the BTC environment. People could still use fake ID's.

I think if I was doing it, I'd require the business to have been around for at least a year. And applicants would have to pay an "investigation" fee to determine their legitimacy. Of course, that might open you up to a lawsuit if things went sour.

Education costs money sometimes.

It's funny cuz it's true.

Even if it's a scam, it was marketed as a loan (his post IS in the lending section, not securities: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50822.0). You can't be charged criminally in the US for not repaying one.

So then, you have to sue whoever pirateat40 is. Can you prove who he is to a judge? Good luck with that.

Yes, but that amount doesn't change hands daily. More like 40k

There's not enough BTC total worldwide trading volume to support this day-trading theory. Maybe on 5% of his total deposits, lol.

All the signs were there, yet people still could not overcome their greed.

The last episode of this summer (September 2nd), it's revealed that Bitcoins are how Saul is laundering most of their money.

It will promote more agorist merchants within the BTC community. A quicker way of converting them to cash (at least in the USA) is needed, and this will fill the gap for now.

Maybe if everyone agreed not to accept stolen coins.

Security weaknesses seem to be found in Bitcoin services only after someone has broken in and committed theft, though. And since you cannot put a stop payment on BTC and can launder stolen coins through anonymous mixing wallets before someone finds out...