Any known incidents, where someone got banned because of changed Mixer rules?

It's almost a week now.

[Disadvantages of centralized services]

Now, just a few days to go before year’s end we need to remember a year of centralized mixer fails. First, ChipMixer’s downfall, later Whirlwind’s downfall and now Sinbad.io’s downfall are truly lessons to be learned from.
We need to draw conclusions and it is important for us to learn from it to avoid repeating similar mistakes.

While all cases are different, a basic problem is boiling down to being centralized services. We have learned from Bitcoin why decentralization is important. Centralized mixers is exactly what a decentralization maximalist needs to be critical of.


Disadvantages of centralized services

We know it very well from Bitcoin: decentralization is king. Bitcoin is so famous because it’s decentralized. By decentralizing it, important attack vectors against it won’t work.

In opposite, mixers like Whirlwind, Sinbad.io or ChipMixer are centralized. It is run by an operator / CEO and he can do mistakes, get caught and steal funds. We have to trust him and how he is running his service.
Whirlwind outright scammed everyone, where developers just decided to abandon Whirlwind and as a logical result from centralized services, customers received financial loss. Maybe all data will be sold on Darket marketplaces to increase owner profits.
It is all about avoiding a middleman, trustless.
Bitcoin is legit, Bitcoin has no CEO.

Decentralized is king!


ChipMixer’s case


Let's have a closer look at ChipMixer:

Are ChipMixer operators really well educated and honest?

In a centralized service, we depend on its operators to be honest and well educated. We don’t know it if ChipMixer’s developers are honest and well educated but what we heard from some research, ChipMixer’s founder was not someone who was extremely educated, as flaws in his operations were revealed. Yes, he was able to set up a website and code mixing operations, also in DarkNet but after all, he can also have hired a coder to set it up and maintain it. We don’t now much about ChipMixer’s development team size and experience. It is unknown.
Once again, we need to trust some internet strangers.


Centralized services need an income – not unlike Bitcoin

As every centralized service, also ChipMixer needed an income. ChipMixer didn’t charge any fees for mixing, only dust, which didn’t fit in Chips was charged, which is not much after all. ChipMixer also had a gambling part, where customers can bet a Bitcoin amount and double it – or lose it. 47% chance of success. A part of it was ChipMixer’s revenue.
To generate revenue for it’s operations, every centralized service needs an income and most likely ChipMixer’s income was to launder criminal funds and even being involved in DarkNet operations.
It’s not a surprise. Sinbad.io is even worse involved in criminal syndicate businesss, it is shocking, but later more about it.
Conclusion: Such money needs to have an origin and it’s likely to be from criminal origin (hacked funds, stolen funds, extorted funds), where ChipMixer participated in deals to obtain income from.


ChipMixer’s involvement in DarkNet markets

After ChipMixer was operating for a long time, it suffered to be a target for criminals to launder stolen or hacked Bitcoins. It is quite likely, more and more hackers and criminals found out about ChipMixer over time.
In addition, ChipMixer seemed to be operating a DarkNet activities itself but it is still not known to which degree ChipMixer has been involved in DarkNet markets.
After ChipMixer never provided any statement, not from employees as well, it seems to be a very centralized service and a very small team. We don’t know how many employees ChipMixer had. Most likely ChipMixer was run by few people close to DarkNet markets and didn’t apply valid security measures, like deleting old private keys from customers because data was found later and keys emptied.


Sinbad.io’s case

Let's have a closer look at Sinbad.io:

While most points are already covered and apply for Sinbad.io like it does for ChipMixer, Sinbad.io is one step more shocking and more tied to crime. Because from all information available, seachable for anyone to do a quick internet research, Sinbad.io was already tied to massive criminals when it started.
Sinbad.io started as a re-branded, already busted mixer, blender.io, known for funneling funds from big hacks and criminal syndicates before it got busted:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sanctioned-mixer-blender-launched-sinbad-183621428.html
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/02/13/sanctioned-mixer-blender-re-launched-as-sinbad-elliptic-says/
https://decrypt.co/208160/sanctioned-bitcoin-mixer-blender-relaunch-sinbad-sanctioned-again
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/14/blender_crypto_mixer_sinbad/
https://decrypt.co/121222/new-sinbad-bitcoin-mixer-is-sanctioned-blender
https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-mixer-blender-has-been-rebranded-to-sinbad-says-elliptic
https://www.theblock.co/post/211225/sinbad-crypto-mixing-service-may-be-blender-in-disguise-elliptic
https://dailycoin.com/elliptic-reports-that-blender-rebranded-as-sinbad/

While people here now complain about Royse777 remaining funds are difficult to process, many funds going into blender.io previously, going into Sinbad.io after blender.io got busted, are 100% identical. It’s also stolen and hacked funds.
Sinbad.io funds were not just from DarkNet markets like ChipMixer, funds were even from organized crime syndicates.

Sinbad.io abused Bitcointalk to attract clean coins, to get volumes for mixing Sinbad.io’s extremely tainted coins. Bitcointalk members were abused like exit liquidity from shitcoin pump and dumps.
It’s a real shame, what Sinbad.io pulled of.
We need to spot such scum next time.



Final conclusions

While mixers like ChipMixer or Sinbad.io have been very famous, it’s now clear how ChipMixer clearly missed solid standards in terms of operation, transparency and security, how Sinbad was already guilty when it started and what Sinbad.io pulled off against Bitcointalk.
While ChipMixer was tied to DarkNet marketc, Sinbad.io funds were even from big organized crime syndicates.
We don’t know yet, which fallouts are still upcoming because for ChipMixer, 7 TB of data are a lot. For Sinbad.io a similar outcome of sized data might be up and people need to be aware how tainted coins from Sinbad.io really are. It’s coins from criminal syndicates. 
Possibly, many transactions can get unmixed, which is good to catch scammers, criminals and syndicates but everyone who used such a mixer legitimately, can possibly get identified as well.
In Whirlwind, many people lost funds but just because of luck, an escrow still held money for refunds. In future cases, such refunds might not be available.
In ChipMixer, many people lost funds because private keys, which serves as "chips" were not deleted by ChipMixer.
According to LoyceV’s research many chip-sized funded addresses were emptied, indicating funds from Chips were moved at once in a sudden action. We can draw a conclusion from it: ChipMixer didn’t delete private keys after a session expired. According to ChipMixer, deleted sessions can’t be restored, where we can expect also deleting keys to prevent any malicious actor from obtaining it.
Because imagine it is also possible for a hacker to obtain such private keys.

Because of being a centralized service, ChipMixer's, Whirlwind's and Sinbad.io's downfall was no surprise.

[YouTube]

For Bitcoin, YouTube and Bitcointalk offer a lot of content but what do we need to consider when it comes about evaluating Bitcointalk and YouTube from an educational viewpoint?
Education about how to store, send and know Bitcoin’s technology [Blockchain] properly, is very important, as losses from hacks, coins stolen on centralized exchanges, mistakes by storing backup copies, sending to a wrong address, phishing sites, malware stealer or different scams have shown repeatedly.

Bitcoin is not easy to understand and education can help us to understand it correctly for avoiding mistakes.



YouTube

Numbered in clicks, YouTube is a top source of crypto, where many videos are available. We have special YouTubers doing content about Bitcoin and Crypto. But unfortunately, information quality on YouTube is not very high for most videos because of hype and clickbait videos.
Education requires a detailed research and most YouTubers are not doing a detailed research, it’s mostly staying generic information. Many new videos added every day are also a problem because quality if suffering = quality vs quantity.

An even bigger problem on YouTube is an artificial hype to attract more viewers and get more clicks.
Because it’s an important point for each YouTuber to generate clicks and views and followers. Hate, FUD, propaganda and unproven speculations are a key part of YouTuber’s attention whoring, too. And it is damaging for society when hate, FUD, propaganda or unproven claims are made.
Outrageous claims like launching speculative fake hype videos are a key strategy from many YouTubers to get clicks and views and followers.
= YouTubers want to create hype to increase clicks, not quality information.

It is always similar strategy for YouTubers to create hype instead of presenting normal information. It is very dangerous for us because accurate information is not presented. Instead, reality is hyped and exaggerated.
In many cases, YouTubers are paid by Altcoin projects to present certain Altcoins in a positive way, to create hype and to shill an Altcoin. For a high payment by projects, many YouTubers will only mention positive facts and forget often to inform about risks and flaws of a project to get many followers to invest.
Or it's about a shady exchange, where YouTubers will also get a profit if you sign up from a referral link.
= information quality is suffering and sometimes very misleading

It is very important for us to know YouTuber's hype video is not good advice, it is not really about education in many YouTuber’s video and we need to know YouTuber’s shady tricks.


A detailed description how YouTube deceives viewers can be found in my topic YouTuber's hype video is not good advice



Bitcointalk

Bitcointalk is very different from YouTube because Bitcointalk is a forum.
A forum is a much better approach to get accurate information, because in Bitcointalk it's easy for writers to go into detail by a structured and detailed text, it can be a guide, where we can re-read all important information, presented step by step.
Next, someone else comes and contributes his own knowledge on top of former comments in Bitcointalk, where additional knowledge is added and former knowledge get peer-reviewed.

In general, a forum is less based on hype, it is more text and more about education. It is less stressful to do our research in texts, it’s like a big library.
= Library can be boring sometimes but it’s always high quality content.

YouTube is mostly based on hype, accurate information comes second.
= YouTube is like a big circus. And like in circus, we will get a spectacular show and also clowns but little education.

Bitcointalk is suited for education, YouTube just for hype and YouTubers are milking hype.


In Bitcointalk as well, we can find very detailed guides, explanations from many experienced developers.
It's a large range of knowledge from many people, where everyone can contribute his knowledge.
While for such YouTubers, it is often only half-baked content, many YouTubers lack coding knowledge and when such people do a video, it might contain not very accurate information. In YouTube, how to generate clicks is more important.

My first choice for education is Bitcointalk, by far.

[Symmetrick]

Former Ratimov account changed his name earlier to cover up his abuses, when GazetaBitcoin presented it. Ratimov account changed name to Symmetrick and because Symmetrick (formerly known as Ratimov) gets often nominated in Bitcointalk Community awards for Anti Hero, his name appears often.

For whatever reason, many voters did not spell his name correctly. His name is Symmetrick (formerly known as Ratimov) but his name was wrongfully spelled as Symmertrick.
Next, people copy previous submissions and get a wrong spelling as well.

It is all wrong:

AntiHero: theymos, Ratimov aka Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick,Royse777

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: theymos, Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick (inexplicably removed useful content)

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick

AntiHero: Symmertrick, JollyGood, digaran

AntiHero: Symmertrick[/color]

Please write his account name correctly. If not, icopress and GazetaBitcoin might have problems for counting votes automatically and it needs to get checked manually. Always check your new submission and also edit your old submission should you have spelled his profile name incorrectly.

His Bitcointalk account name is Symmetrick!

[Edit:]

Satoshi was active on Bitcointalk but he is not active currently.
Do we have more famous people on Bitcointalk but still active recently? Not limited to Bitcoin and Altcoins of course.
What is your most famous person on Bitcointalk you have ever seen?

Edit: I mean real person like John Mc Affee

[YouTubers want to create hype, not quality information]

YouTube is very famous when people want to find out more information about crypto and it's always generating many clicks for YouTubers. But unfortunately, information quality is not very high for most videos because of hype and clickbait videos.

It is very important for us to know YouTuber's hype video is not good advice.


YouTubers want to create hype, not quality information

An important point for each YouTuber is to generate clicks and views and followers.
And to get clicks and views and followers, it is a strategy from many YouTubers to launch hype videos, where outrageous claims are made, such like:
- Bitcoin will crash (soon)
- Bitcoin will die (soon)
- Bitcoin will make new all-time-high (soon)
- Altcoin will overtake Bitcoin (soon)
- Altcoin will die (soon)
- …

It is always similar strategy for YouTubers to create hype instead of presenting normal information. It is very dangerous because accurate information is not presented. Instead, reality is hyped and exaggerated.
= information quality is suffering and sometimes very misleading


YouTubers spreading HATE and FEAR (FUD)

It is also very efficient for YouTubers to spread hate and fear because it's also generating clicks and views. Many people will get worried and click such videos to find it out but all information is just unjustified FUD, resulting in damages.
One reason is YouTuber’s greed to generate clicks and views and also a reason is for example, Russian propaganda. It is also possible, YouTubers are getting paid from Russia to spread hate and fear, as Russia has many loyal serfs on YouTube.
For us, such YouTubers are very dangerous because it’s facilitating
- Hate
- FUD
- weak hands and more sell pressure because people don’t trust to HODL

It is scientifically proven for hate and fear (FUD) to generate more clicks, so it is a common strategy for YouTubers to get more clicks and views.

Be careful when you see hate and fear (FUD) on YouTube.


YouTubers getting paid to advertise a project

Very often, big YouTubers are getting paid from a project directly to present it in a positive way. Some projects pay YouTubers directly and hope to get more investors due to positive YouTube videos because many followers trust, what YouTubers are publishing even it makes not much sense at all.
For a high payment by projects, many YouTubers will only mention positive facts and forget often to inform about risks and flaws of a project to get many followers to invest.
Or it's about a shady exchange, where YouTubers will also get a profit if you sign up from a referral link.


YouTubers are trying to distribute referral links

A significant amount of YouTube videos is made in hindsight to collect money by referral-links.
For such YouTube videos we'll find a referral link mentioned somewhere which will lead us to to an official project site, where we can register to invest. Of course, a YouTuber who will mention such projects and mention his referral link, will get a reward if we click his link to join, register and invest, often a percentage of our amount invested. Of course, any YouTuber will be interested to make you join and invest a huge sum because of his profit.

A famous hype channel was (or still is) Trevon James, who advertised heavily for a known scam, Bitconnect.



Conclusion

YouTuber's content is often of very low quality and only based on hype:
It is very easy to detect, when we view some YouTube presentations, where it’s often clickbait:





It is very clearly clickbait.
For us, we should always know: YouTuber's hype video is not good advice. It is not well researched and low quality content.

[Wearing a Signature of a scamsite will result in negative trust on our account]

Bounty campaigns and Signature campaigns are very famous for Bitcointalk as a part of a vital crypto ecosystem, where many Crypto Services, like Gambling sites or new coins are frequently trying to create awareness on Bitcointalk, where Satoshi was active himself.
When we are participating in such campaigns, it means directly an endorsement of certain campaign and especially for famous accounts, it is also important because of reputation. If a known DT member or Legendary ranked account is adding a certain signature on his account, it gives an impression of trust, visible to every viewer.
Wearing a certain signature means directly an endorsement.
As a result, we should be very careful, which services are setting up a Signature campaign here on Bitcointalk and members joining such a campaign need to do a detailed research about it.
We should always check out if it’s a legit service or not and if it’s not legit, we should avoid it.



Wearing a Signature of a scamsite will result in negative trust on our account
Yes, wearing a Signature of a scamsite will result in negative DT trust entry for certain members promoting it, rightfully so. Because endorsing such a scamsite can lead to people falling victim to such a scamsite.

Only proven scams will lead to negative DT trust entry on accounts wearing certain signatures
Don’t worry, it’s easy to avoid getting a negative DT trust entry from promoting scamsites. To be considered as a scamsite, DT needs to deliever a proof if a site is a scamsite. Accusations are not enough, it really needs to be a proven scam, for example, when a community member has been scammed.
So, you are safe, just stay away from any scamsite and don’t endorse it by wearing a signature. 



Example: 1xbit is a big scamsite

A perfect example of a big scamsite offering a signature campaign here in Bitcointalk is 1xbit, which is a proven scamsite. 
As a scam sportsbook, 1xbit has scammed many community members and 1xbit has all its accounts on Bitcointalk painted in negative trust from various DT members.
You can check out 1xbit’s scamming here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5267919.0
We have more legitimate sportsbooks here on Bitcointalk, like Sportsbet.io, Betnomi or Stake.com.
Stay away from 1xbit, don’t bet on 1xbit and don’t add 1xbet’s signature.
Because recently, 1xbit has launched a new signature campaign.
Everyone who joins, will get a negative DT trust entry for promoting scamsites.

JollyGood has made a very honorable effort to expose accounts participating in 1xbit’s campaigns.
I can encourage to tag 1xbit account when you’ll notice one. Give it a negative trust.


Improving Bitcointalk: call out scamsites and supporters of scamsites
Scams are not moderated on Bitcointalk.
It is our job to research, present proof and call out scam sites. When someone wears a signature on his account, it means directly endorsing by promoting such a site.
Especially if a known DT member or Legendary ranked account is adding a certain signature on his account, it gives an impression of trust, visible to every viewer.
We need to make sure, it’s really a legitimate site to avoid endorsing a scam. We need to call out scammers, scamsites and people endorsing scamsites.
When everyone does so, Bitcointalk will be a safer place from scamsites.

[Kalao NFT-Platform based on Avalanche – Open Sea of Avalanche!!]

AIRDOP IS CLOSED - KALAO WILL MAKE AN UPDATE ON MEDIUM SOON

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Register | Website | Twitter | Medium | Telegram

About Kalao [KLO]

Kalao wants to develop a large platform for NFT based on Avalanche. Kalao will include a NFT marketplace like Open Sea but based on Avalanche. In addition, Kalao will include a virtual museum of NFT where people can visit and advertise NFTs by VR (virtual reality). It will be an impressive layout gallery:




Kalao is planning to become market leader for NFT business on Avalanche [AVAX].
Important updates will be advanced sales and auctions of NFT for arts and gaming and sales for event ticketing as NFT.


Kalao is endorsed by Emin Gün Sirer, CEO and Founder of Avalanche:


https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1437876331170213888



Airdrop Rules


1) Join and Register: For join, you have to register first by entering your mail and creating your Airdrop account: Join now
2) Proof: For preventing abuse and confirming your participation, you have to post a proof of join:

Code:

#Proof of join
Bitcointalk Name: 
MetaMask Ethereum Address:

3) Simple Tasks: Earn points by doing different tasks on social Media. You'll find a list of all tasks when you are signed up.
4) Most successful 1,000 participants will win: To be eligible to receive a reward, you need to be successful and accumulate many points by doing tasks
5) Participate until 19/09/2021: Kalao Airdrop will take place until 19/09/2021. After it, results will be counted and winners announced




Tasks





End date and calculation

Kalao Airdrop will end on 18/09/2021.

Good Luck to everyone!

Code:

#Proof of join
Bitcointalk Name: 
MetaMask Ethereum Address:

Register | Website | Twitter | Medium | Telegram

The last few days were very positive for Ethereum (ETH) and price increased by almost 60%. That's a big sign for ETH to have a claim for taking back the second position on coinmarketcap. XRP overtook ETH a few weeks ago and this fast reaction of ETH would be a positive sign for the entire crypto community. It was always a questionable move that XRP could overtake ETH and the recent price trend would back the importance of ETH as second crypto behind ETH.
For XRP, being very overvalued, this can result in another problem and damage of trust. In opposite, ETH was very undervalued based on it's use-case and offers an opportunity to buy some cheap ETH.

What's your opinion on this issue? Will ETH surpass XRP and stay in second place?
 

Does someone know if there is an opportunity to get some free waves (WAVES) like from Airdrops or Bounties paying in waves? If you know you can share here. 

Here is a good source to decide which altcoin to invest in. I would never buy a dead altcoin with no development except Doge. Doge is unique and will be successful without much development.



Source: https://twitter.com/el33th4xor/status/1068856384983363585?s=21

dead alts are:

- Verge
- Holochain
- Bitcoin Private
- Pundi X
- Poet
- Decentraland (MANA)

[YouTubers getting paid directly from the project]

Crypto YouTubers are a very popular source for many ICO participants to get news for promising ICO projects. The result is a new business model of YouTubers to promote ICOs to a large number of followers. There are various channels in English but also in local languages.
Generally, you should trade all the information provided there very carefully and always doublecheck to other sources.

To give you an impression why you should trade crypto YouTubers with caution, here is why. There are different categories where the schemes can be divided in:


YouTubers getting paid directly from the project

The majority of the big YouTubers are getting paid from the project itself. The project hopes to get more investors due to this video because many followers trust in their YouTubers and believe them everything even it makes not much sense at all.
For a high payment the YouTubers will only mention positive facts and forget often to inform about risks and flaws of the project to get many followers in.
The review will most likely be a very biased one if the YouTuber gets paid.

Famous hype channels are Suppoman for example:


Would you really trust people like him?


YouTubers which try to distribute their referral link

A significant amount of YouTube videos is made on the purpose to collect money by referral-links.
Similar to the category mentioned above especially the advantages of the project are highlighted. In the description below the YouTube video you’ll always find a referral link which will lead you to the official site of the project where you can register and invest. It should be mentioned that the youtuber gets a reward if you use his link and join the project and invest, often a percentage of the amount you invest in. Therefore, the YouTuber will be interested that you join and invest in this project and review the project in a positive way.

A famous hype channel was (or still is) Trevon James, who advertised heavily for the Bitconnect Scam.


You’ll mention soon the interest of conflict between a serious analysis comparing both sides, negative and positive ones and a version of review to get you as an investor.

As a first impression these channels can be reviewed, but you should always trade the provided information with caution and never make an investment decision solely based on YouTube reviews.
It is always important to compare all available sources you find out there to consider an investment. Most YouTube videos are based on hype to get you as a new investor.


Of course, not all YouTubers are bad and everything is false information. There are a few good channels which are doing very detailed reviews and don’t support every weak ICO. It’s just important to know how ICO business on YouTube is made to avoid wrong investment decisions driven solely by hype.


What are your impressions of crypto YouTubers and your tips to avoid wrong advice?

Which wallet do you use for storing your ERC-20 token?

I personally like MEW because it's very easy to use. Some people like Trezor or Ledger but personally I have no problems by using MEW 
In MEW you have complete access to your private keys.

If you have free Bounty tokens, would you sell at a loss? It can have advantages or disadvantages to sell at a loss: to avoid more loss but also to realises losses.

Personally I would wait for a better overall crypto market and sell later, because it's a bear market right now. If price rises again you can make a better profit and get more money back per coin if you wait and sell later. Market recovery will be positive to many good projects.

What's your strategy to make most profits now?

We all know Bounty stakes depends on your total Twitter Followers. It's not easy to get huge more followers and I may ask for your advice what are you doing to get more? Do you have some special strategies?

Does anyone know the price of transferring an Altcoin in the ETH-network? I noticed price troubles and ETH-network problems during the last days. Would be great if you share the date and price from your last Altcoin-transaction in the ETH-network (all ERC20 tokens).

[NEVER]

Please be warned! MyEtherWallet has published some news about a phishing attack.
A mail claims you should do KYC to receive some Airdrop tokens from "MyEtherTrust" and the design is like MyEtherWallet. Ignore this, it's a scam!




NEVER share your private keys for Airdrops or KYC!!, better get out of there.

The real site is https://www.myetherwallet.com/
Make sure it looks like this:

[Sent in the last 120 days]

I have a question and/or suggestion regarding the Merit system in general. It's running not long, so there might be some aspects we can still make better. The topic I want to brought up to discussion:

All your received and given Merits are hidden after 120 days, you can see the statement in your profile if you check your Merits:

Sent in the last 120 days
Received in the last 120 days

Since the introduction of the Merit system in January 24, 2018 more than 120 days are passed and now some entries are getting hidden step by step. This can be seen in the Merit history, last day you can find will be January 30, 2018. Example from theymos: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=35

Maybe we should think about a change here, the Merit history is a goog indicator for detecting alt accounts by Merit trading. If 120 days are passed, dectecting will be impossible. Also everyone can see connected accounts by having a look in the Merit history.
If we hide all sent/received Merits after 120 days, all Merit trades before are getting hidden. To avoid Merit trading it can be a good decision to show the entire Merit history.