[Announcement]

I'm relatively active between 1:00AM to 3:00PM of forum time each day. Contacting me within this time interval could get quicker responses.

Announcement
In case of the possibility we could not receive the shareholders data, we begin collecting the claims ourselves.

Please send to (fnnirvana@gmail.com) your number of shares and your Bitcoin address for receiving dividends. Please annotate that they are MU shares to avoid confusion with ASICMINER or MOORE shares. You could accompany them with any evidence you think is OK to provide. It is highly recommended that you use an address that you have its private key. By that, you may enjoy more facilities provided by our future automatic migrating platform.

Happy investing! Best luck to you and ourselves.

What we do and how we are different
As we grow larger, we are probably getting many new and potential investors who don't have the time to study our history data of financial disclosure, our structure or policies. Here we explain μ with a shorter and clearer manner.

The business of μ contains:
1. investment on valuable new stocks and bonds.
2. market making.
3. arbitraging.
4. value investment on old existing assets.
5. providing loans.
6. funding startups outside the GLBSE system.
Now we are only doing 1-4. We may do 5 and 6 in the future, but we will be extremely careful and make sure that the involved risks are rigidly controlled.

What makes μ different:
1. We are a stock, not a bond. Which means that:
    (1) you can vote if you are one of the shareholders.
    (2) you actually own your portion of μ's net asset value.
    (3) you can give us public or private suggestions, which will possibly be accepted by the CEO and turned into motions.
2. Each of our mid-time or long-time positions was and will ever be assets with a business model that is sound, public, and easy to understand. We may participate in high-risk assets, but only for arbitraging, and we will keep the time of holding them as short as possible.
3. Our name is the shortest of all.

Weekly Financial Disclosure and Market Watch
March 28th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg822256#msg822256
  Investment Opportunity Study: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg823936#msg823936
April 4th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg836060#msg836060
  Investment Opportunity Study: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg836105#msg836105
April 11st
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg845965#msg845965
April 18th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg856501#msg856501
April 25th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg867599#msg867599
  The MU Index for GLBSE: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg867695#msg867695
May 2nd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg878181#msg878181
May 4th
  The MU Index for GLBSE: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg882018#msg882018
May 9th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg889439#msg889439
May 13rd
  The MU Index for GLBSE: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg897676#msg897676
May 16th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg902960#msg902960
May 23rd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg915987#msg915987
May 25th
  The MU Index for GLBSE: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg920938#msg920938
May 30th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg929873#msg929873
June 6th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg944067#msg944067
June 13rd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg959191#msg959191
June 20th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg976412#msg976412
June 27th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg993086#msg993086
July 4th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1007353#msg1007353
July 11st
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1022545#msg1022545
July 18th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1037730#msg1037730
July 25th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1037730#msg1037730
August 1st
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1069580#msg1069580
August 8th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1085299#msg1085299
August 15th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1100792#msg1100792
August 22nd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1122148#msg1122148
August 29th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1141655#msg1141655
September 5th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1161925#msg1161925
September 12nd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1183811#msg1183811
September 19th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1202813#msg1202813
September 26th
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1221658#msg1221658
October 3rd
  Financial Disclosure: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg1241274#msg1241274
Reserved

FAQ
Q: What is μ?
A: μ is a GLBSE-listed company which mainly focuses on the following businesses:
   1. We will evaluate each new company on GLBSE, and hold some part or all of its assets if we are convinced to. We may also directly fund private companies outside the GLBSE system. We make profits from the dividends of the assets we own, and(or) by selling the assets after their value increases. We can as well influence or control the policies of the target companies, if their policies are motion-based.
   2. We will provide short-term loans when we have spare funds and could not find enough appropriate assets to buy.
   3. We will hold some non-IPO assets if we believe that they are undervalued.

Q: How could I invest in it?
A: It is listed on GLBSE. The asset id is "MU".

Q: Why do you choose such a weird name?
A: It is inspired by Y Combinator.(http://ycombinator.com/) Basically, in Programming Language Theory, while the Y combinator is used for building recursive functions(terms), the μ operator is used for constructing recursive types. We are "recursive" in a sense that we are ourselves a startup company, which grows other startup companies, some of which might further grow more startup companies...

Q: Will I get scammed?
A: μ itself is not a scam. But considering the nature of our business, we may be scammed by our borrowers and other companies. Therefore, a more accurate question should be like "What are the risks?"

Q: So what are the risks?
A: 1. No matter how careful we are, we cannot totally exclude the possibility that the assets we buy are issued by a scammer.
    2. The assets we buy may not be as profitable as we think. Their value may even decrease after the IPO stage.
    3. The borrowers may not be able to pay our Bitcoins back.
    4. The profits of our company may not be as stable as those of mining companies, and so are the dividends.
    5. Our evaluation of "undervalued assets" may be wrong.
    6. If the price of Bitcoin drops dramatically, you may not be able to get enough compensation from selling hardwares as mining companies do.

Q: Given so many risks, what could I expect from μ?
A: We are probably the most ambitious startup in GLBSE so far. If bad things do not happen, by investing in μ you will:
   1. Enjoy the fruit of our dramatic growth. We will continuously use some of our incomes to fund more and more startups. The dividends are expected to grow exponentially for a considerable time before slowing down. It is even possible that the McDonalds or Facebook of Bitcoin will be funded by us in the near future!
   2. Save your precious time and energy. You do not need to seek or evaluate investment opportunities yourself. We will constantly track the price of the assets we hold and sell them when necessary. We will contact, inquiry, and negotiate with new IPO issuers. We will also do other tedious but necessary work.

Q: How could you persuade me that you could make right judgments and good investments?
A: Unfortunately we couldn't. We can only assure you that we have enough incentive(our own shares and fees) for that. We will do very serious investigation before using our funds, and will raise motions when making critical investment choices.

Q: How do you create shares?
A: 10,000 shares will be created. Each one will be sold at the price of 0.1BTC. We will buy some of the shares ourselves, but no more than 10%. More shares may be created and sold in the future, but only after a motion with 75% of the votes or more to agree.

Q: How do you pay me dividends?
A: As soon as a single share is sold, we will start to pay dividends.
    35% of the profits will be paid to shareholders each Wednesday.
    60% will be reserved for future expansion.
    We will take 5% ourselves as operating fee. This part may be used for expansion of the company too, but not necessarily so.
    The ratio is subject to change, but only after a motion with 75% of the votes or more to agree.
    The profits include all dividends we receive, the net gains of selling existing assets, and the interest paid by our borrowers.

Q: 1000BTC is not a very small amount of money. Do we really have enough qualified companies to invest in, at this moment?
A: Probably not. But we probably will not be able to sell all our shares very quickly either. Remember, our approach is rather incremental: as said in the last Q&A, we will start our business immediately after the first single share is sold. As we wait for new IPOs to hunt, our investors might also be waiting too. Our fundraising will be completed only when we could see some first-stage success.

Q: What information are you willing to disclose?
A: We plan to disclose the following information each week:
   1. Our available funds.
   2. Our weekly incomes.
   3. The assets we hold, including their initial price, the number, and their last dividends paid.
   4. The loans we make, including the volume, the interest rate, and the repayment date.
   5. The results of motions.

Q: What will happen before the company ceases to exist?
A: In very unfortunate conditions, μ might be liquidated. We will collect all debts and sell all assets we hold, then use the Bitcoins we make in this process as the total price to buy all the shares back.

Q: In what kind of circumstances a motion will be raised?
A: 1. Before the creation of new shares.
    2. Before changing the ratio of profits as dividends.
    3. Before a major buying or selling of assets.(For example, buying more than 50% of an IPO stock)
    4. Before making a loan.
    5. Before μ's liquidation.

Q: I want to create a startup company. What should I do to get your help and how could you help me?
A: We strongly suggest you to announce your company on this forum, list it on GLBSE, and provide the details as much as you can. In short, you should pretend that we do not exist at all. If you can get the approval of the public, you may be able to attract us. We can help you shorten your IPO cycle by buying up a large portion or all of your shares at once. We also give you free advice.
   If you do not want to make your company public for some reason, we could discuss our investment privately. However, this is a much harder way to gain our trust.

Q: Who are "we" in this FAQ?
A: Currently it's just me. I'm a Chinese Bitcoin user and live in Suzhou, China.

Q: Your name is freaking me out. Why do you have to use an id like this?
A: It has nothing to do with cats-cooking. Although in some East Asian countries quite a few people include cats or dogs in their diet, I am myself sick of the idea of eating cats or dogs.  "friedcat" is just my nickname, and it has lasted for many years. I used it for signing up many other websites.

Updates before the first round IPO
Thoughts on the first-stage business: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg814084#msg814084
Example about how our dividends are calculated: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg815227#msg815227
Materials are sent for identity verification: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg815670#msg815670
Some missed investment opportunities: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg816924#msg816924
Numeric estimate about our growth: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg816991#msg816991
News of March 25th: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg818568#msg818568
News of March 26th: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg819814#msg819814
News of March 27th: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70592.msg821738#msg821738

Extra Words
Any questions and advice are appreciated. We are very glad to hear from you.

Notes: "Outgrow" means the outgrowth of the number of total orders. It's a little easier to observe than the total revenues or profits.

Can't wait to see an ASIC board.

Or we can just call it a GLBSE stock issuing service.

I've been thinking on it for a while. It seems that creating new stocks on GLBSE becomes a time and energy consuming job. So I guess that maybe some people would pay someone else for it. If you are about to issue shares yourself, and there is a service which:

1. Announces your new GLBSE stock on the Bitcointalk forums.
2. Maintains a webpage for you to disclose your internal financial data and the details of your business.
3. Answers the shareholders' questions with the information you want to give.
4. Notifies the shareholders about each payment of dividends on both the forums and the webpage.
5. Arranges liquidation.
6. Charges you some of your shares. (maybe 1%-3%?)

Will you consider using it?

I think I'm not qualified to do this, due to my poor English skills and lack of experience. I'm just curious if someone
would need this kind of service, as the GLBSE economy grows. I'm also wondering if it is a good idea that
GLBSE provide the similar service itself. 

I received a spamming mail today, which is sent from something called "Federal Bureau of Investigation <info@fbi.gov>".
The whole text is as follows:

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Anti-Terrorist And Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J.Edgar.Hoover Building Washington Dc
Customers Service Hours / Monday To Saturday
Office Hours Monday to Saturday:

Dear Beneficiary,
 
Series of meetings have been held over the past 7 months with the secretary general of the United Nations Organization. This ended 3 days ago. It is obvious that you have not received your fund which is to the tune of $3,000,000.00 due to past corrupt Governmental Officials who almost held the fund to themselves for their selfish reason and some individuals who have taken advantage of your fund all in an attempt to swindle your fund which has led to so many losses from your end and unnecessary delay in the receipt of your fund.
 
The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation have successfully passed a mandate to the current president of Nigeria his Excellency President Good luck Jonathan to boost the exercise of clearing all foreign debts owed to you and other individuals and organizations who have been found not to have receive their Contract Sum, Lottery/Gambling, Inheritance and the likes. Now how would you like to receive your payment? Because we have two method of payment which is by Check or by ATM card?
 
ATM Card: We will be issuing you a custom pin based ATM card which you will use to withdraw up to $3,000 per day from any ATM machine that has the Master Card Logo on it and the card have to be renewed in 4 years time which is 2016. Also with the ATM card you will be able to transfer your funds to your local bank account. The ATM card comes with a handbook or manual to enlighten you about how to use it. Even if you do not have a bank account.
 
Check: To be deposited in your bank for it to be cleared within three working days. Your payment would be sent to you via any of your preferred option and would be mailed to you via UPS. Because we have signed a contract with UPS which should expire in next three weeks you will only need to pay $90 instead of $420 saving you $330 So if you pay before the three weeks 2012 you save $330 Take note that anyone asking you for some kind of money above the usual fee is definitely a fraudsters and you will have to stop communication with every other person if you have been in contact with any. Also remember that all you will ever have to spend is $90.00 nothing more! Nothing less! And we guarantee the receipt of your fund to be successfully delivered to you within the next 48hrs after the receipt of payment has been confirmed.
 
 
Note: Everything has been taken care of by the Federal Government of Nigeria, The United Nation and also the FBI and including taxes, custom paper and clearance duty so all you will ever need to pay is $90.
 
DO NOT SEND MONEY TO ANYONE UNTIL YOU READ THIS: The actual fees for shipping your ATM card is $420 but because UPS have temporarily discontinued the C.O.D which gives you the chance to pay when package is delivered for international shipping We had to sign contract with them for bulk shipping which makes the fees reduce from the actual fee of $420 to $90 nothing more and no hidden fees of any sort!
 
To effect the release of your fund valued at $3,000,000.00 you are advised to contact our correspondent in Africa the delivery officer John Will with the information below,
 
Email: fofinvestigation@yahoo.cn
Telephone: +234-1-2130615

You are advised to contact him with the informations as stated below:
 
1) Your full Name:
2) Home/Cell Phone:
3) Full Home address
4) Occupation:
5) Age:
6) Sex:

Preferred Payment Method (ATM / Cashier Check)
 
Upon receipt of payment the delivery officer will ensure that your package is sent within 24 working hours. Because we are so sure of everything we are giving you a 100% money back guarantee if you do not receive payment/package within the next 24hrs after you have made the payment for shipping.
 
Yours sincerely,
Martins Clough
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535
 
Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with John Will of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

We assume that all of the following happens after the day when 21 million BTCs have all been issued.

X=$332.9 million (The price of a Boeing 747-8 in 2011)
each BTC will worth $15.85

X=$1billion (The construction cost of the Roscoe Wind Farm, estimated)
each BTC will worth $47.62

X=$27.320billion (Ebay's total assets in 2011)
each BTC will worth $1300.95

X=$121.6billion (Vietnam's GDP in 2011)
each BTC will worth $5790.5

X=$8.48trillion (Total price of mined gold in the end of 2011, estimated)
each BTC will worth $403809.5

[I came across Zhoutong tonight.]

(Translated from: http://bitebi.cc/archives/1601.html. English is not my first-language, so please endure my verbal and grammar errors )

I came across Zhoutong tonight.

I was using my cell phone to watch the BTC price. Then I received a text message: "Hi, are you the Bitcoinica user XXX? I was examining the AML file you submitted just now."

I: Who's that?

Z: I'm Zhoutong... I happen to be in Guangzhou at this moment.

I: Zhoutong the Singapore guy?

Z: In fact I'm a Chinese. I was studying in Singapore when I was interviewed. Of course I'm that guy, otherwise how could I know your information? I was processing them minutes ago.

I: Is there any risk that Bitcoinica might be forced to close?

Z: Not now. The company has several other guys that are in charge besides me (but I can't disclose their identities yet). In addition, we have hired a few lawyers to make sure that we don't break the law. Now Bitcoinica has got the license of providing the financial service. According to the local legislation, we must verify our customers' identities.

I: Do you intend to make a Chinese version of Bitcoinica?

Z: Not yet. Our website was not designed with multi-language support from the start.

I: How did you come up with the idea of Bitcoinica? Were you majoring in finance? It is a very cool exchange.

Z: Hehe, thanks.

I: Do you often stay in China now?

Z: No. I'm about to study in Australia. I haven't gone to college yet. I became a stock speculator in 2006, and started writing Rails applications in 2009, therefore I sort of have some experiences in this. My business is very successful now, I've already earned my tuition.

I: I dived into the stock market in 2002. But I think Bitcoin is the best object I can find, for both investment and speculation.

Z: Hehe, it's certainly a good bet for long-time investment. But the risk of short-time speculation is way too high, I think. For speculation, I like foreign currencies and futures more.

I: Hehe, I find that my account is not allowed to choose the 10:1 leverage.

Z: It should be OK now. Only those transactions larger than $2000 are prohibited to do 10:1.

I: Haha, I hope I wouldn't be Zhoutonged then.

Z: ... Control your risk. Don't use high leverages. And don't put all your life savings into it.

I: Is my trading volume in the top of Bitcoinica?

Z: No, but it's large anyway. Both long and short volumes in Bitcoinica exceed 55000 now.

Then I asked him for his QQ(a popular IM tool in China) number, and dragged him into a discussion group:80041991)

Tuzi: Master Zhou, could I ask why you created Bitcoinica?

Shenzhoubahao: I find that placing orders in Bitcoinca is quite blind-minded. The price information given is less than that in the stock market.

Z: I started Bitcoinica because I'm not satisfied with other exchanges. I have traded foreign currencies before, and found that Mt.Gox does not have mechanisms to stop loss(forced liquidation). Nor it supports margin trading or short trading. I wanted to implement these features, while the only way to do it is to gather money from customers and let them borrow and lend from each other. We are quite like foreign currency exchanges, which also only provide a limited quantity of price information, namely two prices. In fact Bitcoinica will give some of its orders to Mt.Gox. It's called hedging. Nevertheless, the internal trading volume of our exchange is also very large already. But still, 30%-70% of the orders in Mt.Gox are from Bitcoinica every day.

cnbtcnews: It would be perfect if you support Alipay(A Paypal-like service in China) and the Chinese language. I guess it will attract many Chinese people then.

Z: Hehe, we didn't start with multi-language support in mind, so it is somehow technically difficult to modify the software. But surely I will consider.

We found that Zhoutong will soon be 18 as we were chatting.

cnbtcnews: What's your opinion in html5?

Z: I have no doubt that it will become mainstream. But the difference among browser standards are so big that we couldn't have a proper common specification.

cnbtcnews: Will you make Bitcoinica a cross-platform website using html5?

Z: Doesn't it support all mainstream browsers already? Even iPhone and iPad are supported. I use them to visit Bitcoinica myself.

cnbtcnews: Will you have an iPhone-specific client?

Z: No short-time plans of this yet. The cost is too high, and I have no experience in cell-phone development.

This poll is just for fun.