RenVM, supposedly decentralised but control 9000 BTC worth of funds

[Baofeng]

And what is the upshot? well they say that they are decentralised but upon close inspection, all the funds are being held by the project itself, 9000 BTC to be exact and this is very dangerous and they can collude and stole the whole amount as they control all the nodes right now.



https://twitter.com/ChrisBlec/status/1299028248567910400

[btc_angela]

I agree that this is very misleading and there is a possibility that everyone could collude with each to get the private key and then boom!!! and since they have control of all the nodes, they can masquerade it to looks like some hackers breaks the system and stole this btc. How can they call themselves decentralised with all this set up? lol.

[TravelMug]

And it just shows that Bitcoin is only the true decentralised cryptos that we have right now.

Some of the latest crypto/token that claims to be decentralised are not, they just used this buzz word to attract investors. And in this case, RenVM admit itself that they are not decentralised and should improved specially with all the nodes that they have control right now.

[jossiel]

Claiming decentralized, there are many of them to be like this.

If that's for real then the investors who have made it on RenVM are in danger as OP has pointed out. And if I'm one of the users who have deposited on that platform, I'll freak out honestly if I have read something like that.

I guess we'll going to see some news related to it soon.

[Yaunfitda]

And it just shows that Bitcoin is only the true decentralised cryptos that we have right now.

100% agree.

Some of the latest crypto/token that claims to be decentralised are not, they just used this buzz word to attract investors. And in this case, RenVM admit itself that they are not decentralised and should improved specially with all the nodes that they have control right now.

As I have said in my previous post, people doesn't care as long as there are easy money to make with then they will readily invest on it. And this is a good find and I'm sure many projects are going to be scrutinize very closely by every crypto enthusiast. Kudos to Chris, he is really doing good for the crypto community and I would say that he is the only few twitter influencer that everyone should follow.

[bitsurfer2014]

Its somewhat concerning to just rely  on this emerging protocols especially on the Defi scene. I guess those projects need a 3rd party independent code audit to vouch for their integrity in securing customers funds.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Its somewhat concerning to just rely  on this emerging protocols especially on the Defi scene. I guess those projects need a 3rd party independent code audit to vouch for their integrity in securing customers funds.

Yeah, just like what we have seen in Yam recently, when there is a technical bug that was address by Erik Voorhees but the team didn't response and the next time people lost their money on the project because of this. Similar to what Chris Blec has found, there is a lot of loopholes I would say, so let's see how the team will react to this findings and it might have a significant impact to the price with this revelation that it is not decentralized system.

[tomahawk9]

decrypt, the crypto news website, released an article explaining what's going down with RenVM:

A Massive Honeypot: Ren Holds $100M in Bitcoin in Centralized Wallet

TL;DR  the Ren team confirmed that they are holding the 9k btc + they control the nodes

but from the responses they've given regarding this matter, you can pretty much conclude that to the Ren team "the end (decentralization in the long-term, allegedly) justifies the means (centralization of funds and nodes right now). pretty scary stuff, this is just a "trust me bro, nothing bad is gonna happen" situation

[casperBGD]

yeah, but one should note that this is in line with their original plan to have centralized network until everything is polished for decentralization, so i would not say that this is misleading, of course, one should read all the available material before investing money into some project, if you invest without all information, than you will probably lose money

[10BTCaDay]

yeah, but one should note that this is in line with their original plan to have centralized network until everything is polished for decentralization, so i would not say that this is misleading, of course, one should read all the available material before investing money into some project, if you invest without all information, than you will probably lose money

Initial research is really important, but also do not forget that if you invested money and do not follow the development of the project, then you will also lose your money

[H1N1]

What kind of decentralized is that ? Decentralized coin is not controlled by one company, even the team itself, it need to spread to the community.
This is indeed misleading and dangerous because new crypto investor could buying their 'decentralized' project and lose their money later.

[bobyhodob]

yeah, but one should note that this is in line with their original plan to have centralized network until everything is polished for decentralization, so i would not say that this is misleading, of course, one should read all the available material before investing money into some project, if you invest without all information, than you will probably lose money

Initial research is really important, but also do not forget that if you invested money and do not follow the development of the project, then you will also lose your money

I suggest not to be too quick to decide to invest and put money in a project, you better be able to find more in-depth information about the project and as much as possible you know the team behind its development and maybe you can also read more about their goals from the whitepaper given.

[disconnectme]

When you are responsible for people's money, then some things must give way, some of these DEFI projects realise they can't be 100% decentralised for now until the space truly mature and there is a better security. It is easy to be pointing fingers when you are outside the development team because you do not understand this, any vulnerabilities in the chain could resulted loss for the team

[casperBGD]

When you are responsible for people's money, then some things must give way, some of these DEFI projects realise they can't be 100% decentralised for now until the space truly mature and there is a better security. It is easy to be pointing fingers when you are outside the development team because you do not understand this, any vulnerabilities in the chain could resulted loss for the team

agree on this one, it is better to stay a bit centralized until you reach end product, than start decentralized and never develop a good product

[abel1337]

When you are responsible for people's money, then some things must give way, some of these DEFI projects realise they can't be 100% decentralised for now until the space truly mature and there is a better security. It is easy to be pointing fingers when you are outside the development team because you do not understand this, any vulnerabilities in the chain could resulted loss for the team

But as an investor imagine what they can feel about the bunch of money they invested into a promising plan. A bunch of people hodling your money and promise not to mess up with it. I understand that they need to give way in the process but I think it is wrong that they didn't include it in their plan given that they are a DeFi project. People are expecting it to be decentralized all the way.