Beyond Reproach

[Gleb Gamow]

Name a Bitcoiner that claims to be one of the top 100 Bitcoiners in all the world that doesn't know who Satoshi Nakamoto is and when once asked what he purchased with Dogecoin replied with a cupcake for 175 dogecoins when Doge was trading at ...wait for it... .0000005/BTC. Even at Bitcoin's peak, which it wasn't at the time of the quote, that would equate to only $.09, way too little to purchase even the most stalest cupcake in all of New York City (a clue as to whom I speaketh of).

An associate of his for the past several years espouses his concerns on Reddit à la look "Look what I just discover! This guy's great. Much WoW!" (the latter borrowed from Doge-speak, with Doge not being relative to this discussion)

He claims to have been involved in Bitcoin since its inception, yet the earliest I'm able to find on the internet pertaining to his involvement is circa October, 2013.

He claims to have been the CEO of a major hotel-esque site on the net, but sold it for ~$35K USD because he needed the money during a timeframe when he was espousing how he's flush with cash. In reality, he ONLY owned the domain name (among others) for several years and that's what was sold, NOT some site having mega traffic, for the site was never built till after it was purchased by a named hotel-based online entity.

The dude once spoke on stage during a Bitcoin related event for 18 minutes, 14 minutes of which he relayed the story of his dad and a bicycle, returning to his notes 4 times during the presentation as a crutch to relay the supposedly true event about what he ...wait for it... will never forget what his dad taught him.

The dude is championed as a gifted speaker and a major asset to the Bitcoin community.

[AgentofCoin]

Looked around for a bit and finally found a prospect.
I'm guessing:
Nick Spanos, Co-founder of Bitcoin Center NYC

[pawel7777]

Looked around for a bit and finally found a prospect.
I'm guessing:
Nick Spanos, Co-founder of Bitcoin Center NYC

Spot on. Here's the video of him talking about his dad + bicycle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=189Q0LJOxHA

Rather poor, cheesy speech, didn't quite make it to watch it to the end.

ps I would have never heard of this guy if not for you Bruno.

[Gleb Gamow]

Looked around for a bit and finally found a prospect.
I'm guessing:
Nick Spanos, Co-founder of Bitcoin Center NYC

Spot on. Here's the video of him talking about his dad + bicycle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=189Q0LJOxHA

Rather poor, cheesy speech, didn't quite make it to watch it to the end.

ps I would have never heard of this guy if not for you Bruno.

Oh, did I mention he was also a commercial fisherman and builds robots on the side? In fact, he owns the following company, albeit I'm hard-pressed to find proof of such with the exception, once again, of him ONLY owning the domain name since '99.



Here's the video of Nick claiming to pay 175 Doge for a cupcake and not knowing who Satoshi Nakamoto is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-W1weeK2UA

[Gleb Gamow]

James V. Barcia: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-v-barcia/9/1a8/473

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=27344535&authType=name&authToken=WV0d&trk=prof-exp-snippet-endorsement-name

Nick Spanos

CEO/Founder

I know Nick since 1997 and since then he's supported the aims we both share in terms of partisan politics, community engagement, advancement of charitable causes and faith, as well as appropriate response, healing, and rebuilding in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Nick and I have even worked in real estate together and from my perspective, to great effect. Nick is perhaps the smartest person in terms of overall knowledge base who've I've worked with if I were to add up our tenure working directly for or in the service of Gov. George E. Pataki, President George W. Bush, Rep. Ron Paul, Sen. Rand Paul, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America including HAH Abp. Bartholomew's complex visits. This is to name only a few such people and entities who and that are fortunate to have had Nick working with them, or to benefit from his (endlessly generous) volunteerism.

September 10, 2013, James worked with Nick at Public Appeal

Apologies for the cache URL, but the article was available prior to me penning this thread, but is no longer available: http://www.coindesk.com/inside-new-yorks-bitcoin-centre/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vf45Bv6GgS0J:www.coindesk.com/inside-new-yorks-bitcoin-centre/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

The Bitcoin Center NYC opened at the start of 2014, thanks in large part to co-founder Nick Spanos.

Spanos proved to be very mathematically and technologically minded from a young age. He went on to study computer science at the New York Institute of Technology, only to drop out and pursue real estate after making $80,000 in the field over just one summer.

Spanos became a spirited entrepreneur throughout his life, founding multiple businesses and websites. He later went on to work for the Ron Paul presidential campaign, working in database management and analysis, and is a self-identified libertarian.

It was through his political involvement that Spanos met James Barcia, the Communications Director of the Bitcoin Center, and heard of bitcoin itself for the first time.

“We were talking about competing currencies in one of those conventions,” he recalled, “and someone brought up bitcoin – this was back in 2010.”

Considering his background, it was no surprise that bitcoin would capture his interests. If there was a stereotypical list of attributes that bitcoin supporters commonly share, Nick Spanos has all of them, as a self-made, libertarian tech entrepreneur.

Of the Bitcoin protocol, he said:

“Truth has a place in our society now. There is now, for the first time, universal, chronologically verifiable truth in the monetary system. As a protocol, it’s better for us”.

How was it that two outspoken dudes never mentioned Bitcoin prior to Q3, 2013, even though they learnt it about back in 2010, and, by one account, Nick was supposedly involved with Bitcoin at the onset back in 2009? In fact, Nick knows so much about Bitcoin, he was going to verse a OWS dude on Bitcoin, for he's the expert on it, but had to revert to notes to relate a bicycle story involving he and his dad for 14 minutes during an 18 minute speech on...wait for it...Bitcoin.

[Gleb Gamow]

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/innovation/blockchain-technology-powers-republican-debate-straw-poll/

One of the first ever implementations of Bitcoin’s blockchain technology for voting systems took place during last week’s straw poll following the debate party at New York’s Metropolitan Republican Club.

The vote was reportedly facilitated by the Blockchain Apparatus, one of the holdings of Blockchain Technologies Corporation, which invests in startups in the space.

The startup has reportedly filed a non-provisional utility patent titled ‘System and Method For Securely Receiving And Counting Votes In An Election’, Application # 14820530.

Jeff Goolsby, manager of the club, commented, “Blockchain Apparatus ran the most transparent poll I have ever been involved with. I think what they bring to the voting process is the future of free and open elections.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=302898426

Mr. Nick Spanos
Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

https://opencorporates.com/officers/163379267



http://therealdeal.com/2014/04/04/nolita-landlord-broker-accept-18000-via-bitcoin-in-rental-deal/

A Manhattan real estate broker accepted a deposit, rent and his own commission on a Nolita deal via the controversial virtual currency Bitcoin.

Nick Spanos, founder of both advocacy organization Bitcoin Center NYC and real estate brokerage Bapple, told Crain’s the tenant in question paid a total of $18,000 in the digital currency to an unnamed landlord for a lease that began April 1. Jeff Goolsby, the broker on the deal, told the news site that he opted to go the Bitcoin route to avoid fees associated with certified checks and wire transfers.

“The deal was easy for my client, and thrilling for me,” Goolsby said in a statement.

Nick Spanos owns Babble.
Jeff Goolsby is a broker at Babble.
Nick Spanos owns Blockchain Technologies Corporation.
Nick Spanos owns Blockchain Apparatus.
Nick Spanos is a Libertarian.
Jeff Goolsby is the manager of Metropolitan Republican Club, thus a Republican.
Jeff Goolsby: Blockchain Apparatus ran the most transparent poll I have ever been involved with.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?329915-How-Ron-Paul-and-Libertarianism-can-win-The-Iowa-Caucus

NOTE: This video has been inspired by the Powerful Speaking of Nick Spanos and Michael Maresco at LibertyHQ. I would also like to give proper appreciation to people like Eric Brakey, Jeff Goolsby, and James Chou who also work tirelessly at LibertyHQ.org

What are the chances of Jeff Goolsby once having Dennis Hastert as his wrestling coach in high school?

[Gleb Gamow]

From the desk of LibertyHQ or LiveryCab.com complete with a wet Bartending.com:

http://www.ibtimes.com/peek-behind-scenes-ron-pauls-new-york-city-headquarters-656183

A Peek Behind The Scenes At Ron Paul's New York City Headquarters

The headquarters of Ron Paul's New York City grassroots campaign is a far cry from the buzzing hub his supporters might expect it to be.

I went in search of the New York City base of the 2012 New Hampshire Republican primary's second-place finisher Wednesday morning, following a MeetUp.com post advertising a "phone bomb" telephone banking event to 178 Mott St., a.k.a. LibertyHQ.

After emerging from the Spring Street 6 train station, I strolled up and down the desolate Chinatown-fringe block of Mott between Kenmare and Broome in search of the building. The entrance to 178 Mott looked less-than-promising, so I ended up fruitlessly inquiring about the Paul home base's location at the front desks of the Mott Street Senior Center and the Chinatown Head Start on either side.

After about 20 minutes of searching, I decided to investigate the foreboding 178 Mott building. The black cast-iron door bore a small hand-scrawled sign I hadn't noticed when I passed the walk-up the first and second time, and that read Phone Bank--LiveryCab.com--Bartending.com. I figured I had to be in the right place, no matter how run-down the structure looked.

A Department of Buildings work permit issued in 2008 and posted next to the Phone Bank sign said "Demolition of Partitions at 3, 4, 5, 6 floors," and an authentic, old-school, black-and-yellow-metal Fallout Shelter sign was bolted above the ancient red awning.

Elderly Chinese folks with walkers and young immigrant and hipster families pushing strollers shuffled by as I read the signs then swung open the heavy unlocked door and entered. I passed through a nondescript interior door and scaled six flights of metal stairs to find myself under a dingy skylight on the top floor, having seen and heard no sign of Ron Paul callers or any other life.

I caught my breath for a second and headed back downstairs, peering through peepholes and keyholes in a couple of the doors off the stairwell to find nothing but hollowed-out shells, empty except for the occasional trash bag, cigarette butt and broken piece of furniture.

On the second floor I stopped next to a half-finished mural that seemed to be a dated nineties paean to multiculturalism. Next to it was a door with two paper signs, one reading "BartendingLicense.com--Livery Cab LLC--Public Appeal, Inc." and the other bearing the words "UrbanRentals.com--Your resource for temporary city space."

I pushed on the door and it gave slowly, opening to a wide-open cavern of Chinatown despair: walls stripped of fixtures and decor, two dozen cheap, unmatched chairs thrown together for some long-forgotten meeting or class, and a soulless excuse for a bar with a BartendingLicense.com sign posted on its front.

At the back of the long, empty space I spotted the figure of a tall, unmoving man looking my way. I progressed across the filthy floor and he waved as I neared the plastic cube Paul supporters affectionately call LibertyHQ.

He beckoned for me to enter, so I pulled aside an old tattered blanket that had been hung as a makeshift door, then entered the office, which was simply a wooden-framed enclosure wrapped in transparent plastic sheathing. It brought to mind the type of hastily-constructed hot-zone decontamination chamber seen in movies like "Quarantine."

Some basic office accoutrements were scattered around the room, and a younger man was casually splayed out on an office chair at a dinged-up desk in the center of the room.

I gave the two men business cards and informed them that I was there to talk to Paul backers about the candidate, and to observe the campaign's phone-banking procedures. The elder fellow replied that unfortunately most of their crew was still on their way back from New Hampshire and he wasn't even sure whether or not the phone bomb had taken place.

The younger man took me to see the phone bank standings board and on the way offered that he's "just an intern - head intern," before showing me the board, which said that the top NYC phone bomber had made 12,267 calls, while tenth-place honors went to a supporter who had called 2,040 numbers as of Tuesday.

The older guy told me he needed to call the person in charge of the headquarters, dialed a number into his cell, and after a short conversation with him or her informed me that this unnamed boss was not OK with my presence at LibertyHQ.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said, and when I inquired about a phone number I could call for further information about Ron Paul's New York City operation, he told me "Ron Paul's PR," and declined to provide the name or contact information of whoever had given him the dictate that I could no longer be on the premises, adding before I left that "we don't really know who you are."

Later that day, an email to a representative for Ron Paul's national campaign, and a call to a phone number listed for his New York City campaign operation were not returned. No national Paul representatives were available Wednesday by phone.

The older gentleman hurriedly rushed me out the door, but not before I could snag a couple of Ron Paul 2012 fliers.

"That's national literature," he sneered just before the metal door slammed behind me.

I descended back out onto the street among the pigeons and street people, contemplating the sorry state of Ron Paul's grassroots campaign operation in the nation's largest metropolis.