2012-09-07 forbes.com - BitInstant To Romney Camp: 'We'll Convert $1,000,000 USD

[julz]

Not our usual Forbes  correspondent!

BitInstant To Romney Camp: 'We'll Convert $1,000,000 USD to Bitcoin For Free.'


Abe Garver
2012-09-07

http://www.forbes.com/sites/abegarver/2012/09/07/bitinstant-to-romney-camp-well-convert-1000000-usd-to-bitcoin-for-free/

In what appears to be a publicity stunt, a Bitcoin transfer service has offered to waive its fee for Romney to convert $1,000,000 USD to Bitcoin for free.
...

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[dissipate]

The publicity stunt is funny, but how does BitInstant know that it won't attract unwanted heat from the Secret Service? 

[scintill]

The publicity stunt is funny, but how does BitInstant know that it won't attract unwanted heat from the Secret Service? 

Maybe they're confident the tax returns haven't really been stolen, and that Romney knows they haven't, so they're not in danger of actually having to do the deal.

I think the ransom thing is a fake.  I guess we'll see.  Either way, publicity for Bitcoin!

[MemoryDealers]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

[mc_lovin]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

It is a very nice gesture, unless the entire thing turned out to be a hoax.  If true, it's a godsend to them. 

But how bad does it sound, to introduce bitcoin to them for most likely the first time, and they have to shell out $1M to pay off a ransom, and a bitcoin company is offering to waive the fee for converting the ransom money?  lmao

[BadBitcoin (James Sutton)]

Lol, Erik's a shameless self promoting attention whore and long may it last. I miss the days of classy publicity stunts, hope the SS don't come looking for his secret keys with rubber gloves on is all

+1, we need some more james bond level publicity stunts, like at least 5 more.

[Matthew N. Wright]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

Aren't you involved in BitInstant?

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

It is a very nice gesture, unless the entire thing turned out to be a hoax.  If true, it's a godsend to them. 

But how bad does it sound, to introduce bitcoin to them for most likely the first time, and they have to shell out $1M to pay off a ransom, and a bitcoin company is offering to waive the fee for converting the ransom money?  lmao

Exactly. It's ridiculous and shady as hell. I don't know why they're so desperate for attention that they'd want to be involved in issues of national security and terrorism.

[dree12]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

Aren't you involved in BitInstant?

Director of marketing, AFAIK.

[Matthew N. Wright]

....

You've just got a sore ass because you didn't think of it first. They're performing a public service offering to help out a US presidential candidate through a trying situation, anyone can see that.

Next move, a bitcoin funded project to jump the grand canyon on a rocket powered skateboard

Yeah. Really helping the "Bitcoiners are not retarded economically and socially ignorant aspergers suffering tools" argument.

[grondilu]

I think the ransom thing is a fake.  I guess we'll see.  Either way, publicity for Bitcoin!

I'm not even sure we can ever be sure of it, unless Romney publicly admits having paid, or the ransom is not paid and the tax return forms are released.

If it's hoax, it is perfectly possible that the author actually owns more than 1M$ in bitcoins.  Then, he could publish a bitcoin address and make a transaction to himself, pretending it was from Romney.  Couldn't he?

[Technomage]

If it's hoax, it is perfectly possible that the author actually owns more than 1M$ in bitcoins.  Then, he could publish a bitcoin address and make a transaction to himself, pretending it was from Romney.  Couldn't he?

This is a very interesting point. Haven't thought of that. It would be absolutely epic if they actually did that.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

Aren't you involved in BitInstant?

Director of marketing, AFAIK.

No, thats Eriks position. Roger consults with us on business developement.

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

Aren't you involved in BitInstant?

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

It is a very nice gesture, unless the entire thing turned out to be a hoax.  If true, it's a godsend to them. 

But how bad does it sound, to introduce bitcoin to them for most likely the first time, and they have to shell out $1M to pay off a ransom, and a bitcoin company is offering to waive the fee for converting the ransom money?  lmao

Exactly. It's ridiculous and shady as hell. I don't know why they're so desperate for attention that they'd want to be involved in issues of national security and terrorism.

^ I can't say Im surprised by this comment. I think thats the bigger issue here.

[grondilu]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.

Well, to tell the truth they are helping the blackmailer just as well.

[ben-abuya]

Exactly. It's ridiculous and shady as hell. I don't know why they're so desperate for attention that they'd want to be involved in issues of national security and terrorism.

National security and terrorism? It's just simple blackmail about some tax returns. Did I miss the part with the nuclear missles and bus bombs?

[SgtSpike]

Bitinstant didn't do this for Romney - they did it for all the tens of thousands of people who are now researching Bitcoins after reading the article about the attempted extortion, and are wondering how to easily acquire Bitcoins for themselves.  Read the latter portion of Erik's quote:

Not only that, we’ll also show you how to safely use a Bitcoin wallet, back up and encrypt it, and make payments. We’ll even set you up with a Bitcoin app on your iPhone! You’ll be a Bitcoin expert in no time!

He makes the business sound incredibly helpful to newbies.  Which is exactly who will be reading the article, and exactly who will end up purchasing Bitcoins through Bitinstant because of it.  Even though he is addressing Romney in the quote, he is really addressing all of the people who have just heard about Bitcoin for the first time.

Oh, and does everyone realize that both presidential candidates now know full well what Bitcoin is?  

*tinfoil hat time*
The tax documents are fakes created by Romney's campaign that don't show any "funny stuff".  The blackmail was created by Romney's campaign.  In the event that the $$$ amount is not met (which is what is expected by Romney's campaign), the fake tax documents will be released.  Since it is not an official governmental release, no one can verify the legitimacy of them, but most people will believe them to be legitimate anyhow.  It's a huge win for Romney.

[istar]

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

Aren't you involved in BitInstant?

The Bitinstant guys are helping Romney by offering this.  I am sure they will expect a seat in his administration for this if he wins.

It is a very nice gesture, unless the entire thing turned out to be a hoax.  If true, it's a godsend to them. 

But how bad does it sound, to introduce bitcoin to them for most likely the first time, and they have to shell out $1M to pay off a ransom, and a bitcoin company is offering to waive the fee for converting the ransom money?  lmao

Exactly. It's ridiculous and shady as hell. I don't know why they're so desperate for attention that they'd want to be involved in issues of national security and terrorism.

So you are saying that you would rather had other chinese or russian hackers sell the info to Russians. So the Russians could use it to put pressure on your maybe President in closed door meetings?

That is what I call a weakness and my guess is that many politicians all over the world do have them and thats why they are supported, by those who knows shit about them. So they can get secret favours.
If these hackers really have something, they are giving you a chance to get it before it can be used to cause damage. Its like disarming a ticking bomb.




 

[Transisto]

The term of the deal is incomplete, it ask for 1m$ worth of BTC at the time the last BTC is sent.
No mention of MtGox as a reference.

[evoorhees]

The publicity stunt is funny, but how does BitInstant know that it won't attract unwanted heat from the Secret Service? 

Heat is fine, we haven't done anything wrong. Who knows, maybe it'll open some good networking opportunities... ?

[evoorhees]

I'm surprised by this. It seems like a truly awful decision on their part. Publicity for bitcoin is good, but what kind of introduction is this? And what if Romney doesn't find it so funny? BitInstant is striving to add legitimacy to bitcoin and then does this... I guess I just don't get it.

The hacking/extortion already happened (and definitely was not us, to make that perfectly clear)... we're just using the event as a fun way to reach out to our Dear Leaders and help them. It's our Patriotic Duty. And no, I doubt Romney thinks it's funny 

If Romney actually paid any sort of ransom, he certainly wouldn't care about any of the fees involved in converting to BTC. He'd get his guys to take care of it discretely, then deny everything and say he never paid anyone and doesn't negotiate with blackmailers, blah blah blah.

He'd never pay the ransom, but you're correct if he did the fees are irrelevant. We're not expecting him to call us up, but the offer stands!

I guess it all comes down to how likely it is these docs were even stolen and I doubt they were. But yeah, if anyone is going to pay a ransom, it isn't going to be through BitInstant, so just bad publicity; sorry man, I like your service and what you generally do to bring legitimacy to the community, but this one just seemed like a bad idea.

How is lending a helping hand to our potential next Emperor President undermining legitimacy? If anything, it further demonstrations both our national pride and our impeccable customer service.

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/larry-flynt-is-offering-one-million-dollars-for-details-of-romneys-tax-returns/  looks like Larry Flynt wants some attention 


Maybe he will accept bitcoin for hustler mags