'Ethereum Co-Founder Says Crypto Coin Market Is a Time-Bomb'

[ridery99]

Ethereum Co-Founder Says Crypto Coin Market Is a Time-Bomb (BLOOMBERG)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-18/ethereum-co-founder-says-crypto-coin-market-is-ticking-time-bomb

Initial coin offerings, a means of crowdfunding for blockchain-technology companies, have caught so much attention that even the co-founder of the ethereum network, where many of these digital coins are built, says it’s time for things to cool down in a big way.

“People say ICOs are great for ethereum because, look at the price, but it’s a ticking time-bomb,” Charles Hoskinson, who helped develop ethereum, said in an interview. “There’s an over-tokenization of things as companies are issuing tokens when the same tasks can be achieved with existing blockchains. People are blinded by fast and easy money.”

Firms have raised $1.3 billion this year in digital coin sales, surpassing venture capital funding of blockchain companies and up more than six-fold from the total raised last year, according to Autonomous Research. Ether, the digital currency linked to the ethereum blockchain, surged from around $8 after its ICO at the start of the year to just under $400 last month. It’s since dropped by about 50 percent.

Hoskinson, who runs technology research firm IOHK, is part of a growing chorus of blockchain watchers voicing concern about the rapid surge in cryptocurrency prices and digital coin crowdsales that have collected millions of dollars in minutes. Regulation is the biggest risk to the sector, as it’s likely that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has remained on the sidelines, will step in to say that digital coins are securities, he said.

Startups raising money through ICOs usually skip the safeguards required in traditional securities sales, like making sure they’re dealing with accredited investors and verifying the source of funds. That could lead to lawsuits in the future, as digital coin buyers can sue the issuer claiming they didn’t know the risks of buying those assets, Hoskinson said.

Read more on the hack of CoinDash’s ICO

Hoskinson joined the ethereum founding team in late 2013 and left in June 2014 as he advocated for a for-profit entity while others in the team led by Vitalik Buterin wanted to keep it as not-for-profit.

Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse had a similar view regarding regulatory risks. Teams listing companies offshore and selling their coins to investors outside the U.S. are naïve to think there are no investor protection laws elsewhere, and also expects that the SEC will eventually say cryptocurrencies are securities, he said in an interview last week.

Ripple is a money-transfer company based on the blockchain technology, that’s tied to the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

“ICOs operating in the Wild West of finance isn’t sustainable,” Garlinghouse said. “If it talks like a duck and walks like a duck, the SEC will say it’s a duck.”

[slaman29]

If it talks like a turkey and walks like a turkey, the SEC will then say it's a turkey? Anyway, if the SEC really cared about Ethereum, then its premined beginnings is the biggest duck in the room. No amount of regulation can take that away... or can it?

[BitcoinHodler]

“People say ICOs are great for ethereum because, look at the price, but it’s a ticking time-bomb,” Charles Hoskinson, who helped develop ethereum, said in an interview. “There’s an over-tokenization of things as companies are issuing tokens when the same tasks can be achieved with existing blockchains. People are blinded by fast and easy money.”

nice face-saving technique!

practically anyone with a slightest experience in this market knew that ethereum price is a pumped up fake rise because of the ICOs and it is a bubble. and now finally when ethereum has lost more than half its value and is struggling to stay up they admit it...

[dennyd999]

If ICOs rise continues that way as we saw no brainer regulators will end this crazziness. We need to calm down to make less attentions. Also this ICOs insanity can end worser than last year DAO hack.

Mastercard news pumped price again to 0.1 ETH / BTC but it is more likely we will retest 150$ or even 100$ soon. Because I think this was only short term pump news. Still TEZOS, EOS, Bancor, Status and others with all this ETH are here around the corner. With a plenty of easy but still unrealised profits.

I just can not imagin when dapps online store will come ,what will happenz. Hard to belive network will functional without glitches with such complexity.

[hase0278]

Ethereum Co-Founder Says Crypto Coin Market Is a Time-Bomb (BLOOMBERG)

Finally, even the Co-founder of ethereum said that the current rise in price by ethereum is powered by ICO's. Soon I hope ETH devs would have a way to regulate ICO's, because if this continues, we will see yet another hack on ETH chain or more bugs. For now I think ethereum will show it's real value sooner or later and go down more.

[Lionidas]

If all crypto is a time bomb then ethereum was the catalyst that caused it to turn in this direction.
Because before ethereum and this DAO incident happened last year crypto was not in it's predicament in which it is in now.

[shyliar]

Mastercard news pumped price again to 0.1 ETH / BTC but it is more likely we will retest 150$ or even 100$ soon. Because I think this was only short term pump news.

The amazing thing about news like that is it still affects the market. This demonstrates how investors lack knowledge about the difference between ETH the token and Ethereum the platform. It's like they still think they are the same thing.

It's similar to someone investing in Wordstar because it's written in C++ and they believe in the potential of the programming language. Likely few of these investors even know what Wordstar is; but, have at least heard of C++.

The fact is that companies experimenting with blockchain technology will never use the public token ETH. They are simply experimenting with the various packages (platforms) already available. In some cases like R3 after experimenting with the Ethereum platform they move on to other products or produce their own.

As long as members of the ETH community continue to mislead people with news like this and as long as investors are too lazy to actually learn about what they pour their money into, this con job will continue.

[John Titor]

Mastercard news pumped price again to 0.1 ETH / BTC but it is more likely we will retest 150$ or even 100$ soon. Because I think this was only short term pump news.

The amazing thing about news like that still affects the market. This demonstrates how investors lack knowledge about the difference between ETH the token and Ethereum the platform. It's like they still think they are the same thing.

It's similar to someone investing in Wordstar because it's written in C++ and they believe in the potential of the programming language. Likely few of these investors even know what Wordstar is; but, have at least heard of C++.

The fact is that companies experimenting with blockchain technology will never use the public token ETH. They are simply experimenting with the various packages (platforms) already available. In some cases like R3 after experimenting with the Ethereum platform they move on to other products or produce their own.

As long as members of the ETH community continue to mislead people with news like this and as long as investors are too lazy to actually learn about what they pour their money into, this con job will continue.

This is a very succinct explanation of what is being done with the Ethereum platform right now; the technical experimentation we get from it may be valuable, but the kind of bubble economics being played with the token is not anywhere near justified.

[RandomEvent]

What I find interesting is that the individuals who had an ICO and essentially profited from it are now claiming it needs to be looked at and perhaps regulated. The reality is, as long as new money is coming into crypto prices will continue to rise with the usual dips found in any market. However, a major negative story or DAO type incident could cause it all to come crashing down. The reality is we are at least two years away from legitimate regulation, I don't blame anyone for trying to launch a token or coin during this time frame. We as investors need to research and be mindful of marketing tactics. There are amazing projects out there, you just have to find them now.

[Hueristic]

...

It's similar to someone investing in Wordstar because it's written in C++ and they believe in the potential of the programming language. Likely few of these investors even know what Wordstar is; but, have at least heard of C++....

Hah, just had to say the first menu driven system I wrote had wordstar in it. It sucked having to move to wordperfct.

Ontopic: Yeah so saying the obvious is news now? He must be all out of the pre-mine.

[ridery99]

Ethereum Co-Founder Says Crypto Coin Market Is a Time-Bomb (BLOOMBERG)

Finally, even the Co-founder of ethereum said that the current rise in price by ethereum is powered by ICO's. Soon I hope ETH devs would have a way to regulate ICO's, because if this continues, we will see yet another hack on ETH chain or more bugs. For now I think ethereum will show it's real value sooner or later and go down more.

Do you know if bob made any ETH ICOs yet?

[Gnosis7777]

Is this not the pot calling the kettle black? Didn't Ethereum have a 72,000,000 coin premine & ICO sale?

Seems like a scapegoat to get away from the original culprits of the entire ICO scene fraud: The Ethereum Foundation


I'd sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch the fireworks; Securities Fraud (Sale of unregistered securities masquerading as 'tokens') is a serious offense. These people really think no-one is watching while they get rich on the scam?

[lijoe408]

The ICO market is crazy.  Earlier this year when Qtum raised 15M in 5 days, everyone was saying that it was fake and there was no way they raised that amount.  Next thing you know, Tokencard raises 15M in 30 mins.  Then everyone raises their limits and now ICOS have no funding cap.  It's funny that everyone was doubting qtum in the beginning of the year for raising 15M, and now 100M+ is the new target for ICOs.

[ArticMine]

Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse had a similar view regarding regulatory risks. Teams listing companies offshore and selling their coins to investors outside the U.S. are naïve to think there are no investor protection laws elsewhere, and also expects that the SEC will eventually say cryptocurrencies are securities, he said in an interview last week.

Ripple is a money-transfer company based on the blockchain technology, that’s tied to the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

“ICOs operating in the Wild West of finance isn’t sustainable,” Garlinghouse said. “If it talks like a duck and walks like a duck, the SEC will say it’s a duck.”

Actually Ripple was the subject of regulatory enforcement by FinCEN and not the SEC in 2015 https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-ripple-labs-inc-first-civil-enforcement-action-against-virtual This follows the FInCEN guidance issued in 2013 https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/FIN-2013-G001.pdf A the heart of the enforcement action is the fact that Ripple was pre-mined

The currency of the Ripple network, known as “XRP,” was pre-mined. In other words, unlike some other virtual currencies, XRP was fully generated prior to its distribution. As of 2015, XRP is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market Capitalization, after Bitcoin.

From https://www.fincen.gov/si :-\tes/default/files/shared/Ripple_Facts.pdf

ICOs by their very nature are pre-mined and would consequently be subject a similar type of enforcement action by FinCEN. In some cases ICOs may also be securities and  be subject also to enforcement by the SEC. I do not agree with Garlinghouse's comment that the SEC will consider cryptocurrencies to be securities in cases such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero etc where there is no pre-mine. My take is that he is trying to paint everyone else with the same or a similar brush that Ripple was painted with.

Edit: By its very nature a security needs someone to be its issuer. Who is this legal person in the case of a de-centralized virtual currency as defined by FinCEN in their 2013 guidance above?

[Pab]

SEC is limited to usa teritory,thay cant act outside of usa.It is wild west,pure capitalism,if usa prefer to stay in nationalised by big corporation sociallsm it is his choice,eth devs will not regulate ico,etherum and market dont belong to them

[ArticMine]

SEC is limited to usa teritory,thay cant act outside of usa.It is wild west,pure capitalism,if usa prefer to stay in nationalised by big corporation sociallsm it is his choice,eth devs will not regulate ico,etherum and market dont belong to them

Sure and Liberty Reserve escaped by hiding in Costa Rica. Not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Reserve

Edit: When it comes to regulators, my take is that keeping one's hands out of the till by not tying to monetize the token is one way to avoid most of the issues. This of course requires relying solely on donations to fund development, marketing etc. 

[dadonn]

I really can't stand when those who have profited from the system denounce it. It just reeks of arrogance to me. Now that you've ascended to the mountain top, you want to lord over the space in a rather condescending fashion. While I don't debate the merit of the point in total, the source just makes me itch. What makes ICOs and the lack of regulation so appealing is that it is for everyone. Yes, it does invite scammers and some completely superfluous and useless coins but why can't someone from a nation with an unstable currency find a technology and coin that he or she could believe in, invest in, mine and profit? Accreditation? They can't manipulate the system enough. I just can't stand when there's exclusion. Yes, more scandal in crypto could devalue the mighty Eth and more coins could dilute the distribution of investment as well as slow its mainstream adoption. One man. One agenda. Zero concern for those who actually get hurt by what troubles this free marketplace.

[HongKong]

I really can't stand when those who have profited from the system denounce it. It just reeks of arrogance to me. Now that you've ascended to the mountain top, you want to lord over the space in a rather condescending fashion. While I don't debate the merit of the point in total, the source just makes me itch. What makes ICOs and the lack of regulation so appealing is that it is for everyone. Yes, it does invite scammers and some completely superfluous and useless coins but why can't someone from a nation with an unstable currency find a technology and coin that he or she could believe in, invest in, mine and profit? Accreditation? They can't manipulate the system enough. I just can't stand when there's exclusion. Yes, more scandal in crypto could devalue the mighty Eth and more coins could dilute the distribution of investment as well as slow its mainstream adoption. One man. One agenda. Zero concern for those who actually get hurt by what troubles this free marketplace.

Of course the Co-founder of Ethereum is going to state that his coin is going to be a time bomb and people should invest in it before they miss out on the price getting to a huge green amount. If people hear that Bitcoin was what allowed Ethereum to get its placing then they will invest in Bitcoin instead. Those guys that make Ethereum know that they are really trying their hardest just so they can get Bitcoin to look second.

[monetkeen]

Very intresting article... I think this man know waht he is taking about.. But i believe we have time to become rich before its explosion

[Nebell]

As long as I get rich off it, I don't mind if it's a time-bomb
Call me a greedy bastard. I am. But I also think trading and analysing is fun. The tech behind it doesn't really interest me.