I am concerned about the credibility of this Electroneum team.Electroneum is founded by an experienced digital marketer, Richard Ells. Richard Ells is director of
Retortal, a UK based digital marketing agency. He has a wealth of experience in digital based businesses but no evidence or experience in cryptocurrencies or blockchain technologies.
Richard Ells is a digital entrepreneur who can execute an effective digital marketing strategy, this ties into his track record nicely. The insane hype and aggressive marketing surrounding Electroneum becomes clear when we understand more about the person in charge.
What I find interesting is that the Electroneum team is almost entirely formed of Retortal employees. Is Richard Ells using his personnel to create a team that convinces us into believing in trust and credibility? How do Retortal as a business operate with their own day-to-day duties now that Electroneum has obtained a $40m investment, 200k userbase and blockchain ready to go live in a week? Has focus been shifted from Retortal on to Electroneum?
What experience does this digital marketing team have with working with blockchain technologies? Are they just a bunch of glorified marketers who know the smell of online money by getting involved in what many think is the new ‘get rich quick’ scheme? Team profiles on the Electroneum website highlight achievements at degree level education but do not touch on industry or professional experience and achievements. There is little evidence to suggest that these people have the capabilities of operating a multi-million dollar digital currency. To put in perspective, Retortal is a company with a
networth of just £30k. Richard Ells is now dealing with a 175595% increase in funds (based on $40m investment).
The whitepaper (both versions) does not provide a high-level technical overview of the idea and how the technology ties into this. Many questions remain unanswered with the blockchain going live in less than a week. The document standard and writing style is akin to college assignment standard.
However, my biggest concern is Mark Robinson, the alleged advisor for Electroneum. Sitting comfortably in a private jet. Are we being sold a cheap story about this character?
http://electroneum.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/markk-in-jet-v2_300_300.pngFurther research into Mark Robinson directed me to
this video with Richard Ells. Forever Living Products is a previous digital venture from Richard Ells. During the video, Ells, demonstrate his social media platform to a wide audience. At
3:00 during the demonstration, the face of Mark Robinson appears as a placeholder or persona to this product demonstration.
Being intrigued by this discovery I researched Mark Robinson some more. His identify is being used on
other websites which seem to be microsites based around the Forever Living Products product. I am not sure.
At this point, I am starting to believe that Mark Robinson’s identify is being used as a persona for Richard Ells’ digital ventures. In the case of Electroneum, I believe the persona is being used to inject a perception of wealth backing, credibility and trust into the brand.
An image reverse tool on Mark Robinson’s profile picture directed me to another website,
Power Faculty. This website also lists a contact number for Mr Robinson. Searching this number on Facebook reveals a
profile for Mark Robinson. The profile is full of spammy content that does not reflect any level of professionalism that is usually expected of a wealthy businessman.
Mr Robinson’s
LinkedIn profile no longer exists.
