Bitshares is a ponzi scheme. Plain and simple. Read the following thread thoroughly before you consider giving them money.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=298677.0I played three card monte on a corner in the tenderloin once with a random acquaintance.
I won on paper. (I picked the correct card.)
They had already won as soon as I took my money out of my pocket. The game was a distraction.
This is no different.
We have been incredibly transparent in everything we are attempting to do. Unfortunately, the arguments presented by cunicula are attacking a straw-man. If you are going to attack what we are doing you must first understand what we are doing. I would hope that before you go around calling us scammers you would take some time to talk with us via Skype.
So here are the questions for you:
1) What money have we taken from the public? 0.
2) How are we using new investor money to payout early investors?
3) How are we using the investors own money to pay out returns?
4) Are we doing any pre-mining? No.
Lacking any evidence on those three items, you cannot call us a ponzi scheme and doing so is intellectually dishonest.
What remains is whether or not the economics of the system we have designed work and are sustainable. This has several layers, so lets deal with the BitShares themselves and not any derivatives based upon them. The dividend system pays people a real return from the transaction fees and the stock-split process is just a means of gradually increasing the number of units in circulation without diluting anyones position. As a result, BitShares as a 'currency' is less inflationary than Bitcoin.
At this point I have done nothing but create a less inflationary crytpo-currency than bitcoin, it could be called an alt-coin if that is all the system allowed. This is no more ponzi than bitcoin and no more 'pump and dump' than Litecoin which was launched to address centralization in bitcoin and represents significant innovation in the space.
Then I add one very simple instrument on top of a legitimate crypto-coin. I allow two people to create a transaction that are equal and opposite sides of a bet. The strike-price on the bet is the current estimated exchange rate between BitShares and some other asset. The terms of the bet are that the Long side must voluntarily sell their position. The Short side must pay their dividends to the long side. And that a miner may force the short-side to accept the lowest ask in order to cover the position if the lowest ask would result in less than 50% margin. I am not one of these parties, and both parties agree to the terms.
Our theory is that such a contract, enforced by the blockchain, will result in a market-based price discovery system. If our theory is wrong then the test network which will be used to validate the economics of the system will discover the flaw and no one will make or lose any money.
You can surmise that the result of this game theory will not result in price stability, but to make that assumption you must pick one of three potential outcomes:
1) BitAsset goes to 0 thus scamming the holder to benefit the short which would profit.
2) BitAsset maintains the value of the collateral and is thus no different than BitShares in terms of volatility.
3) BitAsset will deviate in some non-deterministic manner from the intended market peg.. this is a serious claim and requires proof.
All we are doing is creating a market for people to speculate and we are providing a means to test it prior to anyone investing significant money.
Good luck raising your own funds, your system is complex, flawed in fundamental ways, and yet you are attempting to raise money directly from the public which has no way to evaluate your ideas. I would call your system a scam, but that would involve making a judgement about your intentions which I am smart enough to realize I have no ability to know or judge.
