[ActiveMining] Official Shareholder Discussion Thread [Moderated]

[tempestb]

Another continuation. How long can they legally keep pushing this back?

Completely up to the judge.  If the lawyers make a case for delay and the judge agrees, it can go on and on...

[hazryder]

Another continuation. How long can they legally keep pushing this back?

Oh well see you all after Christmas then, have a good holiday guys.

[Surf Capital Management]

So, in other words, a total lack of transparency.

[Bargraphics]

So, in other words, a total lack of transparency.

Figured it would be a civil case opened by the SEC but I guess they have their own way of doing things. This is probably better for us as I'm sure there's very little chance of Ken or AMC/VMC walking away scott-free when the government is judge, jury, and prosecutor.

Thank you for the follow-up

[gogxmagog]

They can issue an order against Ken but who sees that it is enforced? Fines are one thing, but if they order him to pay back shareholders is it then up to victims to file class action when he fails to pay?

[runam0k]

So is it just me hoping the delays are caused by Ken's bad health?

(I jest. I think I'd rather see a resolution.)

[tgounley1]

Hi, I'm the reporter with the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, who wrote about Kenneth Slaughter and Active/Virtual Mining earlier this year. It was discussed in this thread way back

Story: http://www.news-leader.com/story/money/2014/03/02/betting-on-bitcoin/5928483/
Video here: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140302/BUSINESS04/303020022/Bitcoin-Springfield-mining-machines-Slaughter

I am interested in possibly reporting on what has happened since that story came out; it would include trying to talk to Ken and reaching out to Missouri Secretary of State's office. I've monitored this forum somewhat over the months, but was hoping some of you would be willing to bring me up to speed. My email is tgounley@news-leader.com for those that would be willing to help.

Thanks.

[Jasun7211]

go to Ken's house and ask him like a real reporter 

[gogxmagog]

Hi, I'm the reporter with the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, who wrote about Kenneth Slaughter and Active/Virtual Mining earlier this year. It was discussed in this thread way back

Story: http://www.news-leader.com/story/money/2014/03/02/betting-on-bitcoin/5928483/
Video here: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140302/BUSINESS04/303020022/Bitcoin-Springfield-mining-machines-Slaughter

I am interested in possibly reporting on what has happened since that story came out; it would include trying to talk to Ken and reaching out to Missouri Secretary of State's office. I've monitored this forum somewhat over the months, but was hoping some of you would be willing to bring me up to speed. My email is tgounley@news-leader.com for those that would be willing to help.

Thanks.

yeah the info is all in this thread, and the unofficial thread too, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=297530.0 its more to the point re; ken's illegal activities. actionable at least.
If you can get a face to face with him and you csn get anything beyond his usual bafflegab I'll buy a f*&^in' subscription to your little rag! Good luck, you should probably be checking out the missouri securities division hearing this monday dec 8th as well

[Bargraphics]

the missouri securities division hearing this monday dec 8th as well

Jan 8th I believe unless you are talking about something different.

[tgounley1]

Well, real reporters typically talk to multiple sources, Jasun7211. I'm interested in speaking with someone who has (apparently) lost money in this endeavor.

Thanks for the other thread, gogxmagog. Hadn't seen that one. Yeah, if I write something I would be reaching out to the Securities Division, as I said in my last post.

[tempestb]

Everyone but Ken lost money in this endeavor.

[Bargraphics]

Hi, I'm the reporter with the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, who wrote about Kenneth Slaughter and Active/Virtual Mining earlier this year. It was discussed in this thread way back

Story: http://www.news-leader.com/story/money/2014/03/02/betting-on-bitcoin/5928483/
Video here: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140302/BUSINESS04/303020022/Bitcoin-Springfield-mining-machines-Slaughter

I am interested in possibly reporting on what has happened since that story came out; it would include trying to talk to Ken and reaching out to Missouri Secretary of State's office. I've monitored this forum somewhat over the months, but was hoping some of you would be willing to bring me up to speed. My email is tgounley@news-leader.com for those that would be willing to help.

Thanks.

Man, after reading this over again it just infuriates me how unqualified Ken ended up being as shown through his actions regardless of how he acted in person.

To be completely honest, I thought of myself as a pretty good judge of character once I met someone. Meeting with Terrahash and Active Mining in person, shaking these guys hands and physically seeing at least what appeared to be a functioning mirage of a business and then still basically being scammed by them really put things in perspective.

What's funny is we're (Well just Zumzero mainly) all arguing if Ken was a scammer or not. This doesn't even matter because the MSD doesn't care about that, he blatantly violated securities law and will be tried/fined on that. If the MSD feels "investors" were mislead (not even fully "scammed) then they would try to seek restitution.

If you wanted to open a civil case against Active Mining and Ken (Who obviously was highly undercapitalized) because you feel you were defrauded then you could do that. I plan on waiting to see how the MSD handles this before doing such. If they release any sort of financials then everyone would be able to weigh the worth of a civil case.

At the end of the day Thomas here is what happened,

Ken single handedly took in hundreds of thousands of dollars if not a few millions depending on BTC Prices
Failed multiple times to produce his own chip through a series of bad judgements and/or incompetence wasting some of that money
Lied about multiple achievements to falsely boost confidence and share price - Examples: Shipping a "Product" implying it was a custom chip, Power Consumption on the People's ASIC Chip
Lost BTC on an exchange that had multiple warnings it was going down (There's no reason to keep BTC on any exchange, just send it to the exchange when you want to cash out)
Extremely poor communication and transparency with his company that "shareholders/investors" paid for
Ken purchased Chips/Board design from a 3rd party (Who was forced into bankruptcy and is being auctioned off today). He also used their assembly line to manufacture "copy cat" boards.
He failed at shipping & customer support - Some people received them quick, most it took months or not at all. Other customers has to provide support for customers.

Shareholders received Bitcoin dust for dividends over the entire lifespan of this company
I believe Ken hired only family to work for him (Wages, not Contractors)

I'm sure others in here can fix or add to the above to make it more complete. Enjoy

[Flashman]

To be completely honest, I thought of myself as a pretty good judge of character once I met someone. Meeting with Terrahash and Active Mining in person, shaking these guys hands and physically seeing at least what appeared to be a functioning mirage of a business and then still basically being scammed by them really put things in perspective.

So by your own logic, you were incompetent and scammed us by reassuring us they were "legit"

[iCEBREAKER]

To be completely honest, I thought of myself as a pretty good judge of character once I met someone. Meeting with Terrahash and Active Mining in person, shaking these guys hands and physically seeing at least what appeared to be a functioning mirage of a business and then still basically being scammed by them really put things in perspective.

So by your own logic, you were incompetent and scammed us by reassuring us they were "legit"

BG put in a good faith best effort attempt to verify LabKen's legitimacy, which we should be thankful for.

That's all we can reasonably expect.  Those who expected his effort to enjoy guaranteed success (even BG himself) are not being reasonable.

[Bargraphics]

To be completely honest, I thought of myself as a pretty good judge of character once I met someone. Meeting with Terrahash and Active Mining in person, shaking these guys hands and physically seeing at least what appeared to be a functioning mirage of a business and then still basically being scammed by them really put things in perspective.

So by your own logic, you were incompetent and scammed us by reassuring us they were "legit"

By that logic, you believing they were "legit" and ordering/investing in them means you were incompetent and scammed yourself?

Come on Flash, you might want to ask Ice for tips on how to twist words. He's got it down to a science.

[gogxmagog]

Well, real reporters typically talk to multiple sources, Jasun7211. I'm interested in speaking with someone who has (apparently) lost money in this endeavor.

Thanks for the other thread, gogxmagog. Hadn't seen that one. Yeah, if I write something I would be reaching out to the Securities Division, as I said in my last post.

its january 8th 2015, my mistake.
please do go to MSD, and the hearings. i would love to hear what is going on. there is precious little in here but speculation. although a few users here who lost big will give very interesting interviews, a few are shills. i would avoid zumzero, most of all. he has vouched for ken so strongly, even when everything points to total failure, that many assume he is under the employ of ken, if not a relative, or even ken himself. the whole thing is shady and the truth is in short supply.

[iCEBREAKER]

Come on Flash, you might want to ask Ice for tips on how to twist words. He's got it down to a science.

I don't twist words, I sculpt them.  When others twist words, I clarify them with great power and precision.

EG August 2013:

Do you hear that creaking noise?  That's the sound of our popsicle stand's plastic and particle board supports being crushed by Cointerra's tank treads.

Whistling past the graveyard isn't going to help us avoid being obsolete before Christmas.

I predict a wave of bankruptcies, consolidation/aquisitions, and mergers in the ASIC space as human/financial capital requirements to stay competitive begin overwhelming the garage inventor outfits.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2868880#msg2868880

Arcticwolf, Cointerra's founder is also the founder of Open-Silicon.  Maybe you should look that up before calling them 'just some PHDs with nothing to show.'  Roll Eyes

Somestranger, you managed to miss my point about 28nm competition entirely while droning on with yet another repost of nvidia's 20nm PowerPoint slides.  Way to fail there buddy.   Wink

Exocyst, you don't know Cointerra's specs or schedule so stop assuming facts not in evidence.

I suggest Ken grab some patents and otherwise prepare for worst case scenarios.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2984448;topicseen#msg2984448

Update:

Activemining-PR posted an update.  It was long and well written, containing many words but scant new information.

The Board is still being organized, as we all knew.   No goals or deadlines are stated for task completion, but investors are asked to be patient.  The controversial self-appointment of iCEBREAKER as Chairman Emeritus is the only significant development.

Activemining-PR filled a lot of space complaining about investors' desire for timely updates.  Nothing much is happening yet, but he's already overwhelmed by the enormity of the simple task of regular participation in this thread.  Apparently that's a full time job, and he's bitter about lack of compensation.  God forbid ACTM actually begins shipping products someday and he has real PR problems to deal with.

Zero reportable accomplishments made on the prototype Avalon boards.
Again, no goals or deadlines, but at least we have his "hope" of getting over 66% of spec.

Conspicuous absence of any reaction to Yifu/Avalon's "customs delay" and refusal to communicate.
No mention of how their tardiness will effect R.O.I., deployment, dividends, etc.

Complete silence on the crucial issue of BTC conversion to the $1,000,000 NRE required for eASIC.

Share price on BTCT is 22% below 30 day average, 24hr high is below 7 day average.

Share price on Bitfunder (a much larger market without artificial supply constraints) has imploded even more dramatically.

Bids on both markets are very thin, resulting in today's flash crash to 0.0026 on Bitfunder.

Apparently investors are not impressed by the total black-out of substantive updates on the make-or-break BTC conversion, NRE payment, and protracted Avalon delay issues.

tl;dr The wheels are coming off and we're getting a lot of happy talk to gloss it over.

Sincerely,

iCEBREAKER
Chairman Emeritus, Activemining Board of Directors
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2943420#msg2943420

UPDATE

It's time to regroup and radically rethink ACTM's best course of action in light of the Avalon/NRE disasters and overwhelming, credible competition from Hashfast and Cointerra.

If you can't beat them (in the race to 28nm and >1GH/watt) join them.

We must stop burning money on possibly neutral but probably negative ROI engineering and hardware, IE write off the Avalon and 20GH chips.

We must halt the BTC conversion process, and split available financial resources between Cointerra and Hashfast bulk chip orders.   Both companies accept BTC and offer miner protection plans (difficulty insurance) in case of negative ROI.

I know the 20GH chip was Ken's baby and it really really sucks to have to cancel it, but in Bitcoin time we are eons past our initial assumptions. 

We must also disband the Cult of ACTM cheerleaders now known as the Board.   Their groupthink is beyond pernicious, it is deadly to shareholder ROI and nimble, creative strategic agility.

Adapt or perish.

iCEBREAKER
Chairman Emeritus
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2969040#msg2969040

ACTM's BTC conversion process is completely unrelated to eASIC's NDA, which covers things that happen after the NRE is paid (not how ACTM raises the cash for it).

Even if Avalon/Yifu hadn't stolen our chips, 66% of spec hashrate at this late date is an even worse, completely separate fiasco, because we don't have working boards on which to put them.

According to Ken, an eASIC press release will not be released in the near future, much less this Fri/Mon.

ACTM's reason for using eASIC's Nextreme, faster time to market, no longer applies as HashFast, etc. tape out far more powerful full custom 3rd gen 28nm chips.

Because of his demonstrated honesty and merit, I hereby appoint Bargraphics Vice-Chairman Emeritus for life.

iCEBREAKER
Chairman Emeritus
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2984448;topicseen#msg2984448

[iCEBREAKER]

so this scumbag, Ken Slaughter, is going to get away with all of it?

I didn't have a ton invested in this but I know some of you had quite a lot tied up in this sham... and no one is gonna lift a finger? or at the very least pay the slaughter scammers a visit?

I did far more than "lift a finger."  I repeatedly tried to warn you and the others back in August 2013.

You chose to Ignore me:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252531.msg2984477#msg2984477

How did that work out for you?  

Ken is going to get away with the BTC because people like knybe refuse to listen to their superiors.

[gogxmagog]

Hi, I'm the reporter with the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, who wrote about Kenneth Slaughter and Active/Virtual Mining earlier this year. It was discussed in this thread way back

Story: http://www.news-leader.com/story/money/2014/03/02/betting-on-bitcoin/5928483/
Video here: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140302/BUSINESS04/303020022/Bitcoin-Springfield-mining-machines-Slaughter

I am interested in possibly reporting on what has happened since that story came out; it would include trying to talk to Ken and reaching out to Missouri Secretary of State's office. I've monitored this forum somewhat over the months, but was hoping some of you would be willing to bring me up to speed. My email is tgounley@news-leader.com for those that would be willing to help.

Thanks.

Man, after reading this over again it just infuriates me how unqualified Ken ended up being as shown through his actions regardless of how he acted in person.

To be completely honest, I thought of myself as a pretty good judge of character once I met someone. Meeting with Terrahash and Active Mining in person, shaking these guys hands and physically seeing at least what appeared to be a functioning mirage of a business and then still basically being scammed by them really put things in perspective.

What's funny is we're (Well just Zumzero mainly) all arguing if Ken was a scammer or not. This doesn't even matter because the MSD doesn't care about that, he blatantly violated securities law and will be tried/fined on that. If the MSD feels "investors" were mislead (not even fully "scammed) then they would try to seek restitution.

If you wanted to open a civil case against Active Mining and Ken (Who obviously was highly undercapitalized) because you feel you were defrauded then you could do that. I plan on waiting to see how the MSD handles this before doing such. If they release any sort of financials then everyone would be able to weigh the worth of a civil case.

At the end of the day Thomas here is what happened,

Ken single handedly took in hundreds of thousands of dollars if not a few millions depending on BTC Prices
Failed multiple times to produce his own chip through a series of bad judgements and/or incompetence wasting some of that money
Lied about multiple achievements to falsely boost confidence and share price - Examples: Shipping a "Product" implying it was a custom chip, Power Consumption on the People's ASIC Chip
Lost BTC on an exchange that had multiple warnings it was going down (There's no reason to keep BTC on any exchange, just send it to the exchange when you want to cash out)
Extremely poor communication and transparency with his company that "shareholders/investors" paid for
Ken purchased Chips/Board design from a 3rd party (Who was forced into bankruptcy and is being auctioned off today). He also used their assembly line to manufacture "copy cat" boards.
He failed at shipping & customer support - Some people received them quick, most it took months or not at all. Other customers has to provide support for customers.

Shareholders received Bitcoin dust for dividends over the entire lifespan of this company
I believe Ken hired only family to work for him (Wages, not Contractors)

I'm sure others in here can fix or add to the above to make it more complete. Enjoy

+100 Very well put. Reporter could just copy and paste what bargraphics wrote and put that in the newspaper. It pretty much sums up what we know, and is pretty much on target regarding what we don't know but highly suspect. Ken also has a history of being difficult/obstinant/stubborn/ incompetant in his professional past, although one past employer wasnt entirely negative saying words to effect that "ken doesnt listen, and stubbornly does things his own way, but occasionally his unorthodox methods get results..." which is as close to a compliment I've ever heard anyone say about him (excluding his #1 fan, Zumzero)