NOMINEX - cheating hunters by delaying payment for THREE years

[holydarkness]

What happened:

Nominex had their bounty back in August 2020 and ended by September. Listed on their payment rule is below:

Our bounty rewards are credited instantly - no need to wait for the end of the tokens distribution.

It was later revealed in their telegram channel that although these token were credited to each account directly, these token can not be moved, sold, transferred, traded, or any other thing other than used as a discounted trading fee. In other words, these payment token were as good as being locked or uncredited for onky god know how long.

Nominex themselves planned to distribute their token on April 2021, which later announce to adapt DeFi and move the distribution forward to an unspecified time around end of 2020. In spite of that, there is a new revelation that bonus token (which consist of bounty, daily demo trade, and real trade) will be gradually released proportionally for three years. Yes, THREE YEARS.

Bonus NMXs will be distributed during 3 years, each day.

It means, suppose you have 300 NMX (which roughly valued at the same amount of USD), you'll get 0.27 NMX or probably around 35 cent at best, daily, for three years. Assuming the dev didn't run away with the money or being left by their community and price crashed during the course of 3 years.

The unbelievably long duration were due to their concern that releasing bounty at once will create a huge price dump. Getting curious as a hunter that feel being cheated, I summed the total token distributed for bounty as stated on spreadsheet, and the total were 68,781 NMX against their total supply of whooping 200,000,000 NMX. That was a mere 0.035%, clearly can barely affect price, especially if they believe in their own community.

Confronted about this, they state that there are 7,000,000 bonus token. And although bounty were merely 1% from this total bonus token (and infinitesimal against total supply), they still insist on gradually releasing the bounty token due to the said concern.

Recently I heard about DEGO who withheld their bounty payment for 100 days. Well, this one clearly topped the case with 1,095 days

Scammer profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2704636
Announcement thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5197241.0 | archive
Bounty thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5269954.0 | archive
Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O1kQ7LxXDT80cUuzOZTu6Ck2WI3zvDeQkoySSv_sps8/edit#gid=0

Flag raised: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;flag=2491

Some screenshot for easy view:

[smyslov]

It's outright cheating and we should boycott this exchange for manipulating and cheating bounty hunters who helped them advertise their exchange, this project deserves a flag created and will support the flag if there is one, this is probably the longest period locked for any token for bounty hunters, the longest I've gone through was 6 months but this one breaks every record.

[Furious 7]

It's outright cheating and we should boycott this exchange for manipulating and cheating bounty hunters who helped them advertise their exchange, this project deserves a flag created and will support the flag if there is one, this is probably the longest period locked for any token for bounty hunters, the longest I've gone through was 6 months but this one breaks every record.

I once asked the team about when tokens were distributed and also traded they said in April 2021 if I'm not mistaken, and now by stating that 3 years later it will be distributed, oh this is tricking to hunters, this is really sneaky if the Nominex team does something like this obviously people won't believe their behavior.

Then what about the manager who writes that the distribution has been sent in the thread? has there been any confirmation from the party?

[bitbollo]

very shady way to act for this exchange, and it's not a good sign for all users not only bounty hunters.
it should be clarified officially, but probably if not already discussed with bounty manager, the distribution will be done in the long term
this is why it's better avoid new projects since it can be frustrating not received payment as promised.

[$crypto$]

Maybe it is their rule to do this but this certainly does not impose on hunters who have to receive their token of value for a long time.
Obviously this is very unfair after they are done promoting but being able to have to wait longer is very sad, Nominex and the manager of Masulum have not clarified about this I am sure he will have the right answer why the Nomirex team does this kind of rule.
Promote too fast, while the hunters only want the valuable token value to be sold immediately.

[holydarkness]

It's outright cheating and we should boycott this exchange for manipulating and cheating bounty hunters who helped them advertise their exchange, this project deserves a flag created and will support the flag if there is one, this is probably the longest period locked for any token for bounty hunters, the longest I've gone through was 6 months but this one breaks every record.

In their defense, they will say that the token were not locked, it's just will be gradually released, fraction by fraction every day until the full amount is reached, so they didn't violate any rule.

If other users also think flag is necessary, I'll raise the flag.

Then what about the manager who writes that the distribution has been sent in the thread? has there been any confirmation from the party?

To be fair, the manager was right and I didn't think he's at fault here. His duty to manage bounty and calculate amount to be paid were fulfilled. Payment were sent to each of the hunters account on Nominex website.

It was Nominex who played dirty by playing with words, because although the rule state it'll be credited instantly, the token themselves are as good as being locked or undistributed, because it literally just sat in out account, unusable other than for discount if you use them to pay for trading fee on their platform. We can't even withdraw them to personal wallet.

And worse, when I confront them about this, their reply was

[...] I am sure he will have the right answer why the Nomirex team does this kind of rule.

Yes  their reason was to protect price from dumping, which I personally think rather unlikely, given the amount of bounty were less than 0.035% of total supply. Certainly it can't affect price significantly

[target]

Obviously, they have the intention since that isn't what they promised to the bounty hunters. They know it's not fair and they are risking their reputation here.

They could just distribute every month what they wanna prevent is a massive dump of their own tokens. This can easily be bought since there will be a bullrun coming. This is not the right time to make conflict while there is a bullrun. 

[masulum]

Hello everyone, I'm sorry for your concern

regarding unlocked token till 3 years, they are not say anything to me before about that, they are just saying token tradeable on April 2021, maybe all of us will thinking if we can fully trade all token on that month. Distribution every week is good, but if they are confirm to me to unlock the hunter token 3 years, i will not accept it from the beginning.

[nutildah]

I read over everything, took a look at their ICO numbers, current exchange volume, and even poked my head in the Telegram, and it would appear they weren't forthright enough about the conditions of the tokens that bounty hunters were receiving. Everything they did was perfectly fine except for telling the bounty hunters that they couldn't move or sell their tokens... for years!

If you can make a convincing case that the Nominex team purposely mislead bounty hunters and what they did with the tokens wasn't just an oversight error then I'll leave an at least neutral tag on their account as a warning, maybe red if they were clearly being dishonest. I wouldn't want people depositing money on an exchange if they are knowingly deceitful with their clients.

And if you make a flag on the NominexExchange I will support it.

[noorman0]

_snip_
Yes  their reason was to protect price from dumping, which I personally think rather unlikely, given the amount of bounty were less than 0.035% of total supply. Certainly it can't affect price significantly

1% allocation is enough to kill the token price instantly if liquidity is insufficient. This has been commonly done by shitprojects including delaying the distribution of hunters.

_snip_
Everything they did was perfectly fine except for telling the bounty hunters that they couldn't move or sell their tokens... for years!

It seems that because their smart contract is not ready yet, the 200 million token supply cannot be clearly ascertained how many holders until today other than the allocation of hunters and teams.
If in the near future these tokens are available for trading on their own markets, these exchanges will be the next yobits that can issue tokens without smart contracts.

[TalkStar]

After reading the entire story its pretty much clear to me that they are playing selfmade game with bounty hunters token which is totally unacceptable. They are planning to keep all hunters on their platform forcefully and unlocking a specific amount of token for withdrawal on a regular basis. Its like that if you want to take rewards then you will have to use their platform and the only way of spending that is through trading fees.

What a cheap idea to keep the platform alive!

Its nothing new and we know many projects have delayed to pay bounty hunters payments by showing unacceptable excuses. Just like them Nominex is following the same way but their plan is slightly different this time.

[holydarkness]

And if you make a flag on the NominexExchange I will support it.

They said they'll make an official announcement regarding the distribution today, although they said that around 20 hours ago and up to this second there were no announcement made. I think it would be better to wait for few more hours and see what'll be their decision, and if they still insist on gradual release, then perhaps flag suits them.

[nutildah]

They said they'll make an official announcement regarding the distribution today, although they said that around 20 hours ago and up to this second there were no announcement made. I think it would be better to wait for few more hours and see what'll be their decision, and if they still insist on gradual release, then perhaps flag suits them.

This is a well-measured and reasonable response. I've noticed you commenting on various ANNs through the years and you have developed a good eye for noticing what projects are probably scams (may or may not include Nominex, but what they did was "harmfully ambiguous" regarding the bounty hunters).

The reason this is interesting to me is because, by all measures, Nominex is already quite a successful exchange, so their token should accrue value and they should be willing to treat their bounty hunters fairly. So yeah, just wait it out and hear what they have to say -- let us know and we'll follow up.

[examplens]

And if you make a flag on the NominexExchange I will support it.

They said they'll make an official announcement regarding the distribution today, although they said that around 20 hours ago and up to this second there were no announcement made. I think it would be better to wait for few more hours and see what'll be their decision, and if they still insist on gradual release, then perhaps flag suits them.

I'm thinking of something. Why all scammed bounty hunters by NominexExchange do not launch a counter-campaign and give negative impersonation to this exchange? if they could help them raise money, why not help present their reputation as it is?
as long as BH kiss his ass for a few bucks nothing will happen.

[sujonali1819]

I'm thinking of something. Why all scammed bounty hunters by NominexExchange do not launch a counter-campaign and give negative impersonation to this exchange? if they could help them raise money, why not help present their reputation as it is?

Nice thinking. Actually, most of the bounty hunters recently are a newbie and they are huntings bounty with several alt accounts (not all). And many of them don't know exactly what is scam accusation IMO. Even maybe they left their hope on fortune after completing a bounty campaign. LOL

It's good that nominex wants to distribute the bounty reward slowly to reduce price dumping. But 3 years is too much and a shady work which is totally unprofessional. I don't appreciate this.

[examplens]

I'm thinking of something. Why all scammed bounty hunters by NominexExchange do not launch a counter-campaign and give negative impersonation to this exchange? if they could help them raise money, why not help present their reputation as it is?

Nice thinking. Actually, most of the bounty hunters recently are a newbie and they are huntings bounty with several alt accounts (not all). And many of them don't know exactly what is scam accusation IMO. Even maybe they left their hope on fortune after completing a bounty campaign. LOL

It's good that nominex wants to distribute the bounty reward slowly to reduce price dumping. But 3 years is too much and a shady work which is totally unprofessional. I don't appreciate this.

This is a fact of low-quality bounty participants. Usually, most of them look like bots and everything seems automated. I am not sure how much is promotion worth in such a way. I fully understand when someone after finished crowdfunding realizes he will overpay bounty hunters, but it is already their fault for the poor way of campaigning and accepting worthless things in his promotion.

About 3 years of waiting, I guess they probably waiting for the bull run and to bust the project a little. IN the end, if they are afraid that the hunters will bring down the price of their token, they can always pay them in Bitcoin, Eth or USD, without negative consequences for their token value.

[onecall123]

What I say, this is stupid decision by NominexExchange at their early stage. I'm well aware of their activities and it's turn out very suspicious movement as they're making things co much complected. They're playing out their messy game, which certainly give them bad impression. Assume a members of their bounty campaign earns 350 tokens throughout their monthly campaign and ended up got nothings. NMX team indeed very successful to spoil a complete month from their bounty hunters.

[NominexExchange]

Hello everyone, dear Nominexians!
We heard you!

With the transition to DeFi, we will be distributing approximately 193 million NMX tokens over 100 years. In the early days, approximately 10,000 NMX will be distributed.

During the first year, only about 3 million tokens will be distributed, this amount will circulate in the market, which is very small compared to other exchange tokens.
This means that this small number of circulating tokens should have a positive effect on the NMX market price.

In this regard, for a more "soft" establishment of the market of already distributed NMX tokens, we classify all previously distributed tokens into two categories: purchased and received for free.

Purchased NMX tokens at DeFi launch will be immediately available for withdrawal to all users in full.

Received free NMX tokens will start unlocking every day in equal shares 30 days after converting NMX to DeFi and will be divided into 2 categories according to the duration of unlocking:

1. NMX earned in bounty and live tournaments will be fully unlocked within 365 days (1 year).

2. Demo tournaments, 1st 2nd phase of distribution among traders, various promo bonuses.
NMX will be fully unlocked for 1095 days (3 years).

Unlocking NMX tokens makes unlocked tokens available for sale on the exchange and withdraw from Nominex to external wallets.

How can locked tokens be used?
1. You can also use all NMX tokens to pay a trading commission on the Nominex exchange 50% cheaper.

2. Plus, a short time after the conversion of the NMX token to DeFi, we will implement the ability to stake locked NMX tokens, which means you can earn additional NMX tokens on this staking, which will be immediately available for withdrawal and sale.

[examplens]

..

Can you share here what is your bounty program condition before they start? whether anything has changed in the meantime and why ^{if yes}?

1. You can also use all NMX tokens to pay a trading commission on the Nominex exchange 50% cheaper.

So if someone uses NMX token to pay exchange fee, then is 50% cheaper or they can pay 50% in NMX and rest in other regular currency?

[nutildah]

1. NMX earned in bounty and live tournaments will be fully unlocked within 365 days (1 year).

Why did you feel it wasn't important to share this detail with the bounty hunters? Surely its something they would have wanted to know ahead of time, is it not?

I'm trying to assess whether there was a rational reason of why the bounty hunters weren't informed of this detail or if this is the beginning of a pattern of dishonest behavior.