[GLBSE] Introducing: Bitcoin Syndicate, a new mining op trading publicly!

[Glasswalker]

Ok just an update, I was travelling for my day job for the past couple weeks. I'm back now, and have fulfilled all the claims requirement with GLBSE (as an issuer). I recommend everyone else do the same. Once the claims are made, we'll be able to see where things stand. Once I've received confirmation of everyones shares we'll decide how we're going to proceed going forward (without the exchange to facilitate).

I'm not sure how long the claims process will remain open. I'll try and get an answer out of Nefario about that.

I'll post more once I have more info.

[1714054789]

1714054789

[1714054789]

1714054789

[Glasswalker]

Asset list received from nefario. Travelling now will post more details later. See: forum.btcsyn.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1263 for more details.7

[Glasswalker]

Ok sorry for the delay due to my travel.

Here is a hash table of the share list as sent to me from Nefario so far:
It's in the format SHA256HASH,shares,SHA256HASH
The first hash is the email address as sent by nefario, the second hash is the bitcoin payout address as sent by nefario.

a64cc0cde6f1d6ffbdf2758d70b6cf50e7d04eb77743557c542ed45f578df7d4,67,798085e4b52d6947d2553cb82b816d02176e52df9b5d051ae194a37838b5e7b6
06867736c53f2afb4245b4e6ed8e6ed82a195d3235b3768e7ca588001af2f7b4,1853,60f7c541914bf2ee02dd26a3749565ecef8c1d4d36d2458219718967a8bc2a4f
0628a1bcdda5ce6ccc9ed5da8cc3ddd0e134bbc3c6389221800f67163c4272c9,1,fbd86eab267d12b5eae5fb35eaff3b5b41e97a92d743655e296df8544a7936cb
0443b84c79102b840544803d3b5a45f4fd916fc7158df77e897735c84fb51f77,3,5ada9b67d50b7d9b957f95c138a800b47e5507c9e8f7061cb73c8fe8f68076d4
679bdde95fa896abb0a3159b5ad360c0ac874bef2059ed1bee685ce5173fde00,292,595a79d4910849c39706c3e2cdafb2baff4d11768f77b78f81135e5e1dfa5125
e20520316c63853a2f756bf41bbbd3b354290c2604f3857dc1dcb5f46181a049,4,77398d3528aef9e53bec19e90dde3de2c40e0ef3bb61251d40c2285dca71974d
813d11d37a55c4f34284a539149dc4700fcc9fe9369a14dc3d7ad3e5f56f9d02,31,aa5d79b519290c456a1e5c652c5c4ac9df61d991caf610eaf2f1b0436487936f
6189ad3b74f4d5dd49623fecdfc51e009e525830fcbf866b8cdf3e048b82ae48,110,d380d5ece65d4138941e4b539a44ee60d4b5808df1a9e12f41837f46ffb4fea4
db2140be1e2b6e7b18f47d706d1778cb4130f119d66b750852bd673e8a45338c,55,9648c7210bd78876088422ddd9d31c6e192c13e7517c332fb1649bc424c9d6ce
fae11bbd4fc3366833073f81921b3d956894473a45687aff83cd8981459ad024,11,953048c5d6926dfb49a186a88755a13eee457a0052c9c19bef7853aa940520b7
0b085b3e3236a60bce88f8911426894fff556645aa7d8fb08136f9a0bfc5a975,4,de65dea672bfdf43de65287a5710a6988f0e1a7843d36bcd4de1fc24529f9cee
ca4069b7393fc59285f56db9666dbd0ccead715cc3b0cdc92b0c22d7372a2cfb,3,0dbda4797b7e0773afb4ce64e7097bc9e676059e911b96ad7ec3a2b169f6773d
42de56fca676e573208bf47872b3e95d5d8bfb5d33bde49c2879cebcb9adcb28,190,e4f9f3446bcf927b29f66599385b8083d314eadba45628c4219bf106514270fc
088ebfa4caa8ff73a679b2ccc2fca4364c902e300a40ebe2136ce35703579dad,4,dccd038e27d121ae75b26edada050bc2586f3c9e8c6143c906a230755f955944
cb71f10509ff02d3399146fc87812ea42e9b618560042aaa635d5d5afb315339,2264,b222ae369bda7a207ba591a4d15705dce4b98d3d1a63f7e0f4a5dbc8435caf2d
2b62aba45261039b9a77e0c9bab695518ea7e9ff44ef393113812ce580ad2f8c,113,6e1414cae47d96ba63d601ed92e85afda305d432910c37581f058f0c18f42f86
327980b68da79e8648fd848e4bef6860ea588280016ed1f7234e58be1149e77c,84,424c247da4614dd52b592c51114c730e8e43a4c4b87ce5dca003b4f1211578ad
db171101d2154f4a3723380c6fc6f33b49135233135499bbdbb1e5e30051ee06,6,52487bb12b3202dd3b3ea3f0b137380d737743b0cff78bd263b103741d65d895
3717a47855b168e66b4a19de045a2c748346a1ec49167d35806185e407e10691,443,b128443391bc09ab7479ff83ef74c217d013e4e4ad2d11daf4a6baa194badd6c
b61c458b1171bf07b6a0bc5161fb8148965c862f0ba6aa8d4a918f4c8252eed0,102,4ddbee35f560822b2bac690c2341280fd71e291ca2de48cffbb8068cd2188f71
d96e81fe39165b17dd3f2eac3b892695fd22e94ae1324f0cddcb16b06e5ffa1e,2,789e9a53cd3cee083a553d58cd06c9515d4627234223d74c9b03d2798840c461
51019b2821d40a83df622cc6c9cdd2cbd2fc797774cd802354b9d1de41c26ee3,46,5bb74fb083ed70dded37868d2c822a4552c2e4d30b79b994f87282696b19657e
6037c71c4b815a03f93111a8ee4d8392498d100d996c23ed08ad7a71659bcce9,2,40fccb2dcac93bd4ba285e08ffb475d1accdd3155bc5a4dafc630e12218b6327
15a639e11378433c65299c69e0e57f25b4103f33cd404c02bc77def54a0831d3,9,f41b74e0fac28524290af7b84005aaf87707058ac1eb4d50b095e174b328a46f
a1329816b65ddeeb07a2488450f178fada8bbff73538c9a8a046c0865475eb55,1,58d88ada5e2c0335ebcf9f85fe96a4cebbe9b430fc5e8b03a05bd59cec6bc4f6
00e0ad3731082e67c044bf6babba6deda90f753888b5698cd23ba22bfd9303e2,125,6dcc58ed23c1e26b2b1bd8ee7447e999ccd59eb6b3f5c71242b7ceb69fc19e9b
f9e7dcf1744845b162f6f3b3e551d90c38aed3c2e2ff8c7579e44017bbfbd07c,20,8447399991c7f3d994bcfcea1de691b7abb24d9f6f5ac8dc2d4fab056d57b05b
81e65f3bc0a92d2032a9ee7a41f21efaf026dca845ebad834bfdc9daae2f4886,10,e88ddcb2304a1d31e3d4531bdd315e5792145233157aea65b63e25c33bb8f1ed
d1b8ae48b36faff4c9151e687ab6fa67b79252349575b49cea53201978e3f1bd,3,795144f04be13696d3ede6802cfa69c5ae43e44fcb0c189af54ed6b427f4354b
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bcfc9b120b0cbec0b1bbfa7c3d1a28797ec284ca0a10b49247ed448a47751915,3,3c04c67550420857ee435575b09327a5ad68dc477cd1891a06b7300c074d929d
6929b908ea90432e15949d3d2f7b33600f2e1e6f6bcc88c45eeeafedaf81e2a8,50,35849eb9c888128df945f6357c77ca147ecd9f4b5c418cada6b359a86f769285
4cb12c3dac5e2d500ea64cc78f2882f92fd7f047a37600469d9e259d042ffd69,921,d9d5d0e935064b739233d7bf1a6fe1287d9ccf0396051cd95e5ea8f2e8e86847
d17abea134c3848b8138de30473fcf74fa601f12453c0c55532cc237d228c734,360,45b37479e6c397dc56893bfb52f97a30c49013f65b0e7c5af3ffee917c0b0b98
89884ecb33ec913287a412567c0ab3a17441d84979868674ed9c903467bb61c8,432,2b244ca0ea1371a01951db42752fbfe8310ad7298d8b5a2c2a93491ade9d0154
c01f45cb6f559785e59b83cd67aebad86c9565077d63429387ade0dc19006d07,432,ae3996c8d52f8a0df9dc63e5ca57cfdbe12f0e9069342cdf76a96b8b23270831
4f8a5061411223ec8fd7429b419e39814f13df156dcd2e1810083bf1814d3b48,864,782cfbf55c05e54e25a7e1db8cfe63f4f654d639bbf25ea9ac279205f863e79d
649bceb2dd80ed0cc56301ffc45c5581ebb475326d35154e7e9c63ee17170011,1224,7eaa8c180210bdebb402370c8fb6427bf8641c26888f04470302ba36483caebc

TOTAL: 10315 / 12000

So far there is still 1685 shares unaccounted for.

I also have an "emergency" announcement. The server which I have been hosting most of BTCSYN on is being shut down soon. (in a matter of days). I can go into more detail later, but ultimately my employer subsidized a large portion of it with the terms I could use it for whatever I wanted (to facilitate some of my R&D activities. Some major restructuring has happened in the past month or so, and I just found out a couple days ago that they won't be renewing that contract. So I'm left to fend for myself, and it's an expensive server. So the server is being shut down.

I'm in the process now of backing up all the data, and securing the wallets and so on. In the coming days the btcsyn site will go down (hopefully not for long) and be transferred to a new temporary host. So the forums can stay up. And I'll have more details once that process is done. So if the site goes down, don't go into panic mode, the site will come back up, and I'm still accessible via this forum as well. It will just take me some time to sort it out.

That all said, with this change, combined with my job changing (and requiring MUCH more time commitment from me) I will not be able to continue running BTCSYN as it is.

I had hoped to have more time to plan something useful to come in here, but I haven't...

This doesn't mean that it's doom and gloom. (though we've had plenty of that already). What it means is that I won't have time to maintain the miners, keep things running, or run the sites/infrastructure.

So this means either:
A) BTCSYN will be shut down, and we'll figure out a sane way to do that (liquidate and pay out to shareholders using this list)
B) Someone else will need to pick up the torch and continue operation (At the vote of shareholders).
C) Some other alternative I haven't thought of yet.

So again, don't panic. The server is dying one way or another, so for now I'm focusing on securing/backing up the data. The wallets contents will be transferred to an offline wallet for safekeeping (created solely for this purpose, and backed up) until we have this sorted out.

I had hoped to announce this in a more elegant way, but as with most things these days it seems, it just wasn't in the cards.

Anyway, I'll post a similar announcement on the BTCSYN forums to redirect to this thread for now, while the site is still up, and again in a little while the site/forums should come back so we can facilitate the final closure/shutdown/transfer/whatever in a sane way in the newyear.

For a general list of assets/liabilities:

We own 4 Cairnsmore1 FPGA boards outright.
We have 4 more Cairnsmore1 FPGA boards on lease from Enterpoint, which we owe them for still
We have about 138.5 BTC.
A few other odds and ends of hardware (a PSU, some USB hubs, and some cabling and such)

IF we decide to liquidate (ie no other alternative is presented) be aware that the debt to enterpoint is larger than our current liquid assets, and the liquidatable value of those other 4 boards isn't very high with ASICs around the corner. Ideally another alternative will be possible. We'll see in the newyear.

Thanks for your patience!

[zapeta]

So, any update on this?

[Glasswalker]

Not really... A lot has been going on lately, things are kind of crazy, and I don't even have the time or energy to deal with this.

The site is backed up, but the old server is gone. Funds are still safe. And boards collecting dust... I don't really know what to do about it. I was kind of hoping after my last post that someone would step up and offer to take over the torch, but I basically heard nothing from anyone, other than one or two people confirming their claim from GLBSE...

Basically unless someone wants to pick up and figure out what to do next, and operate it themselves, we're insolvent... For example we have enough funds to buy an ASIC to mine with, but we also owe a bunch of money out in debt. So if we pay off our debts right now, we're left with only 8x FPGA boards, which are practically worthless in liquid value right now (because of ASICs). So unless someone can fire up the miners and mine up enough money to buy an ASIC to keep things afloat, we're basically bankrupt...

There is a lot to deal with to shut it down cleanly, and I don't even have time to deal with that. Which is why no news...

If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to hearing them...

[rdponticelli]

So, I'm understanding it right? Do you have the miners turned off?

[Glasswalker]

Yes miners are off, the mining server is down, wallet host is gone, moved to an offline wallet, and so on.

As another update too just for the record, I've emailed all shareholders proposing a few shutdown solutions. With a vote taking place via email over the next 24h so we can finalize all this.

[mila]

Yes miners are off

not cool.

edit: about the torch and stuff, I can take care of the site hosting (a) & running the boards (b).
as for the mining, only problem with it is the customs when importing into EU

e2: not sure about not being liquid. since the latest btc rate changes there would be not debts at least

[zapeta]

I really don't think we have enough information to make a decision about the options given.  Both options A and B require that we get some concessions from Enterpoint, and option A has a series of steps that make it impossible to calculate what the final dividend would be.  Option B results in a dividend of approx. 0.0115 BTC/share, but I don't like Option B as it leaves Glasswalker solely responsible for the debt.

I'd really like to see what sort of deal we can get from Enterpoint before we decide.  That will have a huge impact on whether or not it is feasible to continue operations and how a liquidation should go.

[mila]

the real wtf imo is that the boards are idling. mining with fpga will remain 'profitable' for a while for sure
and I believe folks Enterpoint are mining themselves (just bought some btc from them) so this is a waste of opportunity to close the shop

[rdponticelli]

I'm not in the mood for arguing right now, but I just want to state clearly that I won't recognize anything as settled if Paul proceeds as stated.

[mila]

oh, a lot of things happened since i last checked.
server gone, miners off, short notice vote without any prior discussion.
7 dec note that list from nefario arrived
two weeks later long post
month later vote from nowhere.

not cool
and no word from other 6 founding members

[MPOE-PR]

Not really... A lot has been going on lately, things are kind of crazy, and I don't even have the time or energy to deal with this.

I read this before somewhere.

I was kind of hoping after my last post that someone would step up and offer to take over the torch, but I basically heard

Aww, I think this shitty community scammed you.

we're left with only 8x FPGA boards, which are practically worthless in liquid value right now (because of ASICs)

That sucks man. I know, why don't you just keep the shitty 8 FPGA boards? Worthless POS (because of ASICs) and you know...you've been busting your ass with blood sweat and tears our friend so therefore....

[rdponticelli]

oh, a lot of things happened since i last checked.
server gone, miners off

...

short notice vote without any prior discussion.

This alone is enough to declare the whole thing void. So I'm proposing to start a discussion to decide ourselves what to do. I'm proposing myself to take things in charge. I can run the miners from Argentina, where energy rates are really low. But I would support Mila too, if he wants to take the torch.

two weeks later long post
month later vote from nowhere.

not cool
and no word from other 6 founding members

Long post saying basically nothing, by the way. Until this last post I didn't knew miners weren't working. So many breaches of fiduciary duty... Looks like some people are just playing games here...

[mila]

and as of today 2013 feb 11 (monday) it seems to be the end of the syndicate (it ended earlier i just finally managed to skim the walls of text buried in my mail).
it did not last a single year - see Paul's OP

founding members failed to meet their end of the loan of 6 GH/s.
what they did not fail is to claim the rights stemming from the shares (dividends and votes)

i do not want to judge if that's incompetence or bad intention.

basically what happens is that the final dividend will go to shareholders who were free riding the cooperative.

[MPOE-PR]

and as of today 2013 feb 11 (monday) it seems to be the end of the syndicate (it ended earlier i just finally managed to skim the walls of text buried in my mail).
it did not last a single year - see Paul's OP

founding members failed to meet their end of the loan of 6 GH/s.
what they did not fail is to claim the rights stemming from the shares (dividends and votes)

i do not want to judge if that's incompetence or bad intention.

basically what happens is that the final dividend will go to shareholders who were free riding the cooperative.

Care to post a summary of those emails? Inquiring minds wish to know.

[mila]

Care to post a summary of those emails? Inquiring minds wish to know.

why to summarize if they can be posted in full length?
I'm strong/weak enough to face this issue once a week or bi-weekly so be patient.
there's no need to rush a dead horse.

hope you noticed the 'funny fact' that none of the founding members had the technical capacity to grab the miners and operate them.
so neither did they stood to their commitment nor did they felt committed to take care of common production goods.
search for excuses for yourself. that was the proverbial last straw that bended things beyond repair.
if you were not member of the internal forum you probably missed the discussion why only founding members could trade in hashing power for shares when syndic was established.

i'll post also my collection of screenshots from the stats page (avg mining output) and known addresses used for payout from p2pool. together they illustrate the avg mining output better than memories. just gimme time. or pm me your email and I'll drop you the zip file.

[Deprived]

and as of today 2013 feb 11 (monday) it seems to be the end of the syndicate (it ended earlier i just finally managed to skim the walls of text buried in my mail).
it did not last a single year - see Paul's OP

founding members failed to meet their end of the loan of 6 GH/s.
what they did not fail is to claim the rights stemming from the shares (dividends and votes)

i do not want to judge if that's incompetence or bad intention.

basically what happens is that the final dividend will go to shareholders who were free riding the cooperative.

I keep seeing references to founding members but ARE there founding members?  Or is it just one guy, badly out of his depth, who keeps referring to himself in the plural?

[rdponticelli]

Care to post a summary of those emails? Inquiring minds wish to know.

why to summarize if they can be posted in full length?

Yeah, it would be great if you can make everything public, as it always should have been. The secrecy with which everything has been always handled only builds over the overall scammy feeling of the whole matter...

If this hasn't been a plain scam from day one (sadly, I have not proof whatsoever of it), at least it has been a huge scammy negligence. Whatever it is, this guys shouldn't be doing public businesses nevermore. Well, anyway, calling theirs thing business is a huge overstatement...

And Paul deciding on a rush, almost alone, what to do, and deciding to keep the remaining hardware for himself is a scam on itself...

[mila]

there was a list of 7 people in the bylaws who all committed themselves to the loan of mining capacity
which they still owe btw (the year long contract is still open)

not sure if I made copies of all pages from the site, maybe archive.org knows something.

and for the "best effort, no guarantee" argument, well, this is no effort.