Fantasy Market’s website alerted investors to the bad news: its porn token CEO has vanished, and along with him potential millions in recent gains, leaving investors holding the bag. As the cryptocurrency market nears trillion dollar capitalization, enthusiasts can be sure more scams are around the corner.
Also read: Bitcoin’s 9th Birthday
Porn Coin CEO Ghosts
“Any remaining investors who have not received their refund should contact hello@fantasymarket.com,” the Fantasy Market website displays. “Those who contributed from an exchange address should provide the specific TX of their contribution, so the appropriate refund can be issued.”
It appears someone who went by the name Jonathan Lucas abandoned the project as CEO, taking with him gains made at least above investors’ principals. The company’s website is bare, its Twitter account flat, and precious little else is known.
Fantasy Market garnered hype around the luring, prurient ‘porn coin’ nickname for its Fmtokens. They were to facilitate “meaningful, interactive client-controlled performances, hence the slogan: ‘control the show,’” a promotional initial coin offering (ICO) website touted. The show was online streaming, evidently.
“Governed by Ethereum smart-contracts, clients decide what the performers say and do during the show. If you have ever played a video game where you can control your character’s decisions, then you are already familiar with the Fantasy Market experience.”
The company launched an ICO on 4 December 2017 through the new year. Its pre-ICO in the Fall reportedly raised 2 million USD of the 5 million anticipated. Its ICO proper was capped at 67,000 ether, and as of this writing no figures are available as to the take.
Scant Information
“The internet is the last bastion of free expression, affording creative solutions to a host of problems,” promotional materials detailed. “Our team has extensive experience working with the most talented women in the online performance industry, uniquely qualifying us to create this reimagined marketplace.” The team consisted of the aforementioned CEO, Chris, Rick, and Hank. Such non-information was enough to earn the ICO millions.
At the time of writing, Fantasy Market’s website promises “investments are being returned at the USD rate in which they were received. For example, if 1.5 ETH was invested when 1 ETH = 1,000 USD, then 1,500 USD will be returned to the investor, regardless of the current price of ETH.” Investors have 90 days, the site claims.
One investor told the New York Post, “[Recently] I wrote threatening to file police and FBI reports. Within hours they refunded me ethereum with a dollar amount equal to what I had contributed in early September, but since the coin has more than tripled in value since then, they kept the rest of my contribution, essentially stealing quite a lot of money from me.”
Compared to other ICOs that have folded, this investor was fortunate to receive anything, which is not to excuse the actions outlined above. But the case of Fantasy Market can serve as an object lesson or teachable moment for those new to the ICO, crypto, and altcoin spaces. Trust exactly no one.
Not the First, Not the Last
One tell, a clear sign, is a project’s lack of specifics. Flowery language is for your grandmother. Skip it. Go to who is on the staff, team. If there are a bunch of first names only, that’s not good. And if their excuse for lack of developer specificity involves word salading about no one knowing who Satoshi was either, yeah, no.
Back in the go-go years of 2012, a website sprung up hoping to replace Bitcoinica, a contract-for-difference online market. Bitcoinica gave up more than 40 thousand bitcoin through internal hacking. Bitdaytrade was the answer, and its promoter Alberto Armandi seemed to be straight. Suddenly, shortly after an investment round, it too was “hacked,” and ten thousand bitcoin whooshed away. Mr. Armandi skipped out and has not been heard from since.
In keeping with the theme, Bitcoin 7 was an exchange shortly before the fiascos of Bitcoinica and Bitdaytrade. Its site was through a proxy, and no one knew who the owners were. You can guess the rest by now. A hack, 10,000 bitcoin gone, and the exchange shut without warning or investor compensation.
More recently, two offerings have popped up from observers as being suspect. Twitter crypto trader @Sicarious_ has been tracking Etherdelta. His criticisms are pointed, for sure, but they’re being censored by the team, as is anyone who dares challenge their assumptions. Compare that with, say, altcoin Monero. That team openly advocates skepticism,and should be any investor’s model for the future.
@Cryptocobain has set sights on the Dadi project. He’s found signs of plagiarism and other foolery worth considering as they move forward. He’s a brutal critic, but if a group is looking for potentially millions in pay-off, some dude on Twitter shouldn’t phase them.
Be careful out there.
Have you had experience of an ICO scam? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Twitter. Kai Sedgwick contributed sources.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.