Slashdot Mirror
Ethereum Startup Vanishes After Seemingly Making $11, Leaves Message: 'Penis' (vice.com)
CaptainDork shares a report from Motherboard: An Ethereum startup called Prodeum disappeared from the web on Sunday after raising a grand total of $11 USD from investors in a crowdsale. Shortly after the website disappeared, a message appeared on its homepage: "penis." Prodeum's website now redirects visitors to the Twitter account of a cryptocurrency trader (they did not immediately respond to our request for comment), and its Twitter account has been deactivated. Prodeum is at least the second Ethereum startup to pull up stakes after raising money from people in events called Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs, in which a startup funds their enterprise by taking cryptocurrency from people in exchange for digital tokens. Some ICOs have managed to raise millions of dollars, and the last startup to vanish after conducting an ICO -- Confido, which disappeared from the internet in late 2017 -- made off with roughly $374,000. (A message later appeared on Confido's site stating that it would buy back investors' tokens, but it's unclear if that took place.)
Prodeum, by comparison, only seems to have raised $11 based on the Ethereum address that was advertised on Prodeum's site as being the ICO address. (Update: After this article was published the contents of the ICO wallet were sent to another wallet. That wallet contains roughly $100, with the other funds all coming from a single wallet that predates the Prodeum ICO and contains 46 cents.) Prodeum's pitch, according to a cached version of its webpage, was to track vegetables in a supply chain using digital addresses on a blockchain -- a decentralized ledger at the heart of Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. As for why the "penis" message was left on its homepage, it may have something to do with the name of the startup. Prodeum is a medication that treats urinary tract infections and other urinary problems...
Prodeum, by comparison, only seems to have raised $11 based on the Ethereum address that was advertised on Prodeum's site as being the ICO address. (Update: After this article was published the contents of the ICO wallet were sent to another wallet. That wallet contains roughly $100, with the other funds all coming from a single wallet that predates the Prodeum ICO and contains 46 cents.) Prodeum's pitch, according to a cached version of its webpage, was to track vegetables in a supply chain using digital addresses on a blockchain -- a decentralized ledger at the heart of Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. As for why the "penis" message was left on its homepage, it may have something to do with the name of the startup. Prodeum is a medication that treats urinary tract infections and other urinary problems...
Penis.
A dick!
Due to the word penis being used in the article multiple times. 8======D
How do I get my $11 back???
There I said it. They are get rich quick scheme for the people doing them, barely any loss for them at all for starting one. Scamming people for the possibility that in the future, their worthless digital currency will ever be profitable.
is going to burst soon, and all of it is going to be worthless before the end of the year
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
So this Slashdot story about $11 prank... or "ICO"... basically will up chewing about $25,000 worth of time from its primarily tech/IT-related audience.
Not to be a .... penis about editorial decisions, but I'm wondering how this was deemed either news for nerds or stuff that matters?
It would be one thing if they had made off with 11 million dollars worth of cryptocurrency, but this is literally $11. I got scammed out of $20 last year by a con-artist. That's not newsworthy, and having the same thing happen for about half that doesn't magically become newsworthy because it happened with a cryptocurrency.
What?
Grow the fuck up.
their customer service is still rate better than Comcast.
n/t
PeNiS
Does any random startup that makes $11 get a story now?
Just asking.
Why would anyone want to use a text editor that is not vi?
Those bastards used my money to buy a pill of Viagra??!? Can they sink any lower?
Hmm, why isnt my wife picking up the phone?
I bet it was russian hackers
From 0x931d387731bbbc988b312206c74f77d004d6b84b
Via 0x4b841478a08d72bf0467bb4df197822615122d82
To 0x3f5ce5fbfe3e9af3971dd833d26ba9b5c936f0be
Destination address balance is $326MM
Yes...
Who at /. comes up with... I mean thinks up... those things? I have great, ongoing appreciation for them.
To those from whom little was expected, little was given.
Somebody (may have) scammed someone else for $11. Seriously, isn't there more important stuff Slashdot could cover? If I lost $11, I'd be ticked off for no more than a couple minutes. Seriously, this is not news.
Facts have a liberal bias.
Don't be so greedy and take the jump from bit to byte all in one bite! There's a nibble in there first...
Brocoin dudes are trying to outdo the pharma companies for the worst names. Confido really sounds like something you take for IBS and has a list of side effects that includes dizziness, suicidal thoughts, elephantitis and death. Ask your doctor if Confido is right for you, you poor bastard.
You are welcome on my lawn.
They got exactly dick in this whole little scam attempt of theirs.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
They were M.T Gox.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Hahahahaha, come on, as soon as you see the name you should know this is a scam.
It literally means "for God" in Latin. Next you're going to tell me that some company called probono was a scam and left with all your money too.
11 bucks. But you know that's traceable right?
Somebody cashed out on the craze, left and left the rest a giant "f*ck you". Nice. Pretty much spot on. I can't really blame them.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
It's time to sue slashdot for allowing such "news" to come to the front page!
If the best you've got is attempting (and failing) to taunt someone because of their chosen online account name, you have spectacularly failed at what you set out to accomplish, and you've done it very publicly.
Well done, dipshit.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I'm more amused by the extreme irony of someone who posts AC mocking me for my handle.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I guess they mean Pennies.
... to have a penis? Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
Prodeum... seems to have raised $11
Mark my words, the investors are highly unlikely to see any of their money back.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
is how it's done.