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Ethereum Startup Vanishes After Seemingly Making $11, Leaves Message: 'Penis' (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the came-and-went dept.

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...

65 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Penis.

    1. Re:Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Mod parent erect

    2. Re:Penis. by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I wonder where my pen is.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    3. Re:Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The penis: mightier than the sword.

    4. Re:Penis. by Wescotte · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't want to think about my parent having an erection thank you very much.

    5. Re:Penis. by arth1 · · Score: 1

      You're the one who submitted this "story", and felt a need to add your wit in the comments too? It wasn't inane enough?

    6. Re: Penis. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Too late.

    7. Re:Penis. by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Yeah, grandparent neither!

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    8. Re:Penis. by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Point taken.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    9. Re:Penis. by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      It wasn't inane enough?

      And yet you commented as well ...

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    10. Re:Penis. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's on an island. Next to Megaflicks and KidsExchange.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    11. Re:Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Shouldn't this be modded informative??? Thanks to this post I didn't have to click the link to their homepage.

    12. Re:Penis. by denzacar · · Score: 1

      "Raised" would be more appropriate to the story.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    13. Re: Penis. by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      You win.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    14. Re:Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Penis.

      Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.

    15. Re:Penis. by ngc5194 · · Score: 1

      Your penis mightier, does it work?

    16. Re: Penis. by Cryacin · · Score: 1

      And yet the rest of the world thinks about it on a daily basis...

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    17. Re:Penis. by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 1

      You're sitting on a gold mine Trebec!

      --
      Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
    18. Re:Penis. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      That's what she said.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    19. Re:Penis. by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      No, it's not inane enough.

      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...

      That's a great observation. And the crudely-drawn cock and balls on the side of this building is probably an advertisement for the urologist a few blocks away.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    20. Re:Penis. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      You don't want to think of your Mummy having an erection? But you do want to think about your daddy having an erection.

      Get this man to a psychologist and a lombotomy theatre, STAT!

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  2. What by Topwiz · · Score: 5, Funny

    A dick!

  3. I wants my $11 back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How do I get my $11 back???

    1. Re:I wants my $11 back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Send them a subpenis

    2. Re: I wants my $11 back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seems like a flaccid suggestion.

    3. Re: I wants my $11 back by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Come now, it does make a vast difference

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re: I wants my $11 back by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Come now, it does make a vast difference

      I'm not too drunk to have caught that joke. I should probably drink more.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:I wants my $11 back by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Make a Discharge-back with your bank?

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  4. the cryptocurrency bubble by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    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
    1. Re:the cryptocurrency bubble by OldMugwump · · Score: 2

      Either that, or not. One or the other. Never can tell.

      --
      "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."
  5. Cost of Story by Moblaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:Cost of Story by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      You're right! I'm pissed about getting shafted! I mean, $11 for penis? That sucks balls because they could have just asked google for penis and gotten it free! ;)

      hehe peepee.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Cost of Story by JoshuaZ · · Score: 1

      Well, they are going to get click through simply from some people wondering if the $11 was a typo and they meant some larger quantity. Also, to put this in perspective in the last few days, there have been submissions for Rocket Lab's successful test of the kick stage rocket(my own submission) as well as a submission from someone else about Ariane 5's launch anomaly, both of which were apparently declined. If I go to the Firehose from a few days ago, I imagine I'll see many similar things getting zero coverage.

    3. Re:Cost of Story by inking · · Score: 2

      As opposed to all the other productive stuff you read about here.

    4. Re:Cost of Story by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      As far as I know, I'm the only one on here who actually reads anything.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    5. Re:Cost of Story by denzacar · · Score: 1

      but I'm wondering how this was deemed either news for nerds or stuff that matters?

      Handling penises is a traditional pastime for nerds, and most of the humanity. Entire human culture is built around a penis.

      Also, something something cryptocurrency something something bubble.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    6. Re:Cost of Story by sheramil · · Score: 1

      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.

      *interested* How did you arrive at that $25,000 figure? The number of "penis" posts multiplied by how long it took to post each one, multiplied by, what? An estimate of the wage of the average slashdotter?

    7. Re:Cost of Story by asylumx · · Score: 1

      He just pulled it out of his pants.

    8. Re:Cost of Story by Eloking · · Score: 1

      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.

      Citation needed!

      And it's a funny story with a very funny /. comment section. Help with my morale for the day.

      --
      Elok
    9. Re:Cost of Story by SoulRider · · Score: 1

      Your new here aren't you? They said...Penis! hehehehe

  6. I'm struggling to see why this matters by JoshuaZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

      It seems like a challenge to me now. Surely I could do better than $11, right?

      I seriously doubt I'll follow through on this, but if I really tried, I should be able to scam more than $11 out of gullible people. I should be able to get at least...$24!

      And cryptocurrency is how I could make it happen because people don't understand it. I don't even understand it exactly. But I know "blockchain"is a selling point so I'll have to incorporate that into my cryptocoins - which will need a really catchy name. I think ByteCoin sounds good because bytes are bigger than bits. And when you wanted someone to pay you in ByteCoin you could just say "Byte Me"

      I meant all that in jest, but now I'm seriously wondering what it would take to set up my own crypto-coin.

      There are several billion people using the internet and a lot of them are stupid. Unfortunately a lot of them are poor too, but I should be able to get more than $11.

      Maybe I could even become a Slashdot headline someday!

    2. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      There already is a ByteCoin.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      How can a zero-knowledge proof system solve double-spending?

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    4. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      BTW, thanks for being the first procrypto person to actually respond with a link when asked.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    5. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

      Well that sucks. And I was going to suggest maybe a Nibble Coin too, but apparently someone had that idea already also.

      https://coinmarketcap.com/curr...

    6. Re:I'm struggling to see why this matters by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Hopefully it's the start of a trend where people have woken up to the fact that ICOs are scams and companies can't raise millions of dollars just by changing their name to "Cypto [oldname] Blockchain [meme]" any more.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  7. I see. OK listen carefully, this is important: by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 1

    Grow the fuck up.

  8. And yet, by Snufu · · Score: 5, Funny

    their customer service is still rate better than Comcast.

  9. Come get some by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    PeNiS

  10. Why is this news? by mferrare · · Score: 1

    Just asking.

    --
    Why would anyone want to use a text editor that is not vi?
    1. Re:Why is this news? by arth1 · · Score: 1

      It happened recently.
      Not that much happened, but I guess references to genitalia is enough for some?

    2. Re:Why is this news? by Guignol · · Score: 1

      Parce que biteCoins...

  11. Another cogent department name by Two99Point80 · · Score: 1

    Who at /. comes up with... I mean thinks up... those things? I have great, ongoing appreciation for them.

  12. Why is this news? by grahamsaa · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.
  13. Cool story by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    "...Confido...Prodeum..."

    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.
    1. Re:Cool story by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      That's "elephantiasis".

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  14. The reason for the penis message by Khyber · · Score: 1

    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.
  15. No one can say by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    They were M.T Gox.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    1. Re:No one can say by Megane · · Score: 1

      I could say they were Empty Gox.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    2. Re:No one can say by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      I'm glad someone got the joke.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  16. Nice. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    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
    1. Re:Nice. by Khashishi · · Score: 1

      They didn't exactly cash out. $11 probably doesn't cover their expenses. Rather, this was probably some kind of satire of the crypto community. If so, it's fully apt.

  17. Isn't it awfully nice... by cmdr_klarg · · Score: 1

    ... to have a penis? Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?

    --
    THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
  18. Burned by sacrilicious · · Score: 1

    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.