The latest pyramid scheme? "Initiative Q"

Alright. Fine. Another ICO.

DISCLAIMER, BEFORE WE BEGIN.

Dear Q devs, should you read this:

I am not going into your Slack. I am not going into your Discord. I am going to read your website for about fifteen minutes, and determine how scammy your ICO looks.

<3, Tyson

Let us begin.

There’s a standard set of things you should look for when someone first does an initial coin offering.

The first is ‘particles.js’. particles.js - A lightweight JavaScript library for creating particles Any time you see this in an ICO, just close the window. Luckily, we don’t see it here. Awesome!

The second thing we do is we look to see what their ‘team’ looks like. We don’t even need to know what the ICO is about yet.

Initiative Q

OK, I’m impressed thus far. They claim the founder made a thing that Paypal bought for $169 million, and this actually seems to be true! I can’t find any immediate red flags.

Alright, let’s keep reading. It’s a payment system this guy wants to set up. Not exactly in line with his previous advances, but..alright.

Let’s scroll down a little, and..

Initiative Q - Why do I need an invitation?

So, basically, we’re forming a pyramid here, for some reason. There’s some babble over a trust network, but the entire point of blockchain transactions is that you aren’t supposed to need trust at any point.

“For example, if a buyer is purchasing a high-value item, it is important to verify that their account was not taken over. In that case, another member who has a trust relationship with the buyer can be asked to check that the buyer is aware of the transaction.” - From their FAQ.

Wait, what? So if I’m buying a TV, the payment system doesn’t ask me to verify my identity. No, the seller can pick whoever invited me to tell me whether it’s legitimate. So if my girlfriend signs me up, and we break up, she can literally invalidate any of my large transactions for all time?

What?

OK, well, that’s..arguably something fixable later. Let’s not get too shaken. It’s fun to make fun of these, but we have to dig deep to find the good stuff.

And okay. It’s not DIRECTLY a pyramid scheme. They’re saying there’s a bigger reward for being in early. Good job. I like when figuring out the scam is a puzzle.

“Why can’t I invite more people?

We want the whole world to join, so early access invites are limited. This helps ensure a diverse representation and avoids concentrating the rewards among a small clique.”

Increase adoption by limiting entry.

Okay.

Notably, you can’t just sign up. Actually getting your reward requires you to go out and shill that coin hard, and they /will/ open purchases against other currencies once the payment thing opens. This is a red flag here.

So the earlier you sign up, the more of this currency you get. IE, the maximum amount of this currency is going to the devs and their closest circle of friends.

Guys, I made fun of Mochimo because their devs were premining 4% for themselves. I scrolled down. These kids are keeping 10% for their ‘payment network development’, and 10% for their ‘monetary committe’. Guys, that’s 20% of this currency going to them and their besties, not even counting anyone who signs up early.

Also worth noting is that this currency is apparently fully premined. Which I’ll actually treat as a good thing. Proof of Work is ecologically disastrous.

Now, their network offers fraud protection. That’s unusual. Hallmark of blockchain decentralization is the complete lack of fraud protection. Is the fraud protection the thing where they can ask the guy who invited you if you really intend to buy it?

Now, since they’re implementing KYC here, their suggestion they’ll somehow implement credit is fascinating.

“Economic models show that if Initiative Q succeeds and the Q payment network becomes a leading payment method, then eventually all of the Qs reserved for members will be released while still maintaining this 1:1 exchange with USD.”

Hold up. Once you’re done shilling, and you’re an early adopter, you will get your money. Eventually. Based on an algorithm. That said, they’re selling them against other cryptocurrencies right out the gate….hm. Fascinating!

OK, so what this is currently boiling down to is something like Paypal, but you’ll get a bonus for shilling the service as hard as you can before it opens.

“Cryptocurrency is a brilliant solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

HAHAHA HAHA

okay

okay they’re right I mean

that’s pretty good actually, it’s probably worth noting this honestly isn’t a cryptocurrency, since it’s not mined, and isn’t based on decentralization or a blockchain. I’m not saying this isn’t a scam. Heck, you can’t even spend money to get in. It’s not an ICO.

…

I, uh, hm, actually.

OK, so it’s a centralized payment network that uses its own currency for…some reason, sure, made by a guy who’s produced an actual meaningful product before. I….nnn. Okay I mean, I might have to back off a little.

Actually, yeah, they specifically say it’s not a cryptocurrency. Okay.

Okay. Okay, fine, you got me. You know what?

Other than ‘this might fail and be awkward, and it’ll make the creators a lot of money I guess’, I actually..don’t hate this one.

Edit: ..though I can’t quite figure out why the ‘potential money I’ll make’ keeps starting at exactly $140,169 whenever I refresh. If it’s based on time, shouldn’t it ALWAYS be ticking down..?

Knoyleo wrote:I barely understand what's in the OP.

Dowbocop wrote:One of my mates is in on this and is offering up invites. He's interested in this sort of thing, he was telling me he has a few Bitcoin last time we met up for a beer. I'm going nowhere near it.

Knoyleo wrote:I barely understand what's in the OP.

Pacman wrote:

Dowbocop wrote:One of my mates is in on this and is offering up invites. He's interested in this sort of thing, he was telling me he has a few Bitcoin last time we met up for a beer. I'm going nowhere near it.

If he has a "few bitcoin" that's like 10k plus I have a small amount of money in some cryptocurrencies but honestly I'm not knowledgeable, I just consider it a bet/gamble where that money could easily be lost. Initiative Q seems bizarre because all it wants is an email address for actual money one day and I can't find anybody saying it's a con job. Anyway, thread was worth it just for the memes

I didn't put my invite link because I didn't wanna be "that guy" but if people want to OM me I have ALL FIVE left because I didn't even want to spam the cretins on FB I never talk to.

Preezy wrote:Staggering that people are still duped into these things.

Wheat and chessboard, people. Wheat and chessboard.

This is a new currency and payment network built by ex-PayPal guys, called Initiative Q. The Q currency is currently being allocated for free if you are invited by an existing member.
The idea is that if millions of people join, Q could become a leading payment network, and, according to well-known economic models, that means the value of the reward would be around $130,000.
The amount you reserve decreases every day, and each member has a limited number of invites. You can use my invite link here:
https://initiativeq.com/invite/BbCOM5Aom
(Don’t worry. No funny stuff. You just need to give your name and email and your spot is reserved).

Moggy wrote:

Preezy wrote:Staggering that people are still duped into these things.

Wheat and chessboard, people. Wheat and chessboard.

You can make money from wheat and chessboards? How? Can I sign up? I'll sign up 20 others! If they sign up another 20, can I get more money?

Why are you keeping this to yourself? Let us all in!