“You really, really don’t want to get involved in this. But, there is some good news, it’s worth $0.00000.” It’s an unusual sales pitch, even in the world of cryptocurrencies based on bitcoin’s code— called altcoins , or sometimes “tokens” when they’re built on top of bitcoin’s existing blockchain—where even stuff like digital money based on a dog meme can get off the ground. But Reddit user “AmadeusGoodrich” is sticking with it: They’re trying to give away an admittedly worthless token they just created called Zohar to anybody who wants some. They’ve minted 1,000,000 of these tokens, according to a Reddit post on Thursday that announced the giveaway. AmadeusGoodrich will unload 100,000 at a time to anybody who wants them. Why? Why not! "It’s a pyramid scheme, just like your day job" It’s unclear what, exactly, is going on here, but it sure looks like an acerbic piss-take on how easy it is these days to create a brand new virtual currency and drum up some fleeting value before cashing out. Sites like Counterparty , which AmadeusGoodrich used to create Zohar, are set up to allow anybody to create a new token within the bitcoin blockchain. Or maybe it’s just some brazen reverse psychology. Whatever’s happening, at least they seem to be having fun. “Common [ sic ] guys, it’s a pyramid scheme, just like your day job,” AmadeusGoodrich wrote. “Let’s get rich! Next person who gives an address gets 100,000 coins.” Altcoins and tokens are worthless until enough people buy in to give them some actual value. As a result, new coins are often accused of “pumping” so that whoever’s behind them can inflate their coin’s price before an eventual “dump.” Some bitcoin observers have ascribed the failure of most altcoins to compete with bitcoin proper to this […]
