ioRadio #36: Live “State of the Crypto Industry” Roundtable featuring Jake Donoghue, John Reed Stark, David Gerard, Dave Troy, Mark Hays and more!

For this episode we have a “who’s who” of Crypto Critics who have assembled in Twitter Spaces, hosted by author Jake Donoghue, of “Crypto Confidential.” Jake put together a team of prominent people to discuss the current state of the industry, including myself, former SEC cybercrime head, John Reed Stark, journalist David Gerard, tech entrepreneur Dave Troy, senior policy analyst Mark Hays and others. We have a casual conversation about what’s going on in the industry and take some questions.

I apologize for the beginning and ending being cut off – I started recording when I came in and somehow the recording stopped at around the 2 hour mark, but we have almost the entire conversation archived.

Hope you enjoy!

Regarding my counter-argument to the crypto-shitcoin-shilling troll who appeared in the podcast, let me address that… her claim was that ‘blockchain is mainstream’ and IBM is using it. This is a phony narrative that crypto people keep spreading. Here’s the truth on that:

For those wondering whether her claim that “IBM is using blockchain” is legit, no it’s not. Their primary IBM blockchain project that was hyped by crypto bros — still to this day, was a prominent partnership with shipping company Maersk. While the web page promoting the venture still sits online and is cited every day as a “crypto success story” in reality it was cancelled. See: https://www.maersk.com/news/articles/2022/11/29/maersk-and-ibm-to-discontinue-tradelens

Other so-called “blockchain” projects, such as IBM’s “hyperledger” are not actually blockchain – IBM has just borrowed that name and registered their own trademark: “IBM Blockchain®” When you examine what IBM calls “blockchain” it looks nothing like crypto’s version.

IBM’s version is centralized; it’s not permissionless; it’s not public, and there’s no evidence it’s “immutable” in the same manner as crypto blockchain. It’s just a marketing ploy to take advantage of the crypto/blockchain fad.

So if you ask somebody, “What makes blockchain, blockchain?” They’ll give you a list of answers that basically negate whatever IBM is claiming is blockchain, as being anything that resembles what crypto/blockchain people call “blockchain.”

Words mean things. If just labeling something “blockchain” without actually checking to see if it resembles the conventionally-known tech is ok, then we no longer have the ability convey legitimate ideas.

But more importantly, there’s insufficient evidence that any mission-critical apps are using the tech. There’s lots of name-dropping but nothing indicating this is anything more than prototypical. The reason for this is because we know, by design. blockchain is an inferior database system, hamstrung from its birth, abandoned decades ago by real engineers. I prove this in my documentary (see www.BlockchainII.com).

ioRadio #35: Can Bitcoin Help Renewable Energy?

In this episode, I speak with a solar energy company founder about why he’s into Bitcoin and how he thinks it helps the renewable energy industry. We touch on a number of topics including his argument for a best example of why crypto does something better than existing tech. Do you believe he’s right? Does crypto do something positive for the renewable energy industry?

Alex and I spoke for quite awhile. I ended up slightly editing the conversation taking the end part and inserting it at about the 1:20 mark, and then leaving the second half, which is about 2 hours, as an extra segment for anybody who wants to keep listening.

Part 2 is here:

ioRadio #33: Confessions of a Disillusioned Web3 Dev

Today’s guest, whom we’ll refer to by his popular discord handle, “Homestead Hacker”, thought he found his dream job, working in the exciting world of “web3”.

This was supposed to be the cutting edge of emerging technology, involving crypto, blockchain, gaming and more.

Unfortunately our guest realized it didn’t turn out the way he’d imagined. He takes us through his experience working for a web3 gaming company and his realization that the crypto industry isn’t what he originally thought.

ioRadio #32: Crypto Debate: Can Bitcoin Save Society (and energy?)

As part of our outreach to engage and educate people in the crypto community, this is another in our “debate a crypto bro” series. We encourage people in the crypto industry to open a dialogue and exchange ideas and arguments to better understand all sides of this “industry.”

In today’s episode I talk with “Dr. Rob”, a veterinarian in New Zealand who wants to discuss what he believes are the strongest arguments for Bitcoin’s utility. This is part 2 of a 2 part series. In this final part, we discuss another “use case” for Bitcoin involving issues relating to energy.

For more visit our web site at https://ioRadio.org

IORadio #30: Jake Donoghue, Author of “Crypto Confidential: An Insider’s Account From The Frontlines Of Fraud.”

I speak with author and former crypto industry insider, Jake Donoghue about his new book, “Crypto Confidential: An Insider’s Account From The Frontlines Of Fraud.” In this book, Jake talks about his time working on launching a crypto company and then pivoting to start an agency that helps launch other crypto projects. He pulls no punches in describing the multi-layered fraud and deception which seems to encompass every aspect of the industry.

Details on the book:

From Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crypto-Confidential-Insiders-Account-Frontlines/dp/1803996188


https://books.google.com/books/about/Crypto_Confidential.html?id=N0cJEQAAQBAJ

IORadio #27: A Follow-Up Conversation With A Crypto Unicorn (Part 2)

You’ve heard the stories about people who go “all in” on Bitcoin.

These are the “pink unicorns” of investing.

Does it make sense to put all your eggs in one crypto basket?

Well, we talk to one guy who’s done that, and try to explain why that might be a bad idea.

It’s been a few weeks and there’s been some interest to check back in with our infamous crypto unicorn who has gone “all in” on Bitcoin and see if our last discussion had any impact on his outlook.

I also dive a little deeper into how his crypto adoption has manifested and how much actual experience he’s had testing the exchanges to see if he can get his “money” back?

There are some very interesting and/or shocking revelations towards the end.

Be sure to leave your comments and let us know what you think?

IORadio #25 – NuMb3R g0 uP! – Addressing common crypto talking points series

In this episode, in addition to commenting about the current state of the bitcoin bump and how that affects our online communities, we take advantage of the recent pump of bitcoin to talk about a common talking point: “Number go up” – is it the most important metric in all of crypto? It might be, but does it mean that we’re wrong in our criticisms? Not at all and we’ll explain why.

IORadio #24 – Who Watches The Watchers?

Sal discusses an investigative piece he’s published on questions and concerns over crypto news entity, “Protos” and the “Crypto Critics”, Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancy who are on their payroll.

Are some of the most prominent “crypto critics” in media double agents? Pretending to be critical of crypto when instead they’re lap dogs for the industry? Sal chronicles an interesting turn of events that manifested over several months that led him to look into who’s behind some of the work penned by the people behind the “Crypto Critics Podcast.”

UPDATE NOTE that this podcast was recorded before the “Crypto Critics” released their most recent podcast where they actually claimed Tether was fully-backed. So before we made this public, there’s even more evidence of some questionable conflicts of interest.

Also, new details will be listed after the video and podcast links below – check them out:

UPDATE

This podcast was recorded last week. A number of things have come to light since then, and we’ll continue to update this page with new developments and citations.

First and foremost, as mentioned in the podcast, many of us have been trying to reach out to the CCC (crypto critics corner) people for some time to talk about various issues, and have been ghosted. This has resulted in more of an adversarial relationship than we would have preferred, but it is what it is. However, we finally got Bennett to, at least someone respond to our inquiries in their Discord the other day. Unfortunately, most of our inquiries that were the subject of this podcast and Sal’s article, remain unanswered — in fact, when pressed to identify who the mysterious “co-found of Protos” is, Bennett quickly exited the conversation and was no longer heard from.

One thing we did get from the short interaction was an official statement on their stance on certain issues of import: “Are you pro crypto/blockchain?” Here’s what he said:

The “crypto critics” do not think Bitcoin is a ponzi. They think Tether is fully backed. They continue to harp an unproven narrative that “blockchain has potential” despite no evidence of this in the last 15 years. Suffice to say, the fact that they are employed by a company who is run by both a mysterious co-founder they won’t identify, and another co-founder who clearly benefits from further proliferation of the crypto industry, the writing is on the wall. In our opinion, the “crypto critics” are more double agents, working for the crypto industry, than they are independent free-thinkers who can be relied upon to report the truth to the public. As always, you make up your own mind on this, but we find their insistence on promoting certain narratives in lieu of legitimate evidence, very disconcerting and deceptive.

We’ve extended them an invitation to appear on our podcast at any time and defend their position, and have offered ourselves on theirs as well, but based on their demeanor and past behavior, it’s unlikely there will be any good faith debate on the subject. We will remain open to it however. Let it be known, that myself and Sal are available to answer any questions – we are not going to disappear or ghost anybody that asks something uncomfortable. The same apparently can’t be said for the “crypto critics.”

And to make things clear… here are OUR disclosures (as if there was any confusion)

1. Blockchain is an inferior, obsolete technology that does nothing better than existing non-blockchain technology (and Adam produced an entire award-winning documentary detailing the evidence to back up this claim that the crypto critics will not even acknowledge exists).

2. There is inadequate credible evidence that USDT/Tether is “fully backed.” There’s an industry standard way to remove doubt on this issue: having an independent audit done by a reputable accounting firm. Tether has refused to submit to this basic industry standard. That’s all anybody needs to know as far as the credibility of their claims. And in our opinion (which is likely echoed by any professional with knowledge of ethical accounting procedures) it is irresponsible to parrot any claim to the contrary in lieu of this standard audit.

3. As we’ve reported on and researched in detail before, the operational model that treats Bitcoin (or any cryptocurrency) as an “investment” is functionally identical to a Ponzi scheme. The notion that bitcoin is a Ponzi is not a fringe opinion. It is echoed by many other experts across both computer science and finance industries, as well as governments.

So there you have it. In our opinion, it’s misleading to label oneself a “crypto critic” yet continue to parrot certain narratives that are not at all critical of crypto, but in fact, extremely un-critical of the industry, to the point where large swaths of undeniable evidence is wholly ignored (which explains CCC’s unwillingness to call attention to the documentary, “Blockchain – Innovation or Illusion?” and their unwillingness to have an honest, unfiltered debate on the subject.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones…

As always, think critically… and often. And watch the watchers. That’s what we’ll be doing.