Experts Raise Warnings about Steve Bannon's New Cryptocurrency

[groundloop]

Source: Mother Jones

Last month, Steve Bannon, the former Trump campaign manager and White House strategist, announced his participation in a new venture: a cryptocurrency marketed to Joe Biden haters and Donald Trump devotees. He and Boris Epshteyn, another ex-Trump adviser, boasted that they had taken a “strategic ownership position” in a crypto coin called $FJB. That stands for Fuck Joe Biden.

On his podcast, Bannon began talking up the coin, of which they both had acquired significant amounts, as a “currency for the MAGA movement.” During one episode, Epshteyn hailed the $FJB coin as a tool to help Trump fanatics “let your feelings, your primal disapproval, your primal disgust with Biden be heard.” But $FJB buyers might want to beware. Not only does every purchase bolster the value of Bannon’s and Epshteyn’s holdings, crypto experts say the currency is designed in a way that affords its operators an usual amount of discretion in blocking owners of coins from selling their tokens—a power that could cause problems for investors.

[snip]

The code for $FJB allows the currency’s operators to manually lock an owner’s token balance, an unusual practice in a space that aims to avoid centralized authority. This would prevent an owner from selling coins, according to Simon de la Rouvier, who reviewed the code for Mother Jones. De la Rouvier is a digital artist and co-author of ERC-20, a coding standard used to program contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, which supports Ether, a cryptocurrency second only to Bitcoin in market capitalization.

De la Rouvier points out that this restriction doesn’t apply to the operators of $FJB. “They can transfer as much as they want, whenever,” he says. De la Rouvier outlines a possible scenario: If $FJB’s price started to drop, the coin’s operators could freeze some token holders from selling to prevent a further spiral, while the operators remain free to sell off their own coins. By the time locked investors regained access, their tokens could be worth much less.



Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/01/steve-bannon-boris-epshteyn-fjb-crypto/?fbclid=IwAR0LIVF8XP6mC3wbAaD1Fu9b_Msxe6DBm572KFyuyDjvGwClJ4z2R0zfIzI

---

There is much much more in the linked article. The bottom line is that Bannon has found a new grift and is ripping off 45's followers again.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Can't sell your shares? Autocratic Investing just screams free-dumb /nt

[GB_RN]

2. So, We First Have The LGB Crypto

And now we have FBJ crypto, started by Bannon? What's with this shit? Can any asshole and his mother's dog start up a crypto currency? I've always been leery of crypto, but if this is the case, it confirms to me that cryptocurrencies are nothing but a fucking scam, and most likely a pyramid scheme.

[Initech]

10. I have too, it's the modern day equivalent of the gold rush.

And just like the real gold rush, the ones who were really getting rich were the ones selling the mining equipment.

[GB_RN]

15. Yep.

But these people think of themselves as "temporarily inconvenienced billionaires", rather than what they obviously are: Working stiffs, like the rest of us. I've literally had to tell a couple of these people line about there being two types of people in this world: "There are the truly rich, and those who aren't. If you have to check your wallet to see which one you are, well..."

But they still seem convinced that they're going to join the 1% just as soon as that Lotto ticket or whatever, comes along...any day now. 🤦?♂️. All you can do is 🙄 and walk away.

[Initech]

19. And the blockchain bros aren't on our side either.

These are the people who won the crypto lottery and people who you wouldn't trust with 15 cents, let alone $15 million.

[GB_RN]

21. Nope.

I wouldn't trust those guys any more than I'd trust Fuckerberg with my private information!😂

[IronLionZion]

16. Still might be a good play today

to invest in the technology used for mining cryptocurrency rather than the actual cryptocurrency

[Initech]

18. Yeah NVIDIA and AMD would be great investments right now!

[dixiechiken1]

27. I'm with you...

It's not regulated and I don't trust it. AT ALL. This is just further confirmation that my skepticism is warranted.

[smb]

32. Yep!

Yep, pretty much any mother's dog's asshole can start their own cryptocurrency.

[Mawspam2]

56. As of today, there are 8000+ cryptocurrencies.

Yes, any one can create a crypto coin. It may be completely ill-liquid, but who cares? They are all a grift.

[GB_RN]

57. That Was Kinda Where I Was Going With My Question

Being that they were all more or less some kind of scam. Anything Batshit Bannon is involved in is definitely a scam, though. No two ways about it.

[DBoon]

58. It's like starting a bank pre-Lincoln presidency

after Andrew Jackson ended the original banking system:

https://www.factmonster.com/math/money/brief-history-us-banking

When the second Bank of the United States went out of business in 1832, state governments took over the job of supervising banks. This supervision often proved inadequate. In those days banks made loans by issuing their own currency. These bank notes were supposed to be convertible, on demand, to cash?hat is, to gold or silver. It was the job of the bank examiner to visit the bank and certify that it had enough cash on hand to redeem its outstanding currency. Because this was not always done, many bank note holders found themselves stuck with worthless paper. It was sometimes difficult or impossible to detect which notes were sound and which were not, because of their staggering variety.

By 1860 more than 10,000 different bank notes circulated throughout the country. Commerce suffered as a result. Counterfeiting was epidemic. Hundreds of banks failed. Throughout the country there was an insistent demand for a uniform national currency acceptable anywhere without risk.

In other words, a libertarian paradise.

Cryptocurrencies are trying to recreate this original Eden-like state.

[reACTIONary]

60. Yes, any asshole can....

... there is a site that can be used to set one up and start operations in about five minutes. I read an article by someone who did it just to show what a scam it is.

[Lonestarblue]

3. You really have to be clueless to invest any money with anyone in Trump's crowd.

They are all crooks and liars.

[Rachel M at 6 pm]

4. I don't understand why Mother Jones would want to warn the Biden haters about the danger of $FJB

The more division among them, the better.

[groundloop]

12. I seriously doubt if any of those folks would ever read Mother Jones......

Their articles are more than two paragraphs.

[intheflow]

5. Bannon, et al, creating new Confederate currency.

That's what the headline should read. Who the fuck cares about how MAGAbots' investments fare? It's a given Bannon is looking to fleece the sheeple to line his own pockets, and they'll willingly get screwed on multiple levels.

But creating a currency targeted to secessionists? That's the story I want to read.

[SouthernDem4ever]

39. economic sedition

sounds like a jailable offense to me.

[keithbvadu2]

53. Scarlett O'Hara's father had plenty of money... in Confederate bonds.

Scarlett O'Hara's father had plenty of money... in Confederate bonds.

[Midnight Writer]

6. Epshteyn is pronounced ep-shteen, not ep-steen. Most people don't know that.

[smb]

33. "That's FRONK-en-steen!" nt

[Hieronymus Phact]

35. Suggestion box:

This board really needs a way to quietly Like something.

[not fooled]

7. Separating maggots from their money?

No problem here.

As pointed out above, how dumb do you have to be to buy sketchy investments from congealed ectoplasm entity Bannon?

[Bayard]

8. I have no problem with him fleecing MAGAts

Less money for them to put toward sedition, and maybe it will finally dawn on them after all their money is gone, that they are being ripped off.

[YP_Yooper]

13. Hell, I'd do it too

but if you can't sell?!??

[calimary]

49. Neither do I, except for how it inevitably lines his pockets.

I don’t want anything for Steve Bannon except a nice long prison sentence. And take away his ability to communicate.

[ZonkerHarris]

9. Trumphumpers are such suckers.

[texasfiddler]

11. MAGA-SUCKERS!

I guess they have forgotten what Bannon was pardoned for? Or they just don’t care?

[NCjack]

36. There are 3 MAGA-suckers born every minute.

[Botany]

62. Sending a crook like Steve Bannon real money to invest into phony currency that will work out ...

... just like all those idiots who invested into Bannon's "build the wall fund" which he used to
buy his way onto this which is owned by a Chinese billionaire crook:




Christ he was already arrested on fraud charges and would be in prison if it wasn't for TFG's pardon.

https://nypost.com/2020/08/20/steve-bannon-was-arrested-on-chinese-billionaires-28m-yacht/ NY Post I know

[Calista241]

14. Anyone who buys any of this is just flat out one of the crazies.

I mean, unless you just feel like giving your money to Steve Bannon. But if you actually want to make an investment or expect any kind of return, you're crazy to consider this.

[TheBlackAdder]

17. Buy it first few minutes and dump it later in the day to fleece MAGAts out of some cash.

.

Gotta do the dump before Trump & Bannon's flunkies profiteer from the rubes.

.

[Maeve]

20. So. Shocked. So. Very..

Who am I kidding....it was always going to be a summer's game.

[Dopers_Greed]

22. He's trying to follow in the steps of that DWAC stock

Basically a pump and dump to enrich himself.

[BlueIdaho]

23. The fact that Bannon can easily manipulate this "coin"

Proves it doesn’t pass the test to be called a “currency.”

[FakeNoose]

24. All Bannon wants is your credit card number

You didn't think you were gonna get those bitcoins for FREE, did you?

[TygrBright]

25. Gee, ya THINK? A scam artist offers something as scammy as cryptocurrency?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

LOL...

amusedly,
Bright

[Eugene]

26. Bannon parting gullible MAGA faithful from their money -- *again*.

grifters gonna grift

[Missn-Hitch]

28. Good for them. I am always looking for business strategies to take their money too.

[llashram]

29. all of the trump inner circle

are con artists and grifters. May those who participate in such a venture lose their shirts. And I mean torn to shreds with bleeding claw marks...sorry for the anger. I am so sick of these clowns and how gullible RW Americans are to be deceived by these crooks. It's almost like they want to be cheated...

[brush]

30. Crypto currencies are a crap shoot as it is so anyone who trusts...

Last edited Wed Jan 19, 2022, 04:02 PM - Edit history (1)

that crook Bannon is behind is just throwing their money away.

[Slammer]

31. bannon

They'll probably end up telling you that the freeze option is to protect their investors from liberal pump-and-dump schemes.

And honestly, introducing any partisan currency opens up the possibility of the other side doing pump-and-dump schemes.

But Bannon's history of scamming his own supporters make it extremely likely that sooner or later the "protection mechanisms" will be used for his personal financial benefit at the expense of everyone else whether the currency is outrageously successful or outrageously scammerific.

[smb]

34. Those Liberals Can't Pull Pump-and-Dump Schemes With This Currency!

Only we can pull pump-and-dump schemes with this currency!

[AverageOldGuy]

37. " . . . Bannon . . . is ripping off Trump followers . . . "

And that's a GOOD THING!!! KEEP IT UP, STEVE, KEEP IT UP!!!

[calimary]

50. Well, when you put it THAT way...

[CanonRay]

38. Grifters know their marks

[MontanaMama]

40. Bannon was quite successful in grifting millions

from tRump rubes for the fake border wall. I imagine he will be successful in this venture too. We're talking about the lowest common denominator when it comes to the idiots who buy into this crap.

[relayerbob]

41. I think all GQPpers ought to invest everything they own into it immediately

[oasis]

42. MAGidiots and their money will soon be parted.

[BradBo]

43. That sounds like a Ponzi scheme. If he make one dime off that I bet it's illegal on a federal level.

[ananda]

44. IOW, a big grift to avoid at all costs.

I hope trumpers buy a lot and go bankrupt.

Am I evii ???

[NBachers]

45. And once it collapses, it'll be all Joe Biden's fault.

[Snackshack]

46. How do these

People continue to have the ability to keep doing all they can to hurt the country.

As surprised as I am that the GOP has gone as far as it has to follow DT down, even staying silent and basically giving DT cover…a man who openly admitted he lied about the danger of COVID to “play it down” which has resulted in over 850,000 dead Americans then put all of their lives in danger with his attempted Coup… I am equally surprised at how they have been allowed to continue to do as they please for a year now to do all they can to damage Dems, President Biden the Country and its Citizens.

[paleotn]

47. Cryptocurrency is bullshit to begin with so, so what?

As soon as crypto starts to seriously impact nation state's ability to manage their own currencies, central banks will squash it and nation states will outlaw it. That should have been done years ago.

[oasis]

48. Exactamundo!

[calimary]

51. I'm no expert on it but I do recognize a bad smell when I sense it.

Then again, it’s a safe assumption that if that asshole is pushing it, it’s DEFINITELY suspect. DEEPLY suspect.

[muriel_volestrangler]

52. Anyone Who Has Heard of Him Raise Warnings about Steve Bannon's New Cryptocurrency

I mean, the man conned the true Trump supporters over a Mexican wall. I'd be astounded if he's ever involved in an honest business adventure again (no-one sensible would partner with him, after all - his fellow con-artists still face charges, after he skipped free).

[keithbvadu2]

54. Glenn Beck selling gold... coins that were way over-priced.

Many elderly right wingers trusted him and 'invested'.

[Paladin]

55. As if I'd trust ANYTHING associated with Bannon. (nt)

[rockfordfile]

59. crypto is a danger to American democracy and jobs. No surprise Boris Epshteyn anti-American pos

No surprise Boris Epshteyn anti-American pos. He's the pos that gave anti-American speeches on Sinclair.

It's because of crypto that graphics cards are over priced and have practically zero availability. It's because of crypto we have a computer chip shortage. Using something like graphics cards for that crap instead for its intended purpose is a form of corruption.

[C Moon]

61. Is it called Creepto?

[jmowreader]

63. Let me guess

Next time Trump decides to overthrow the government, he’ll pay his minions in Bannoncoin instead of Bitcoin.

A couple of people I work with are “investing” in Bitcoin. They asked me if I invest in it.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Two reasons: it’s not stable, and the only thing you can do with it is fund criminal activity.”

[prodigitalson]

64. I hope he gets lots of investors nt