Gold gateway

[Stan]

I think what he did was terrible and inexcusable. However, and this is just my personal speculation, it may be very difficult to convict on criminal charges if no written contract was signed. I know the funds to buy the inventory were provided through crypto as well, making it that much harder to prove who (real world identity) received the funds.

Gentso was no dummy. I have no clue how long he was planning this, perhaps after the lack-luster response to cryptosmith which he and jsidhu worked hard to create, he could see it wasn't going anywhere and saw an opportunity to make off the gold with minimal risk. IMHO his intentions were (at least initially) to deliver a valuable service to the BitShares ecosystem. He was in contact with a lot of gold dealers, trying to wheel and deal a solid business out of this project. When that changed I can't really say.

I do recall asking him in June if Stan indicated any type of time limit on the funds or indicated he wanted to have the inventory returned. Gentso told me he pitched the deal as a long term proposition and there was no set timeframes, aside from the schedule to complete the development of the cryptosmith website, which the initial seed money funded.

Gentso and I talked quite regularly as that development was underway, and from my outside perspective that aspect of the project was managed well. In fact I believe the site was up and running ahead of schedule. He had nothing but praise for jsidhu.

I have a complete log of the agreement (including payment confirmation) in writing.
Where he made his mistake was suddenly severing all ties and disappearing with the loot.
(even abandoning his delegate position with the BitShares community.)
Then refusing to accept registered letters from us at old and new addresses.
It shows intent to defraud and consciousness of guilt.

[Thom]

I think what he did was terrible and inexcusable. However, and this is just my personal speculation, it may be very difficult to convict on criminal charges if no written contract was signed. I know the funds to buy the inventory were provided through crypto as well, making it that much harder to prove who (real world identity) received the funds.

Gentso was no dummy. I have no clue how long he was planning this, perhaps after the lack-luster response to cryptosmith which he and jsidhu worked hard to create, he could see it wasn't going anywhere and saw an opportunity to make off the gold with minimal risk. IMHO his intentions were (at least initially) to deliver a valuable service to the BitShares ecosystem. He was in contact with a lot of gold dealers, trying to wheel and deal a solid business out of this project. When that changed I can't really say.

I do recall asking him in June if Stan indicated any type of time limit on the funds or indicated he wanted to have the inventory returned. Gentso told me he pitched the deal as a long term proposition and there was no set timeframes, aside from the schedule to complete the development of the cryptosmith website, which the initial seed money funded.

Gentso and I talked quite regularly as that development was underway, and from my outside perspective that aspect of the project was managed well. In fact I believe the site was up and running ahead of schedule. He had nothing but praise for jsidhu.

[Stan]

The poor guy is looking at up to seven years in jail for felony grand theft, if I understand the laws of PA and VA correctly.
Maybe somebody can wise him up.  Not too late to turn this around.

[bytemaster]

There are others who lost big time however, to the tune of $50K.

I have missed that. Who was that? I3?

Yes.  We lent him the capital for the gold inventory.  Then he ran.  I would very much support a community led campaign to track him down and pressure him into refunding the money.   I will offer a bounty of 50% to anyone who can track it down, the other 50% will be put toward improving BTS.

[fuzzy]

I concur that it isn't likely to be very successful within the BitShares ecosystem.

Gentso was my former partner as a 1.0 era delegate. His cryptosmith site was operational from April until July and he never had a single sale from inside or outside of the community. I was about to make my first purchase and he dropped off the face of the map before I could place an order. It was a shocking turn of events for me personally, but fortunately I didn't loose any money by him.

There are others who lost big time however, to the tune of $50K.

I say we go after him and make his life "interesting" until he goves it back along with a full apology.  it could be as simple as 100 people signing up to a list that states they will each call his house each day asking for the money he stole...

if done for a long enough period of time...one never knows...

[tonyk]

There are others who lost big time however, to the tune of $50K.

I have missed that. Who was that? I3?

[btswildpig]

He hasn't answered any of our attempts to contact him.

Perhaps one of you would like to try?

Ryan Mechalske
89 Lion Drive
Hanover, PA  17331-3849

Didnt he move?

Yep.  He apparently tried to sever all connections, but it wasn't hard to have him tracked down to this new address.

I have his wechat . Hope he uses it . Leave him a msg .

[Stan]

He hasn't answered any of our attempts to contact him.

Perhaps one of you would like to try?

Ryan Mechalske
89 Lion Drive
Hanover, PA  17331-3849

Didnt he move?

Yep.  He apparently tried to sever all connections, but it wasn't hard to have him tracked down to this new address.

[jsidhu]

He hasn't answered any of our attempts to contact him.

Perhaps one of you would like to try?

Ryan Mechalske
89 Lion Drive
Hanover, PA  17331-3849

Didnt he move?

[Stan]

He hasn't answered any of our attempts to contact him.

Perhaps one of you would like to try?

Ryan Mechalske
89 Lion Drive
Hanover, PA  17331-3849

[jsidhu]

I did the integration, sneaky bastard that gensto was.

[Shentist]

a better approach would be to talk to this dealers and try to convince them to accept bitGold or bitUSD as payment.

at the moment the community is tiny and so you will not have much success if your sole income will be with the bitshares ecosystem.

[Thom]

I concur that it isn't likely to be very successful within the BitShares ecosystem.

Gentso was my former partner as a 1.0 era delegate. His cryptosmith site was operational from April until July and he never had a single sale from inside or outside of the community. I was about to make my first purchase and he dropped off the face of the map before I could place an order. It was a shocking turn of events for me personally, but fortunately I didn't loose any money by him.

There are others who lost big time however, to the tune of $50K.

[Xeldal]

There is also schiffgold.com/
they accept bitcoin.

[onceuponatime]

This is a big, big job, and I'm not convinced it's worth the trouble. I don't want to fund anyone to do what Gentso was planning. Selling precious metals from one's garage is a thankless headache of a job with low margins and plenty of risk. If we really want a gateway, then we find a partner who is already in the business of physical gold and silver, and knows how to make it work. That way, they have in place the storage, security, insurance, and shipping, so that someone doesn't have to create this business from scratch. Everyone who has tried a crypto e-gold type of thing has not gotten very far with it.

In the U.S. there is amagimetals.com and in Canada there is silvergoldbull.ca which are both very reputable and well established bullion dealers which accept payment in bitcoin. I believe that they even give discounts for persons paying with BTC.