Lydian tokens are intended to allow people to buy advertising campaigns.
WTAF?
Just in case we were in any doubt that we were in a crypto bubble, Paris Hilton has announced she will back an Initial Coin Offering venture. On Sunday, the famous "heir-head" tweeted she was participating in the upcoming "LydianCoin" ICO. Looking forward to participating in the new @LydianCoinLtd Token! #ThisIsNotAnAd # …
You could read their whitepaper (link below), but I'm not sure you'll make much more sense of it than I did.
The section titled "Why use Lydian tokens to purchase services available to purchase with fiat currency" doesn't offer any clues.
There were some words about using the blockchain to ensure that people paying to advertise weren't defrauded... and something about a browser that lets end users exchange Lydian tokens for an ad-free browsing experienced. However, the latter isn't directly related to this offering.
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/gurbakshchahal/lydian-whitepaper-81517-draft
but...#This IsNotAnAd
In spite of Paris' glowing endorsement and excited participation, I can't quite grasp how this is anything more than a tarted-up prepay scheme for (advertising) services from a company (Gravity4) of dubious reputation.
Will this be stimulating growth in the private sector? .... Anonymous Coward
I would add this also be Stimulating Simulating Growth in the Private Pirate Sector/Vector. There may be known to Paris but IntelAIgents would never pry of participations therein.
What goes on in Private Pirate Centres stays and plays out in Private Pirate Centres to XSSXXXX.
That's for all those enamoured of a walk on the wwwild side of Life in LOVE with ESPecial Forces entertaining Immaculate Sources for Helter Skelter AIRides.
And that is us musing on AI Platforms and Vessels for Travel in Initial Coin Offering Ventures, n'est ce pas
I am wary of any cryptocurrency and their ilk. Not because of any inherent flaw or concerns over them as an exchange media. But because I do not trust governments to make them illegal, which I expect to happen fairly soon 'to protect the ...'; in reality to protect our corrupt overlords.
"But because I do not trust governments to make them illegal"
You could look at what various governments are actually doing.
Mainly they have decided that crypto is either property or a financial product, and seek to regulate it under applicable laws. Thus it falls under money laundering notification laws, same as if you purchased bars of silver, and you usually owe some form of tax if you convert it to fiat.
Because it is considered a form of money*, it's regulated as such. Raising capital for a new venture has various rules around doing so. This is what the concern over ICOs are from a governance perspective.
An ICO allows you to "go public" without actually doing all that annoying regulatory filing and reporting, which removes many protections that should be in place between retail investors and companies seeking capital.
I'm sure it's "disruptive" and "innovative", but it's just the same old story of flouting the current laws for profit. From Apple/MS/Google's creative tax arrangements, Uber's passenger protections and AirBnB's respect for zoning laws, being tech means being fast enough to break the law on a large enough scale that by the time you get caught, the law abiding businesses have already started to bite the dust and your lawyers can draw it out until you are the default supplier.
I have no fear of the government declaring crypto illegal. But I'm pretty certain they'll want to tax it :)
* the debate about "what is money" is a pretty huge subject. Whether gold is money, despite being part of central bank deposits, is still debated by economists.
A Ponzi scheme involves paying back at least your initial investors, typically from new investors deposits, and representing that you actually own assets.
ICO just involves you getting cash for the "assets" that may or may not be worthless.
It's more boiler room than Ponzi, in the scheme of things....
I mean, there is a good reason that her own Grandfather disinherited the bint.
ElReg, isn't it about time you replaced the icon? I mean, seriously, it was funny once. About 10 years ago. These days, maybe not so much. I think "tired" is the word I am looking for.
Howdy, disgruntled yank,
Others at their work, rest and play in the Great Game, and of a completely different frame of mind, would be realising the novel markets are about to take off, with crashes reserved for that and those forced to remain wedded to fiat paper which is no more than just counterfeit confetti in real terms.