Bytecoin.org Blackout?

Earlier today it was reported that Bytecoin.org mysteriously went offline. (You can read about it on BitcoinTalk.org here.) As of this writing the site is back up, but what if it takes a dive again? Here’s what you might get: 

An error occurred. Sorry, the page you are looking for is currently unavailable. Please try again later. If you are the system administrator of this resource then you should check the error log for details. Faithfully yours, nginx.

Now this does not necessarily mean that 300 million dollars in BCN  will evaporate, but it might end up that way. Especially if news comes  out that Bytecoin.org was a complete and utter scam from jump street.  Many have warned about this very thing. And please know that Bytecoin’s Forum is still up. See: https://bytecointalk.org/index.php to verify. However, this is not a very active forum. 

Are we about to experience another Alphabay  fiasco? It does not appear to be that way — exactly. Unless the  Bytecoin Team has raked in enough cash and has decided to abandon ship —  which is not sinking. Maybe they are quitting on a high note? If so,  the value should fall very soon. Why? Who will tend the software? How  will we know when there is a software update? Are they switching to a  full wallet based system — a more decentralized approach? If so, then  where will newcomers obtain the application software? The wallet? The  blockchain? 

You can check here to see if the site is up yet Bytecoin.org

The timing of this outage — this blackout — wass curious. It coincided  with a massive pump on the order of four million dollars (US). Although,  Poloniex has  not yet opened BCN (Bytecoin) for deposits/withdrawals — allegedly they are waiting for a solution from Bytecoin. Meanwhile, back at the ranch,  the BCN trading at Poloniex is “off the chain.” What do they know that  we don’t? Is this just another Polo-Pump? 

If we back up a bit, some of us might recall that Bytecoin.org took  their private forum offline recently and dumped a load of spam. This was shortly after I emailed them about the problem, but I do not know if  they conducted the cleaning because of my email. Strangely, just after my post yesterday about Pacific_Skyline, the  main site went offline. Again, that’s probably just a coincidence, right? I mean, did I shame them? Maybe. I’ve been pretty tough on them  lately about their odd writing — how it seems foreign-styled. Foreign in  the sense that it’s not the American style of writing. Which is okay,  but they might need to hire an editor to flesh out some of their  extraneous verbiage. Long winded and flowery for sure. That is unusual,  in my mind, for “math” types. Maybe it’s a French thing, since their  website is allegedly based there. But I doubt it. 

Now the Cryptonote.org website is still up. If you recall, Bytecoin is a Cryptonote coin. Run Scamadviser  and you should find that this site is listed as “99%” and it “looks  safe.” “Looks” is a weasel word. My cat “looks” safe, but he will eat  your dog. Cryptonote.org might be located in the Netherlands, but it is  hidden, according to the review. The site could just as easily be  located in Panama or in the US. There has also been a lot of speculation that Cryptonote.org and Bytecoin.org are operated by the same crew.  Should we then expect the CryptoNote.org site to shut down next?  According to others, Bytecoin and CryptoNote parted ways some years ago and therefore Bytecoin.org going silent at this juncture, should not cause any troubles on CryptoNote.org. Since many of the CryptoNote coins are related, I checked the following websites:  

• Boolberry (BBR)
• Dashcoin (DSH)
• DigitalNote (XDN)
• DarkNetCoin (DNC)
• Fantomcoin (FCN)
• Monero (XMR)
• Pebblecoin (XPB)
• Quazarcoin (QCN)
• Aeon (AEON)

Aside from Pebblecoin and Quazarcoin, the above websites are easy to  find and active. There are more CryptoNote coins, but they are  essentially “dead” coins. In other words, many of the CryptoNote websites are alive and well. This makes me think that we were simply  experiencing some kind of upgrade or random outage of the Bytecoin.org website. Again, if  you will recall — at least for those of us who follow Bytecoin and the  CryptoNote coins in general — we were advised about a forthcoming  “colored coin” update by the Bytecoin Team about a month ago. We were  not advised, however, that the website would blackout for a time. And,  this new bit of news was a long time coming. About a year. And…it seemed  repetitive. Are we being led by the nose? The long con? 

There is no news on the CryptoNote.org website about Bytecoin.org’s  current hiatus. There is no recent activity on Github, but I would not expect any if this is just a website upgrade. But I would expect this if the Teto-Team was upgrading BCN. You would think with all of the money  flowing into BCN of late, that the Teto-Team could now focus on some serious development. Or maybe a seriously long vacation? 

This of course brings up the 80 plus percent Bytecoin premine  allegation. These days, with all of the ICO’s about, it does not strike us as odd, that any type of premine is a big deal. It’s only about  our acceptance of the coin — if it works as advertised. And it has  always worked for me.

A recent piece on Reddit, if it can be believed, advised of an older exchange  with the one of the previous Bytecoin Team members. What I got out of  it was that there were about a 1000 or so early miners of BCN and the  coin was really released in 2012, but the post did not go into the  specifics — nothing about the fudged White Paper dates or the  non-existence of a website back then. 

If the Redditor in question stumbled upon a truth about Bytecoin, it  would seem to imply several things. First, that over a thousand  individuals have over 80% of the coins, which means it is not a small  group of people and that is probably a good thing. Secondly, that the core Teto-Team may not know each other, personally. Now, take this as  you may, but the most successful secret operatives work using the cell  theory. They often do not know the organization they work for and only  have one other contact — a vague one at that. In the new world of the  internet, the developers of cryptocurrencies can work completely — or  almost completely — anonymously. They do not need to identify their  other team members at all. Like I’ve mentioned before, this ability to work independently and anonymously, within the international financial environment, makes  Bytecoin, if it survives its christening by fire, a force to be reckoned  with. No other POW (Proof-of-Work) cryptocurrency on earth has ever  accomplished such privacy and independence before; and had such success.  (Please correct me if I am wrong. And I and hopeful of AEON.) There has been much praise for the “coding” as well. Bytecoin is not a  *bleep*coin, as it were. There have been recent issues with mining, however. This problem allowed someone or a group of them, to mine extra  coins — beyond the perimeters set up in the code. It appears as if the  Bytecoin Team has refused to undo these added coins and this stand has  probably angered some. In the final analysis, however, when a cryptocurrency invalidates transactions after the fact, which would be required if a blockchain was rolled-back in order to reverse the creation of these extra coins, you end up with things like Ethereum Classic. Bytecoin avoided this rift. Full ahead, they said —  then they fixed the workings on the fly, as I understand it. 

And please do not mention Monero. We know at least one player in that  space. It is not unimaginable that other, less moral characters (our  governments), know a lot more about the Monero developers. I’d say, in a world controlled -- okay "regulated" -- by government money, that allowing one’s identity to  leak out in this arena, is like to planning to go to prison in advance. Or, at the very least, sending a public invitation to the  regulatory agencies the world over to plant electronic eavesdropping devices on your dog. (Hint: check their floppy ears.) 

There is a side note here. Something that is causing a lot of concern on the internet. The Net Neutrality debate is raging. This could be one of the reasons that many websites  have slowed over the past 48 hours. Of course those who support  neutrality aren’t really supporting free and fair internet usage. They are supporting the institution of force. How so? If you are an internet  company, under the idea of neutrality, you are required not to act in the interest of your own business. You may not  charge other companies extra for use of your servers. You can’t offer  special deals or market products of your choice by slowing down or  limiting the access of competitors. You must allow every company  connected to the internet — which really does not exist at all since it is simply computers connected to each other — free and unfettered access  to your equipment. After all, under this alleged neutrality, the internet, which might use your equipment, your electrical power, your  time — whether you agree to allow it or not — does not belong to you. It  is some virtual thing, afloat in a sea of electricity — like the air we  breathe. Nuts. It’s like Johnny Mnemonic  all over again. “Information should be free!” Okay, but who will pay for it kids? Silence. Haven’t you heard? There ain’t no such thing as a  free lunch, Jethro. Okay, the above is over-simplified, but ain’t that  the gist of it? 

Now we wonder The thing is, customers hate wonder why Bytecoin.org took a break. We want to know. In fact, we find  other, better suppliers — ones who are up to the task at hand. (There, I just had  to get that last Bytecoin dig in.) Get off of your duff Bytecoin — if you’re still live, explain yourself. 

Are you under attack? A bit of the old denial of service disease?

Seriously, I hope that Bytecoin.org is “under reconstruction” as some  have speculated. If true and if the new site comes up with some great  new tech, well then, we might be in for a wild rocket ride. But that didn't happen, did it? 

I know…a lot of “ifs.” 

(Please Note: I took this post from www.thecryptopapers.com -- my site -- and placed it here, with a few edits and no ads.)