Bitcoin playboy who ‘made it rain’ accused of HK$3M fraud

You might remember Wong Ching-Kit, the self-styled Bitcoin ‘millionaire’ behind last month’s outlandish publicity stunt , which saw thousands of dollars rain from the sky in one of Hong Kong‘s poorest neighbourhoods.

Well, four angry blockchain speculators have accused Wong of cheating them out of HK$3 million ($380K), after purchasing his special (and ultimately worthless) cryptocurrency mining machines, reports South China Morning Post.

The equipment was supposedly tailored specifically for Wong’s new cryptocurrency and were sold with promises the rigs would return a profit within three months.

Unfortunately, such a premise only holds weight if the cryptocurrency mined by the machines is worth something . Turns out, the coins are yet to be traded anywhere, rendering any coins mined completely valueless, along with the rigs.

While the machines were marketed with guaranteed refunds should the new cryptocurrency project not be finished on time, investors accused Wong of repeatedly refusing to make good on those pledges.

The allegations are serious enough for Hong Kong‘s Democratic Party to step in. It revealed that since October, officials had fielded over 20 complaints from spurned citizens who had bought Wong’s crypto-miners.

Police also noted that in addition to the latest allegations, nine men and one woman had previously reported being swindled out of HK$940,000 ($120K) by Wong’s business.

Last month, Wong found himself in police custody, after he took to a Kowloon rooftop to rain thousands of dollars in local currency onto a frenzied crowd of onlookers – an outlandish publicity stunt.

As a result, authorities eventually arrested Wong for disorderly conduct, later releasing him on bail. Local media reported that as of Sunday, he had not faced any charges.

Still, with evidence mounting and investigations ramping up, things aren’t looking good for this particular cryptocurrency-cowboy.

This bot tweeting raunchy blockchain fan-fiction should be your next follow

We know. Blockchains really get your motor running. Sometimes, at night, really late at night , tuned in to the hum of your new mining rig, eyes weary from charts, the mind wanders.

It just so happens that Jackson Palmer , creator of the long-running community-focused cryptocurrency Dogecoin , has built something for the crypto-fetishest in mind.

Fifty Shades of Blockchain is a bot tweeting lines from mommy-porn smash hit Fifty Shades of Grey , mashed with jargon-filled lines from industry whitepapers.

The results would make even the most robust of blockchains consider hard forking.

It’s only just launched, but dont worry: Palmer has confirmed he will continue to develop the bot to keep us in the loop as to the sexy hash-based exploits of crypto-Mr. Grey.

This isn’t the first tongue-in-cheek stunt from the Dogecoin community. Back in 2014, they famously crowdfunded $30,000 worth of cryptocurrency in a bid to send Jamaica’s bobsled team to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, mirroring the classic comedy film Cool Runnings .

The sudden spike in interest from those wanting to contribute caused it’s price to rise by 50 percent over just three days.

Unfortunately, Jamaica placed last in both days of competition, finishing 29th overall.

If you’re looking for a fun account to add to your feed on #FollowFriday, you probably can’t do much better than Fifty Shades of Blockchain .

30 days after the ban, Google Play still hosts cryptocurrency mining apps

The clock has been ticking for cryptocurrency mining apps to either comply with Google’s revised terms of service, or face removal from the Play Store.

In July 2018 Google initiated a ban on all apps that mined cryptocurrency on devices. Yet, around two weeks ago, it became evident that many apps that boasted on-device mining capabilities were still live on the Play Store .

As part of that ban the Big G gave developers, who already had apps live on the store, a 30-day window to revise their offering to comply with the new terms. The grace period has now passed. And while Google has begun purging some of the offending apps, it seems there is a lot more work to be done.

Of the eight apps we found in our previous report, three have been removed – MinerGate, AA Miner, and Free BCH Miner. NeoNeonMiner , Crypto Miner PRO , Pickaxe Miner , and Pocket Miner all still remain, and only one of those, Bitcoin Miner , claims to have amended its offering to comply with the new terms.

As we pointed out in our previous coverage, there was one app that even managed to launch to the Play Store after the ban. Google confirmed to Hard Fork this shouldn’t have happened, and proceeded to remove the app from the platform.

MinerGate, another mining app boasting over a million installs on Android, has also disappeared from the Play Store. Interestingly, MinerGate confirmed to Hard Fork that – in order to comply with Google’s updated terms – the latest iteration of its app was stripped down from its on-device mining features.

Hunter Jones

Hunter Jones

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