I don't have a problem with it. I thought my view would make people more comfortable than a ponzi. As far as I can tell, he's no more or less exposed to risk than the man selling $500K in diamonds a week for cash to a repeat buyer.

Note I said in my first post, if Pirate has a problem with my guess of what he's doing, I'd happily edit delete any all posts.

Thanks for taking the time to read the history before running your mouth.  Lots of people have skipped the hard research and spread FUD, which is why bitlane is making an ass of himself.  Forgive him, he's just tired.

Most sound explanation of pirate's swashbuckling ways lately - that would also explain why a 10% ROI weekly is possible without going into illegal ways.

Well, that's basically what I said. What you have described is in fact lending bitcoins, using a USD deposit as a collateral.
It's obviously not the dollars that makes the interest rate so high - its the bitcoins.

Plus, I don't know what kind of financial regulations they have in Texas, but keeping in mind that it's not a 3rd world country, my guess would be that lending USD for over 7% interest per week, would be pretty much illegal. Unless he was JP Morgan - then it could still be illegal, but nobody cares.
In the meantime lending bitcoins at any interest is not illegal yet, because according to law they are no more of a money than a gold from my stash in Diablo 3.

I found this link about Texas Usury law:  https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/loans.shtml

One month, less than $189 pawn shop loans are restricted by law to be less than %240 (4.67% weekly).

Of course that is of no consequence unless the other party complains.

Sam

Just PM pirateat40 directly. Never mind, misread the OP.

You can buy some shares of a passthrough on GLBSE such as FOO.PPPPT (0.07 BTC/week) or TYGRR.BOND-P (0.068 BTC/week). You could also go through a passthrough mentioned on Who Pays What? as Otoh suggested.

FWIW:

I have been mulling over this for a long time. I have bet against pirate on betsofbitco.in, posted my feelings in the forum, and pulled in and out of pass-throughs.

Yesterday, I decided that I do not think this is a Ponzi. I wish I would have come to this conclusion much sooner. I will be back in the game some time soon, and I would encourage others to do the same. If I am right, this is one of those investment opportunites that only comes around once in a lifetime.

HB

Maybe it's a group of businesspeople who discovered Bitcoin by word of mouth. That would explain why they are near each other.

.....and unfortunately the ship has sailed for many people, which I couldn't be more happy about. The 'Referral' model is the greatest decision that Pirate made, in regards to new account creation.

With all of the negativity directed towards Pirate, many times through cowardly 'sock puppet' accounts.....no one can really be sure who is who at times and I for one will NEVER refer anyone because of this. I have been asked, offered bribes, money/BTC...but I will not refer anyone and run the risk of letting someone into the program who may or may not have been shit-talking Pirate and the rest of the BTCST members out of jealousy.

I have trusted Pirate with large sums of BTC since early-mid January and I have never been given any reason to second guess that trust, nor do I see it being a problem in the near future. I have never openly gloated, only shown appreciation for the opportunity that I was given to invest.

A handful of community members have done VERY WELL thanks to Pirate and because he has done so much for so many, some of those same people feel it necessary to 'get his back' when the bullshit begins to fly.

Like a broken record, even though I have said it multiple times before.....I will say it again:

THANK YOU PIRATE...FOR EVERYTHING.

Even at this point in the game, it's still comforting to see all of the 'sour grapes' out there...having no choice BUT to complain and continue to sew the seeds of mistrust about the BTCST, all because they couldn't and now will likely never get an account....

bitlane.
An extremely happy BTCST member.

^^ Thanks for reporting this.