Blockchains Home Owners Association

Blockchains Home Owners Association

by Jed Margolin

This web site (blockchainshoa.org) is not owned by the Blockchains Home Owners Association.

This web site is not operated by the Blockchains Home Owners Association.

As far as I know there is no Blockchains Home Owners Association. Not yet, anyway.

I live in Storey County, Nevada, in the Virginia City Highlands.

The other day someone gave the alert that there was an article in the New York Times that Jeffrey Berns, who owns Blockchains LLC had decided to put a large master planned community on 67,000 acres he had recently bought in the County. He reportedly paid $170 million cash for it. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/technology/nevada-bitcoin-blockchain-society.html

He bought it from Lance Gilman who is now the Blockchains Development and Marketing Coordinator for the company in Northern Nevada. He will be assisted in this role by Kris Thompson. (Of course) http://thestoreyteller.online/2018/11/02/blockchains-announces-smart-city-at-tric/

His plan is for a 10,000 home “Smart City”.

Mr. Berns says in the NYT article,

Blockchains has already received preliminary county support for a new town along the Truckee River, with thousands of homes, a school and a drone delivery system, and is working closely with the county on a broader master plan.

We knew that Mr. Berns had bought Painted Rock and was developing it, but this new 10,000 home Smart City took us by surprise. So far, County Commissioner Jack McGuffy who is supposed to represent the Highlands says he doesn’t know anything about it. And, so far, County staff aren’t talking.

Storey County has a land area of 262 square miles, which is 167,680 acres, so Mr. Berns owns 67,000/167,000 = 34% of Storey County.

Our current population is about 3,800 residents. The residents in Mr. Berns’ new 10,000 homes would swamp us politically.

And his planned community is contrary to the Storey County Master Plan.

BTW, this company is Blockchains LLC. https://blockchains.com/, a Nevada company not Blockchain (https://www.blockchain.com/) which seems to be in the same business and is in Luxemburg.

Stay tuned.

Jed Margolin
Virginia City Highlands, NV
Original - November 4, 2018

July 24, 2019

Before I start, I am surprised that Blockchains LLC. https://blockchains.com/ (a Nevada company) and Blockchain (https://www.blockchain.com/) in Luxemburg have not sued each other because the similarity of their names in the same industry is certain to cause confusion. I know that I was initially confused.

And now for this update.

A. Last year (2018) Storey County pulled a fast one on neighboring Lyon County. Lyon County was supposed to be one of the counties declared an Opportunity Zone. Storey County took it away from them. What is an Opportunity Zone?

In May 2018 this Web site (http://www.diversifynevada.com/programs/opportunity-zones/) said:

Being part of an Opportunity Zone provides a tax incentive for investors to reinvest unrealized capital gains into low-income urban and rural communities. Many believe this program has significant potential to encourage the private investment of billions of dollars in low-income communities across the United States - it's important we get this right!

Now it says

The Opportunity Zone program, established in The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, is a tax incentive, designed to encourage long-term private investment in low-income communities. The program essentially runs on two tracks – first, Governors in each state nominate opportunity zones, which are low-income community census tracts that could benefit from significant private investment. Second, once the zones are certified by the U.S. Treasury Department, interested private investors must invest in opportunity funds, specialized vehicles that can then be utilized to invest in the certified opportunity zones.

The part they don’t talk about anymore was about reinvesting unrealized capital gains.

The IRS talks about it here: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunity-zones-frequently-asked-questions

This is another Storey County con job.

The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) is in the Northern part of the County. Most of us live in the Southern part of the County which is Virginia City, the Virginia City Highlands, Highland Ranches, Gold Hill, and Mark Twain Estates. There is no road connecting the Northern and Southern parts. To go to TRIC from Virginia City you have to go down the mountain to Reno, then up to Interstate 80, and then East to TRIC. It is about an hour-and-a half drive.

It is not practical for us to work at TRI. (How would you like to spend 3 hours every day commuting to and from work?)

We are the reason that Storey County (population about 3,800) is a low-income community. Yet, we do not benefit from TRIC and we will not benefit from Storey County being an Opportunity Zone.

All of the companies at TRIC will benefit from now being in an Opportunity Zone, including Blockchains LLC. Is that why Jeffrey Berns (who owns Blockchains LLC) bought the 67,000 acres here. Is he really planning to put in a 10,000 home “Smart City” ?

If not, what is he building and where is his tax-free money going?

And, BTW, Jeffrey Berns recently (July 1, 2019) bought his own bank: the Kirkwood Bank of Nevada. See https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchains-ceo-acquires-kirkwood-bank-of-nevada-for-28-million

“According to the report, CEO Jeffrey Berns said he bought out Kirkwood Bank of Nevada in order to secure financial inclusion for Blockchains as well as other blockchain-based businesses:

Purchasing the bank was basically security for me to make sure that Blockchains and myself had access to the financial system... But secondarily, it’s to create an environment where the blockchain ecosystem, the legitimate businesses out there who are trying to build projects that are going to empower the individual and better the world, that they have a bank that understands what they’re doing and isn’t fearful.”

Did Mr. Berns use Opportunity Fund tax-free money to buy the bank? If he did, how does that constitute investing money in poor rural Storey County?

B. As far as I can tell, Blockchains LLC is in the business of providing the software used to implement crypto-currencies. The software goes by the generic name of “blockchain.” From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

A blockchain,[1][2][3] originally block chain,[4][5] is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography.[1][6] Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block,[6] a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree).

By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. It is "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way".[7] For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires consensus of the network majority. Although blockchain records are not unalterable, blockchains may be considered secure by design and exemplify a distributed computing system with high Byzantine fault tolerance. Decentralized consensus has therefore been claimed with a blockchain.[8]

Blockchain was invented by a person (or group of people) using the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 to serve as the public transaction ledger of the cryptocurrency bitcoin.[1] The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is unknown. The invention of the blockchain for bitcoin made it the first digital currency to solve the double-spending problem without the need of a trusted authority or central server. The bitcoin design has inspired other applications,[1][3] and blockchains that are readable by the public are widely used by cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is considered a type of payment rail.[9] Private blockchains have been proposed for business use. Sources such as Computerworld called the marketing of such blockchains without a proper security model "snake oil".[10]

And there is a lot more in that article.

So, basically, a crypto-currency lives in a cloud (not any one computer) and is implemented by blockchain software.

People use crypto-currencies (like Bitcoin) like Money. There are other crypto-currencies like Litecoin, ethereum, Zcash, Dash (originally “Darkcoin”), Ripple, Monero (NEO, from China), Cardano, and EOS. See https://www.investopedia.com/tech/most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-than-bitcoin/

And these companies are working on their own crypro-currencies: Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Amazon. See https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/google-amazon-others-entering-blockchain?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5

C. Since people use crypto-currencies like money we must ask, “What is Money?” and “Why Do We Need Money?”

An alternative to Money is the Barter System. Before there was Money, people would exchange goods for goods, goods for services, or services for services.

“I will trade you one of my cows (the pretty one) for three of your scraggly nanny goats. That is more than fair, isn’t it?”

“I will mill 100 bushels of your wheat if you let me keep one bushel.”

“I will dig an irrigation ditch for you if you will help me build my house. I have never built one before and you are known for building good sturdy houses.”

The Barter System does not work very efficiently over large distances.

That is why Money was invented. Money is a medium of exchange for trade.

Money is something that:

1. Is scarce but not too scarce;

2. Is hard to get at but not too hard to get at;

3. Has intrinsic value.

Gold and silver have been used as Money going back to the Ancient World. Other metals, such as bronze and copper were also used. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_money.

Nowadays gold and silver have intrinsic value because they are used in electronics. Gold has excellent electrical conductivity and is an inert metal that will not corrode or even tarnish. Silver also has excellent electrical conductivity but will tarnish when exposed to air. It is not reacting to the Oxygen in the air. It is reacting to the Sulfur. That is not always a problem. The wire used for wire wrapping electrical connections is silver plated copper. The wire is wrapped around a square post with good edges so that the corners bite into the wire forming a gas tight connection. The exposed silver plating will tarnish fairly quickly when exposed to air. Quickly means a few weeks to a few months depending on humidity and air pollution (the Sulfur). Since the gas tight connections are not exposed to air (that is what gas-tight means) it will not tarnish and the electrical connection will remain excellent.

BTW, what is the difference between tarnishing and corroding? Tarnish is a surface layer that protects the remaining metal from further oxidation. With Corrosion it continues until the metal is entirely consumed. Silver just tarnishes. Iron corrodes. It’s called rusting. Another example of a metal that just tarnishes is Aluminum. Without that thin layer of oxidation that protects the underlying metal, Aluminum would have to be protected just like Iron in order for it to be useful.

What gave Gold and Silver their intrinsic value in the Ancient World?

I am not sure. Perhaps Gold had intrinsic value because it is an inert metal. It can be used on and through the human body without provoking an allergic reaction. The human body also tolerates Silver as long as it is fairly pure and is not alloyed or plated with Nickel. That makes Gold and Silver a good choice for jewelry. Humans have always wanted to adorn themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_piercing

It probably helps that, when polished, gold and silver are bright and shiny. There is the theory that humans are attracted to bright and shiny things because water is bright and shiny (at least good water is). We need water, we are instinctively always looking for water. The human eye is also attracted to movement. (It might be a threat.) So Gold and Silver ear rings (real rings) will move and attract the attention of others. In the process they will see the wearer’s face. That is the goal, isn’t it, to attract attention? Nose rings are even more effective.

Gold does not melt until you get it to a temperature of 1,948 degrees Fahrenheit. A wood fire does not get that hot but a charcoal fire does. And they did have charcoal in the Ancient World: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal . Gold is also very malleable. You can easily work it into whatever shape you want. (Silver melts at 1,763 degrees Fahrenheit and is also very malleable.)

So when humans decided they needed a medium of exchange that was portable, Gold and Silver were good choices. Iron would have been a poor choice because it is relatively common and it will rust away without proper care.

Note that Money has not completely replaced the Barter System. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barter.

D. The evolution of Money.

If you trust someone enough you might accept a paper note from them where they promise to pay you a certain amount of Gold or Silver when you give them the note back. You can then use that as money as long as the person you are using it with also trusts the person who gave you the note. That is what a Note is. It is a promise to pay something.

Paper notes are lighter and even more portable than metal coins.

E. After the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, the Continental Congress began issuing paper money known as Continental currency, or Continentals. It did not work out very well and produced the phrase “Not Worth A Continental”. Continentals were not backed by anything (like Gold or Silver).

Things were a real mess under the Articles of Confederation: See https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/United_States_Government/The_U.S._under_the_Articles_of_Confederation

For the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union click here.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. This document served as the United States' first constitution, and was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present day Constitution went into effect.

However, runaway inflation and the collapse of the Continental currency prompted delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to include the gold and silver clause in the United States Constitution, preventing individual States from issuing their own bills of credit. Article One states they were prohibited to "make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts."

Yes, it really does say that in Article One, Section 10 (and it still says that):

Section 10

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

See it for yourself: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992

After the passage of the Constitution U.S. Money was Gold and Silver coins, and Gold and Silver Certificates which stated that they could be redeemed at the U.S. Treasury.

Here is a $100 Gold Certificate from 1922 (from Wikipedia):

It says:

This Certifies That

There Have Been Deposited In

The Treasury Of The United States

One Hundred Dollars

In Gold Coin

repayable to the bearer on demand.

Here is a $1 Silver Certificate from 1928 (from Wikipedia):

It says:

Silver Certificate

This Certifies That There Has Been Deposited In The Treasury of

The United States of America

One Silver Dollar Payable To The Bearer On Demand.

In 1913 Gold and Silver Certificates were mostly replaced by Federal Reserve Notes but they could still be redeemed at the U.S. Treasury. It isn’t clear to me what they could be redeemed for. I think it was still gold and/or silver.

F. From: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-takes-united-states-off-gold-standard

On June 5, 1933, the United States went off the gold standard, a monetary system in which currency is backed by gold, when Congress enacted a joint resolution nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold. The United States had been on a gold standard since 1879, except for an embargo on gold exports during World War I, but bank failures during the Great Depression of the 1930s frightened the public into hoarding gold, making the policy untenable.

Soon after taking office in March 1933, Roosevelt declared a nationwide bank moratorium in order to prevent a run on the banks by consumers lacking confidence in the economy. He also forbade banks to pay out gold or to export it.

and

The government held the $35 per ounce price until August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, thus completely abandoning the gold standard. In 1974, President Gerald Ford signed legislation that permitted Americans again to own gold bullion.

The U.S. Treasury prints the Federal Reserve Notes at the instruction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve member banks. The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the United States. It is a committee of the nation’s largest banks. These are private banks.

And as of 1971 they were just paper. A Note is a promise to pay something. A Federal Reserve Note is a promise not to pay anything. The only thing a Federal Reserve Note can be exchanged for is another Federal Reserve Note.

So why should anyone accept Federal Reserve Notes? Why not print your own Notes?

The only reason people accept Federal Reserve Notes is because the Government (Federal and States) accepts them for payment of taxes. That is the only reason.

If so, according to Article One, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution,

“No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”

But they do it anyway.

This illustrates the difference between Money and Currency. Money has intrinsic value. Currency (also called Fiat Currency) is paper issued by a government. Its value depends only on how much you trust the government.

And I will note that today, Federal Reserve Notes are also numbers in various computers operated by financial institutions like banks, credit card companies, and others. The difference between these numbers and crypto-currencies is that these numbers represent Federal Reserve Notes one for one and this ratio cannot change. The other difference is that these financial institutions are regulated and the transactions are open to inspection by the Federal Government but that crypto-currencies are not regulated and are secret even to the Government. Isn’t that why Bitcoin was invented?

F. Back to crypto-currencies. Crypto-currencies are not backed by gold, silver, or anything else. They are not accepted for payment of taxes. They are not even tied to Federal Reserve notes. Their value is more than ephemeral, and can change from second to second.

They remind me of a sci-fi short story I read decades ago. It was called The Big Pat Boom by Damon Knight (1963). Some aliens had landed, were peaceful, and had money so they were good for business so they were allowed to stay. One day two aliens visited a farmer’s roadside stand and asked to buy a cow pat. The farmer and his wife were shocked but sold it to them anyway. Soon aliens were buying all of the cow pats that they could and the price went way up. There were characteristics of cow pats that made some more desirable than others, such as those with double whirls. Naturally, people participated in the market which became huge. Then one day the aliens lost all interest in cow pats and the market collapsed overnight.

You can read the story at: https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v22n02_1963-12#page/n42/mode/1up

BTW, the author Damon Knight was an American science fiction author, editor and critic. He wrote "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for The Twilight Zone.

Crypto-currencies have slightly more value than cow pats. They allow people to engage in financial transactions without the scrutiny of the Government and with almost complete anonymity. That is why the criminals who commit ransomware demand payment in Bitcoins. Some people who buy Bitcoins do it as an investment because they believe the value will go up. That is also why many people invest in stocks. It is called “The Greater Fool Theory.”

On the other hand, cow pats can be used as fertilizer and when dried used as fuel and burned. Today, more than 2 billion people across the planet burn dried animal dung for energy. https://energypedia.info/wiki/Cooking_with_Dung . That is probably more than the number of people who use Bitcoins and all the other crypto-currencies combined.

G. Although the people who make blockchain software boast about its security, how can hackers resist the lure of such a huge prize?

I bought this domain name (blockchainshoa.org) in November 2018. Until recently (July 2019) I did not give out its URL either publicly or privately. Yet, as soon as I set up the first simple homepage it started getting hits: These are from my server log:

165.227.0.128 165.227.0.128 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0; Nexus 5 Build/MRA58N) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/65.0.3325.181 Mobile Safari/537.36"

87.112.142.178 87.112.142.178 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 12_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) CriOS/69.0.3497.105 Mobile/15E148 Safari/605.1"

212.92.112.151 212.92.112.151 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.77 Safari/537.36"

185.16.85.152 185.16.85.152 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.116 Safari/537.36 Edge/15.15063"

196.251.88.131 196.251.88.131 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:39 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 5.0.2; zh-CN; Redmi Note 3 Build/LRX22G) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 OPR/11.2.3.102637 Mobile Safari/537.36"

165.227.0.128 165.227.0.128 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:42 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://www.blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.77 Safari/537.36"

ip-13-84-52-196.southampton.uk.amsterdamresidential.com 196.52.84.13 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:42 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://www.blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 11_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/11.0 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1"

87.112.142.178 87.112.142.178 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:42 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://www.blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/69.0.3497.100 Safari/537.36"

185.101.32.46 185.101.32.46 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:42 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://www.blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.2.1; en-us; Nexus 5 Build/JOP40D) AppleWebKit/535.19 (KHTML, like Gecko; googleweblight) Chrome/38.0.1025.166 Mobile Safari/535.19"

ca172.calcit.servdiscount-customer.com 146.0.42.41 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:42 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12943 "http://www.blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.2.1; en-us; Nexus 5 Build/JOP40D) AppleWebKit/535.19 (KHTML, like Gecko; googleweblight) Chrome/38.0.1025.166 Mobile Safari/535.19"

165.227.0.128 165.227.0.128 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12732 "https://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0; Nexus 5 Build/MRA58N) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/65.0.3325.181 Mobile Safari/537.36"

87.112.142.178 87.112.142.178 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:38 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12732 "https://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 12_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) CriOS/69.0.3497.105 Mobile/15E148 Safari/605.1"

212.92.112.151 212.92.112.151 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:39 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12732 "https://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.77 Safari/537.36"

185.16.85.152 185.16.85.152 - - [04/Nov/2018:16:04:39 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12732 "https://blockchainshoa-org.planetarydefenses.net/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.116 Safari/537.36 Edge/15.15063"

Some tried to log in:

165.227.0.128 165.227.0.128 - - [05/Nov/2018:23:54:21 -0700] "GET /en/wallet/login.html HTTP/1.1" 404 2732 "http://blockchainshoa.org/en/wallet/login.html" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.77 Safari/537.36

ip-49-84-52-196.southampton.uk.amsterdamresidential.com 196.52.84.49 - - [05/Nov/2018:23:54:21 -0700] "GET /en/wallet/login.html HTTP/1.1" 404 2732 "http://blockchainshoa.org/en/wallet/login.html" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 11_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/11.0 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1"

There is nothing on this Web site to login to.

These are a very small fraction of the hits I have received since then.

Again, I did not give out the URL either publicly or privately until recently.

I have to believe that hackers are scouring the Web looking for Web sites containing the word “blockchain” and they would have to do this by trying random letters before and after it.

That is how much of a target “blockchain” is for hackers.

H. Much of what I know about Money, Currency, and Federal Reserve Notes I learned from reading The Biggest Con - How the Government is Fleecing You by the late great Irwin A. Schiff (Freedom Books, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1976). Irwin was prosecuted and persecuted by the U.S. Government and died in prison in 2015.

You can still buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-How-Government-Fleecing-You/dp/0930374010

Read the reviews:https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-How-Government-Fleecing-You/dp/0930374010#customerReviews

You can get the book for free from: freedom-school.com/stuff/biggest-con-schiff.pdf

I. I will end this update by making the statement that I believe that that eventually governments will see crypto-currencies as a threat to the stability of their national financial systems as well as their national security and will either ban them or regulate them like they regulate other financial institutions. If Mr. Berns links his new bank to a crypto-currency he will make this inevitable.

I could be wrong now, but I don’t think so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBppz64n_A

If you value what I have taught you, you can show your appreciation by sending me $2.50 by PayPal. If you want to send me more, that would be ok too. (PayPal will pay me in numbers that represent Federal Reserve Notes.)

To do this log into your PayPal account (www.paypal.com), find the Send button, and click on it. Then enter my email address (jm@jmargolin.com) and then the amount.

Thank you.

Jed Margolin
Virginia City Highlands, NV
Original - November 4, 2018

Update - July 25, 2019