
ICO of the day: Synthetic rhino horn erection pills, on the Blockchain - davidgerard
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/09/04/ico-of-the-day-synthetic-rhino-horn-erection-pills-on-the-blockchain/
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huckyaus
They need to work on their pitch, it's a bit thin at present. I suggest:

"If blockchain technology doesn't already get you hard, Synthorn will."

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DennisP
This particular project doesn't inspire confidence, but I've been thinking for
a while that it'd probably be good for rhinos if we could make convincing fake
rhino horn powder and get it into the market.

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davidgerard
[author here] The article links several rhino conservation organisations
pointing out why this is actually a bad idea - it would expand consumer demand
for what is already an aspirational product, it would lend credibility to the
completely fraudulent claims that rhino horn has any medical effect and it
would provide cover for trade in poached horns. It _sounds_ plausible, but ...

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DennisP
I could see all that being a problem if you sold fake rhino horn as a
legitimate product. "Here, have some synthetic rhino horn, almost as good as
the real thing."

What I'm talking about is making fake rhino horn complete with DNA produced in
machines, and selling it on the black market at a significantly lower price
than poachers can manage. It'd basically have to be an undercover government
operation.

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davidgerard
This already happens, per
[https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/synthe...](https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/synthetic_rhino_horn_will_it_save_the_rhino)
-

"* More than 90% of “rhino horns” in circulation are fake (mostly carved from
buffalo horn or wood), but poaching rates continue to rise annually"

I urge you to read that in detail, it's a comprehensive response as to why
Pembient are likely barking up completely the wrong tree, and variants on the
idea are probably not good either.

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DennisP
Hmm I guess your quote might disprove my hypothesis.

In any case I completely agree that Pembient's idea is terrible, and we should
not have any sort of legal variant of rhino horn on the market. My proposal
was to produce illegal rhino horn powder that didn't happen to come from
rhinos, while being much cheaper (assuming that's possible). It's academic
anyway because it'd have to be a CIA operation or something similar, and it
seems unlikely that the CIA would care about saving rhinos.

~~~
davidgerard
I should note that Pembient have commented on the post making their case with
several cites. (I still think the environmentalists' points are stronger,
fwiw.)

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bigiain
I can't even tell if this is "real" or just fantastic performance art... Or
even if there's a difference any more...

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EthanHeilman
>Or even if there's a difference any more...

Very few performance artists drive a lambo.

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rch
I find that concept artists tend to have f-u money, whatever they drive.

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20after4
And buying a lambo is one of the worst ways to spend a large chunk of f-u
money that I can think of.

Unsubstantiated (yet difficult to disprove) assertion of the day: Lambo
ownership is strongly correlated with being an asshole. Causal relationship
currently unknown.

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tunetine
Add this to yesterday's Paris Hilton news and I'm pretty sure we've just
spotted the top of the bubble.

~~~
Animats
Yes.[1] We're probably approaching the point where the SEC will do something
to make ICOs do the same things IPOs are required to do. All they need is a
good case. Look for "I put X into token Y because they said they were going to
do Z. They didn't do Z, and instead, the people behind Z are buying yachts.
And we know where they are."

[1] [https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/09/04/2193198/paris-
hilton-...](https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/09/04/2193198/paris-hilton-backs-
an-eyebrow-raising-crypto-project/)

~~~
davidgerard
The SEC has been taking a surprisingly soft touch, but is actively phoning up
ICO promoters to suggest they get it together:
[https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/09/01/the-sec-
told...](https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/09/01/the-sec-told-you-it-
was-watching-now-its-calling-ico-promoters-protostarr-benjacoin/)

~~~
Animats
The SEC is doing a good job, then. That gets the message across that a "take
the money and run" ICO isn't going to end well for the promoters.

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davidgerard
Note that Synthorn has absolutely no contact details available (and an
anonymised whois) except an address to send them Ether. They have a
promotional Facebook and Twitter, I suppose the SEC could subpoena them ...

