ICO Scam Alert – Synthorn
Unlike the previous ICO scam alerts that we explored in my last post, Synthorn provides a much more detailed account of their token, its purpose and its intended market.
You might read the abstract to the white paper and think to yourself…wtf is this all about?
To many, it may seem like a scam right away but what makes it a little more sophisticated than Beer Token and Wounded Warrior Coin is that it targets a serious issue while conflating it with the development of their token.
This is the issue of Rhino poaching for their horns, which are coveted on the black market for their perceived medical and virile properties.
This angle may entice idealistic, socially conscious or animal activists into investing in the project.
Synthetic Aphrodisiac Rhino Horn
Now, some of you may be thinking this is a ridiculous product right off the bat but there are actually groups working on the development of synthetic rhino horns in order to saturate the market and reduce the demand of the real thing.
Quick Facts about Rhino Horns
- A single horn can fetch $27,000 USD
- Fewer than 29, 000 Rhinos in existence
- Illegal Wild life trade is $20 billion black market industry
Synthorn
Period: August 31st to September 30th, 2017
Website: http://synthhorn.com
Whitepaper: Yes
Team: None
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Once again, this project provides no information about the development team behind the product. This is the first red flag but not the last.
As of writing this (Oct. 4th , 2017) the official website is no longer operational and if you try to visit the site now you get the message: Website Expired.
This coincides quite neatly with the end of the ICO sale on September 30th, 2017. If there was never a plan to develop the product then it’s hardly surprising that the website has also ceased to exist.
[My apologies, as I intended to post this Scam alert last week but was unable to post until now.]
No Team / No website / No Product.
It might seem pointless to continue reading but I think it’s worth noting other aspects of Synthorn and learn what we can from the scheme.
The Whitepaper
The creators of Synthorn did provide a whitepaper outlining the use case for their synthetic rhino horn and aphrodisiac.
From the Whitepaper:
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The purpose is to create a horn that can be released on the market that is not only an alternative to real rhino horns but the synthetic prototype would be infused with Viagra.
This raises some concerning questions:
What could go wrong if one were to consume a Rhino horn sized dosage of Viagra?
If consumers of Rhino horn purchased a Synthorn instead of the real McCoy it would seem logical that they would be under the impression that it was natural and from the wild.
It would also be logical to assume that the consumers of rhino horn would attempt to prepare the horn in the same way.
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Economics
Synthorn will be cost lower than its natural counterpart and also it will be genetically indistinguishable from one another.
Curiously, Synthcoin whitepaper states that there are very few producers of Synthetic rhino horn but they plan on purchasing their synthetic horns from a company called Pembient. Oddly, Pembient is also launching an ICO for their coin (Pembicoin) which would be used to purchase the synthetic horn.
It’s thought that:
1 Pembicoin = 1 gram of bio-fabricated Rhino Horn
https://www.pembient.com/
If you take a closer look at Pembient and their ICO for Pembicoin, you come to the realization that Synthorn is actually a rip-off of their work.
Pembient’s ICO was also running at almost the exact same time as Synthorn's ICO.
August 23rd to October 22nd, 2017.
Interestingly, Pembient also does not identify members of their development team on their website either and also provides no Whitepaper.
Both Synthorn and Pembicoin offer an ETH address for donations to support their projects and each are built on top of the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC20 coin.
Synthhorn
Pembient / Pembicoin
Note: Synthorn states at the bottom of the page that one should consider any amount sent to the company as a "donation".
I was unable to find Pembicoin on ICOtracker.net and finding any information about their current ICO also comes up dry.
However, what Pembient does have are links to numerous articles discussing the potential of synthetic horns to help eliminate animal poaching around the world. Not only that, but the 3D-printing bio-fabricated rhino horn producing company is, in fact, Pembient.
Matthew Markus, co-founder and CEO of Pembient, a biotech company that’s working to fabricate rhino horns, elephant ivory, and other animal parts with the goal of replacing the illegal wildlife trade with reproductions, believes we must solve the problem of poaching.
In this case, Pembient does have a CEO, Mathew Markus, with Twitter and Facebook accounts that are active.
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Pembient, a startup from Seattle, is trying to reverse this trend using 3D printed biotechnology to fabricate genetically genuine rhino horn at prices below the levels that induce poaching.
The demand for rhino horn is extraordinarily high, especially in China, where it is a valuable component in Chinese medicine. "Our goal is to replace the illegal wildlife trade, a $20 billion black market, the fourth largest after drug, arms, and human trafficking, with sustainable commerce," the company states on its website.
As far as I can tell, Pembient is not focused on the aphrodisiac qualities of Rhino horns and they're attempting to develop a bio-fabricated horn made up of keratin that buyers of animal horns often use for producing carvings. The driving force behind Pembient appears to be to save animals form extinction, including rhinos. The company envisions that by flooding the market with a manufactured replica that's indistinguishable from the real thing then the price of horns will drop and poaching will no longer be a lucrative endeavor.
Many are skeptical of this assessment and critics wonder why does the product need to look like the real thing?
Wouldn't the materials suffice?
And if the product is identical to the real thing, how will that deter the real product from continuing to be acquired?
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Conclusion
Synthorn appears to have been a scam ripping-off the synthetic rhino horn concept from another start up company called Pembient. Seeing as though Synthorn’s website has disappeared so too has the company and any funds they may have raised in their month long ICO.
There's no doubt that Pembient is a real company made up of real individuals, but this also doesn't mean that Pemient's project is actually a good idea. There are numerous critics who believe that Pembient's solution to the poaching problem may, in fact, make matters worse by legitimizing the trade.
After discovering that Pembient appears to be a legitimate biotech start-up with a mission to save animals from extinction by using the advanced biotech 3D-printing and blockchain technology to solve a difficult issue, I must say that I find the possibility quite intriguing. Of course, I'm not talking about investing in the project but I'm curious to see whether the introduction of a synthetic product into the black market will have the desired effect.
Have a look for yourselves at their website:
Also see David Gerard's critical take on Pembient as well as Synthorn.
Pembicoin’s ICO is still running for another 2 weeks.
Let me know your thoughts on this. I'm looking forward to reading your comments.
Thanks for reading, always appreciated.
V
Great work @v4vapid Thanks for taking the time to research this and bring it to our attention! It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to take our money. With regards to Pembient I feel it could legitimise the trade and from a customs perspective make the illegal horn far more difficult to find. Indeed you could have a mixture of both illegal and synthetic horn and how would the majority of customs ever know? Personally I feel that yes the synthetic horn may bring down the price but there will still be a premium paid for horn that has somehow been certified as genuine, it could even increase in value. I can see what they're trying to do but in making the horn look authentic I can forsee many potential problems
Thank you for your thoughts. While many conservation organizations oppose "synthetics," there is a growing body of evidence that supports their development:
https://www.pembient.com/conservation/
As far as customs is concerned, smugglers view the confiscation of suspect horn as a tax, a tax that they budget for and that rhinos pay through additional harvesting. Furthermore, customs officials often do not undertake the expensive and time-consuming efforts (e.g., controlled delivery) needed to dismantle the smuggling networks.
If necessary, we can assist customs by including a secret DNA watermark in our product, so they don't waste their time tracking synthetics:
https://singularityhub.com/2010/05/24/venters-newest-synthetic-bacteria-has-secret-messages-coded-in-its-dna/
However, assuming synthetic horn is cheaper than illegal [wild] horn and there is no way to certify the latter, the case of a "mixture of both illegal [wild] and synthetic horn" (i.e., laundering) should never happen. That is, it would be more profitable to sell synthetic horns as wild than wild horns as wild, so why ship a mixture?
Finally, the job of customs is going to continue to increase in difficulty regardless of synthetics:
http://www.traffic.org/home/2017/9/17/organized-criminal-gangs-behind-rhino-horn-processing-in-sou.html
Great job uncovering these phoney's again dude.
This is class!
Made me spit my coffee out buddy! 😉
Thanks for your great work V.
lol. madd info right!
SO much damn tokens are coming out, hard to keep up. LOL
Did you see Jesus Token Yet? HAHA
LOL, I've heard of Jesus Token from another commenter but I have't come across it yet. I'm sure the Whitepaper would be a fun read;)
So many coins coming out makes it increasingly difficult to vet which ones are legit and which ones are a quick money grab.
I've found this website to be super useful -
https://icotracker.net/
https://steemit.com/qoutes/@abkktk/only-i-can-change-my-life-no-one-can-do-it-for-me
Funniest thing that p2p translates to "piligrim to piligrim" . Damn.
I am officially NOT investing in the ICO!
Exactly. It seems to be scammers' hunting season with all the phishing going on on Steemit lately and also on Synereo's Slack channels in the past 48 hours. I've received countless notifications of direct messages trying to lead me to verify my Ether Wallet account on fake sites. They are taking advantage of the upcoming fork and trying to scare people into thinking they will lose their assets.
Thanks for adding this. There's a ton of scams going round and we need to know how to quickly identify them, or at least be aware of the growing numbers of them and common tactics.
Very interesting. Nice work putting this all together. I had no idea that Rhino horns were in such demand. I guess it goes to show, wherever there is something of value, there will be others trying to scam some of that value for themselves...
I completely agree, as soon as there's a valuable product people will find some scam to try and work. I guess it's to be expected.
I haven't read up on Pembient as much as I'd like to, I wonder if a fake rhino horn is a good strategy to combat poaching. I read somewhere that the use of fake/replica shark fins helped to bring an end to shark fin soup in China, so it's not that far fetched.
great job dear
do you know alot about these cryptos... i have 1k to invest but idk where dude...shm?
Thanks for exposing this scam. What is your opinion of UTRUST token. From what I have heard and read about it, it give a strong impression of legitimacy. Do you think it is legitimate?
https://utrust.io
Resteemed @v4vapid, I'm realliy into ICOs so this article was a treat. Thanks for sharing. Do you mind if I share this offsite? I would run the first paragraph and link back to this article and your steemit profile. If you do many ICO articles like this I wouldn't mind sharing as many as you care to get out.
Good research
Can anyone explain why their is so many cryptocurrencies?Most of them are useless.Is their any need to make new coins.I can't understand it.
Thank you for this warning post will be resteeming for exposure.
BeAutOfuL poSt bUdDy thAnkS vOtE fOlloW
Ico is no longer trusted thanks for sharing this post to aware the people about ico how they scamming people
thanks for sharing the info. many people will become more alert after seeing your post
Nice job @v4vapid... You are really doing a great job bringing out scam ico's and warning against intending scams.
nice info post
very good post my friend...
Thanks for the valuable information about scam alerts. Though I am not so much efficient in this field but from your post I am sure that much of the people of our community will get alert.so thank you so much friend you people are so much genius and efficient manpower to explore every unfair act. Thanks a lot for such a great information. Wish you good luck good health and happiness friend happy steeming.
posting yan g bagus kawan ,,,
friend please help go to my blog friend ...
HAHAH WTF?!? Is this for real or a troll coin?!
TBH, it's hard to tell if Synthorn is just trolling...they have a twitter account and it's just full of memes basically.
Rhinoceros Party is a satirical political party in Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Party_of_Canada_(1963%E2%80%9393)
Very good post. . Thankyou for sharing @v4vapid
https://steemit.com/qoutes/@abkktk/you-re-only-here-for-a-short-visit-don-t-hurry-don-t-worry-and-be-sure-to-smell-the-flowers-along-the-way-walter-hagen
Wow amazinh
@v4vapid the work we deserve to praise
unfortunately want rhinoceros horn can always pierce the market in the play by the bat.
thank you for sharing and posting very interesting
Excellent write up! Thanks so much for giving Steemit a fair shake on such a popular website like pembient. We definitely need more publicity like this.
Bro please upvote me please bro
Good and a nice write-up, thanks for sharing;)
Why is this tagged "bitcoin"?
Congratulations @v4vapid, this post is the third most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Hero account holder (accounts that hold between 10 and 100 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Hero account holders during this period was 264 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $3698.02. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
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What a funny post!
Thanks a lot for a great info. Be healthy and good friends
Nice job!! Thanks alot for exposing them
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Lol, what a time to be alive... Rhino horns. If anybody takes it, I'd love the option to short ICOs like these.
rhino horn dick pills...is there a red flag here i should be seeing?
This is getting out of hand. Like really wtf
https://steemit.com/qoutes/@abkktk/only-i-can-change-my-life-no-one-can-do-it-for-me
Am I the only one who got really confused when I first read the title?
thank you for this post!
what do you guys think about genesis vision and doc.ai?? is it safe to invest there?
Kuddos for this information. You wrote "Many are skeptical of this assessment and critics wonder why does the product need to look like the real thing?"
VG point! This is not different from the frankinfood for canines made to look like a piece of bacon or "bone" shape for human's visual satisfaction. "Gee it looks like bacon and smells like bacon..good enough for my senses!" Here FeFe come get the delish treat."
I am however all about Saving the amazing ancient rhino's..perhaps Pembient will birth something of substance that catches on in this very black market.
Congratulations @v4vapid!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
I think the people worried about Pembient accidentally making the problem worse are incorrect. The level of risk people will take goes up based on the profit they stand to make. If Pembient can create enough synthetic product to cut the price to a tenth of what it is now people may not be willing to risk their lives and freedom by poaching.
Outstanding research. This is kind of post that keeps me coming back to Steemit. Thank you.
oh god no. Just no
Hmmm great you make good content.
You really should get your facts straight when posting.
Rhinoceros Horn has NEVER been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as an aphrodisiac. Xi Jiao (Rhino horn) is the name of it in TCM. Xi Jiao is used for "cooling the blood" like to lower high fevers that are caused by infectious diseases like Ebola viruses that causes the victims to bleed internally.
Here is a reference.
http://www.uniteagainstpoaching.co.za/index.php/news/264-rhino-horn-use-in-traditinoal-chinese-medicine
Here is an explanation of its uses through a TCM practitioner.
https://tcmwiki.com/wiki/xi-jiao
https://www.sacredlotus.com/go/chinese-herbs/substance/xi-jiao-rhinoceros-horn
The information is sourced from Wired magazine.
Here's the passage one more time:
It only asserts that rhino horn is 'a valuable component of Chinese medicine'. It does not specify rhino horn as being an aphrodisiac.
Get your facts straight before you make false claims.
THROUGHOUT your Article you kept making the claim that RHINO horn is an aphrodisiac AND you SPECIFICALLY titled it Rhino Horn Dick Pill.
If you are siting from Wired magazine than YOU created the confusion that Rhino Horn is an aphrodisiac!
great one
After troll/joke cryptocurrency few years ago, now troll/joke ICO become trend.