TechCrunch
Atlantis, The Flashy Silk Road Alternative, Shuts Down
Atlantis was supposed to be an “better” alternative to popular, but hidden, Silk Road market. In short, it allowed the average user to buy and sell drugs, contraband, and whatever else using an encrypted web session and Bitcoin. Now it’s sunk.
The site launched in June to much fanfare including write-ups from most major websites. Hidden behind the now partially compromised Tor network, the site promised quick, anonymous transactions using Bitcoin and Litecoin. Online users complained that the service was little more than a watered-down Silk Road and a honeypot for authorities to catch drug dealers.
Now the site has been shut down and will stop business entirely in one week, at which time all crypto currency in the system will be taken by the site admins and donated to a drug-related charity.
We have some terrible news. Regrettably it has come time for Atlantis to close its doors. Due to security reasons outside of our control we have no choice but to cease operation of the Atlantis Marketmarketplace. Believe us when we say we wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t 100% necessary.
Due to the urgency we are allowing all users to withdrawal all their coins for one week before the site, and forum, are shut down permanently. Please remove all of your coins, these will not be recoverable after one week from now. Anything remaining in your accounts will be donated to a drug related charity of our choosing.
We wish to thank all of you for making Atlantis a great and memorable place to trade on. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Best wishes,
The Atlantis team
Given that the group had a Facebook page and a now-missing YouTube commercial it’s little wonder that those with the wherewithal to crack their site gave it a bit more attention. They also offer discounts to Silk Road users and made a large PR push, further pushing their concept into the limelight.
We’ve reached out to the anonymous admins for comment.
Gillmor Gang: Under My Thumb
The Gillmor Gang — John Borthwick, Robert Scoble, Danny Sullivan, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor — collected iPhone 5′s from the four corners of the tech world. Danny Sullivan ordered the elusive gold one at midnight in L.A., Scoble hit the midtown Apple Store in the Big Apple, John Borthwick got his via the betaworks diplomatic pouch, and John Taschek, well, Android Boy passed.
As for me, I grumbled and groaned as @scobleizer broadcast from inside the iStore, as hundreds streamed in and out with the new phone some 7 hours into the upgrade. Finally, as the Gang peeled off to enjoy the fruit of their ardor, I called around for increasingly desperate minutes and miraculously found a store with a few left in Silicon Valley no less. A sweaty hour later, I headed back to the studio to join the herd, a fanboy once again in good standing.
@stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @borthwick, @dannysullivan, @jtaschek
Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor
Why You Need To Pay Attention To General Solicitation
Editor’s note: Naval Ravikant is the co-founder and CEO of AngelList. Follow him on Twitter @naval. Kevin Laws is COO of AngelList. Follow him on Twitter @kalaws.
On Monday, the legal framework for startup fundraising will change. Because of the JOBS Act, you will be able to publicly announce that you’re raising. This is not crowdfunding — you still have to raise from accredited (“rich”) investors. But, by raising in public, you will have to work harder to verify that your investors are accredited.
It has always been perfectly legal to publicly announce that you have money and are looking to invest. But it’s not been legal to announce that you have an investment opportunity and are looking for money. This is the ban against “general solicitation.” That’s why you don’t see ads to invest in hedge funds or startups, and why AngelList locks down sensitive parts of company profiles to accredited investors only. Now, the ban is being lifted.
If you generally solicit, you will be unable to take your investors’ word on accreditation.
Demo days, pitch events, and the like are now out of a gray area, but they are entering another gray area. Companies engaging in general solicitation will be required by law to ensure their investors are accredited. Failure to do so could cost you your securities law exemption and allow any of your investors to unwind your entire financing down the road.
If you generally solicit, you will be unable to take your investors’ word on accreditation. The SEC didn’t tell us exactly what’s required; they said the company should take “reasonable steps.” Most examples from the SEC include reviewing credit reports, tax filings and bank balances — hoops that angel investors may not jump through.
You can consult your lawyer, but here are examples of reasonable steps that may be more feasible:
1. If public filings with regulators show the investor as accredited, you’re done. You can get Marissa Mayer’s salary data as CEO of Yahoo! or see that a VC fund raised $100 million.
2. Written confirmation of accredited status from a registered broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, attorney or CPA would work. Many broker/dealers that deal with the startup world are rolling out services to do accreditation verification (for a fee).
3. AngelList will support a free verification process for our investor base. Investors won’t need to re-verify for each deal. We will also run all of our online investing activities (Syndicates and Invest Online) on a fee and cost-free basis to both startups and investors and attempt to recover those costs down the road with a 5 percent to 10 percent carry (piece of the profits, if any) on each investment.
The Angel Capital Association and others have mounted a campaign against these new requirements to no avail. Investors will be surprised the first time they’re asked to provide evidence of accreditation to a startup (or to a third party).
Of course, you can always opt out of general solicitation. On AngelList, you can keep your profile private to accredited investors only. Outside of AngelList, just keep your fundraising off Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Then you’re free to continue with self-verification by investors.
Of course, you can always opt out of general solicitation.
The SEC has also proposed a new set of additional regulations for comment. The new proposed regulations allow the SEC to track generally solicited offerings to protect the public.
The proposals require that startups tell the SEC 15 days before any public mention of a financing and to update the SEC with every single thing they tell investors publicly in any form. The penalty for not complying with these and other requirements is a one-year ban on fundraising.
These regulations are not yet adopted and hopefully won’t be; you can submit your comments to the SEC before Monday. The law is evolving, so if you talk about your ongoing financing publicly, make sure you’re up to date. Joe Wallin and Bill Carleton are following it closely.
Entrepreneurs are creative. It’s hard to predict what crazy stunts they’ll pull to get investor attention. Get ready for an even larger and noisier ecosystem.
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