Here’s a screenshot from a video that YouTube is suggesting to people who like watching videos about cryptocurrency. Regular readers of this blog will find its format familiar:

Once again, it’s supposed to be a live video of an interview with Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, co-founder of Ethereum, talking about Cardano, with an offer to double your ADA — send them n ADA, and they’ll send you 2n ADA back.

This is pretty much the same scam as one pulled last month with a fake “double your ETH” offer. Read it first, then note the similarities below.

It’s a “live” rebroadcast of a five-month-old video

The so-called “live” video is actually this pre-recorded interview on Lex Fridman’s YouTube channel:

The scammers are playing the video on a loop and piping it to a live YouTube stream to give it the appearance of a live broadcast.

It promises to double your ADA in a way that seems too good to be true

Here’s their promise, take straight from their video:

There’s a reason that they take a lot of space explaining what “double your ADA” means with a lot of examples: it’s all about getting you to think of all that sweet ADA that could be sitting in your wallet — if you’d just point your browser at ADAIO.online and send them your ADA!

Think for a moment: What’s the business model in giving someone twice the ADA they just gave you, which nothing else exchanged?

The ADAIO.online domain is 3 days old

If you do a WHOIS on the domain ADAIO.online, you’ll get these tidbits of information that should trigger your “scammy sense”:

• Created on 2021-11-17
• Expires on 2022-11-17
• Updated on 2021-11-17

As I write this, the domain was three days ago, and its owners are hoping you were born yesterday.

The display of ADA transfers is randomly generated

If you go to ADAIO.online and scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see a constantly-updated table of transfers that purport to show people sending them some ADA and then getting double that amount in return.

It’s fake.

A simple “view source” of ADAIO.online’s home page shows that the table’s data is randomly-generated. Scroll to the bottom and you’ll see the script behind the fakery:

<script>
    let day = 1
    let hours = 0
    let minutes = 0
    let seconds = 0
    let wallet = "addr1qxha6qprhk3dp325v7hrwmrg7z54j3wf2pl8wf5zseqfn740m5qz80dz6rz4geawxakx3u9ft9zuj5r7wung9pjqn8aqq79xwr";

    // dont edit
    let titleWallet = document.getElementById("wallet").innerText = wallet.toLocaleString('ru');
    let time = (day * (24 * 60 * 60)) + (hours * (60 * 60)) + (minutes * 60);
    // let timeContainer = document.getElementById('overTime').innerText = time;
    // dont edit


    function randomString(_0xe480x2) {
        var _0xe480x3 = '';
        var _0xe480x4 = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
        var _0xe480x5 = _0xe480x4['length'];
        for (var _0xe480x6 = 0; _0xe480x6 < _0xe480x2; _0xe480x6++) {
            _0xe480x3 += _0xe480x4['charAt'](Math['floor'](Math['random']() * _0xe480x5))
        };
        return _0xe480x3
    }

    function randomStringHashBTC(_0xe480x2) {
        var _0xe480x3 = '';
        var _0xe480x4 = 'bacfed0123456789';
        var _0xe480x5 = _0xe480x4['length'];
        for (var _0xe480x6 = 0; _0xe480x6 < _0xe480x2; _0xe480x6++) {
            _0xe480x3 += _0xe480x4['charAt'](Math['floor'](Math['random']() * _0xe480x5))
        };
        return _0xe480x3
    }

    var divCounter = 0;

    function randomInteger(min, max) {
        let rand = min + Math.random() * (max - min);
        return Math.round(rand);
    }

    function randomIntegerBTC(min, max) {
        let rand = min + Math.random() * (max - min);
        return rand.toFixed(2);
    }

    function getRandomArbitrary(min, max) {
        rand = Math.random() * (max - min) + min;
        return rand.toFixed(2);
    }

    function getRundomMnogitel() {
        let asd = [1, 0.1, 0.01];
        let getRandom = Math.floor(Math.random() * asd.length);
        return asd[getRandom];
    }

    function GenerateAddress() {
        var result = '';
        var characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
        var charactersLength = characters.length;
        for (var i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
            result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
        }
        return 'add'+result;
    }

    function GenerateHash(length) {
        var result = '';
        var characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789';
        var charactersLength = characters.length;
        for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
        }
        return result+"...";
    }

    function genDiv() {
        divCounter++;
        let valet = document.getElementById("wallet").innerText;
        var _0xe480x9 =
            `${'<div class="item"><div class="top"><div class="data"><div style="" class="data-item">{t1}</div><div style="display: none" class="data-item">{t2}</div><div class="data-item" id="btcstr">{t4}</div><div class="data-item">{t5}</div><div class="data-item">{t6}</div><div class="data-item">{t3}</div><div class="data-item">{t7}</div><div style="display: none" class="data-item">{t8}</div></div></div><div class="bottom"><div class="data"><div style="" class="data-item">{b1}</div><div style="display: none" class="data-item">{b2}</div><div class="data-item">{b4}</div><div class="data-item">{b5}</div><div class="data-item" id="btcstr">{b6}</div><div class="data-item">{b3}</div><div class="data-item">{b7}</div><div style="display:none"; class="data-item">{b8}</div></div></div></div>'}`;
        let _0xe480xa = GenerateHash(10);
        let _0xe480xb = "616" + randomInteger(1, 9) + randomInteger(1, 9) + randomInteger(1, 9);
        let _0xe480xc = 'right now';
        let _0xe480xd = GenerateAddress() + '...';
        let _0xe480xe = 'IN';
        let _0xe480xf = valet.substring(0, 10);
        let valueSend = getRandomArbitrary(1500, 40000);
        let _0xe480x10 = valueSend + ' ADA';
        let _0xe480x11 = ((Math['random']() * 0.009 * getRundomMnogitel()) + 0.0001 * getRundomMnogitel())[
            'toFixed'](6);
        let _0xe480x12 = GenerateHash(10);
        let _0xe480x13 = "616" + randomInteger(1, 9) + randomInteger(1, 9) + randomInteger(1, 9);
        let _0xe480x14 = 'right now';
        let _0xe480x15 = _0xe480xf.slice(0, 10) + "...";
        let _0xe480x16 = 'OUT';
        let _0xe480x17 = _0xe480xd;
        let _0xe480x18 = (valueSend * 3) + ' ADA';
        let _0xe480x19 = ((Math['random']() * 0.009 * getRundomMnogitel()) + 0.0001 * getRundomMnogitel())[
            'toFixed'](8);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t1}', _0xe480x12);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t2}', _0xe480x13);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t3}', _0xe480x14);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t4}', _0xe480x15);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t5}', _0xe480x16);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t6}', _0xe480x17);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t7}', _0xe480x18);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{t8}', _0xe480x19);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b1}', _0xe480xa);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b2}', _0xe480xb);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b3}', _0xe480xc);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b4}', _0xe480xd);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b5}', _0xe480xe);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b6}', _0xe480x15);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b7}', _0xe480x10);
        _0xe480x9 = _0xe480x9['replace']('{b8}', _0xe480x11);
        var _0xe480x1a = $(_0xe480x9)['prependTo']('.table-body');
        $('.item')['each'](function () {
            var _0xe480x6 = $(this)['index']();
            if (_0xe480x6 > 0) {
                $(this)['find']('.top .data div')['eq'](5)['html'](_0xe480x6 + ' min');
                $(this)['find']('.bottom .data div')['eq'](5)['html'](_0xe480x6 + ' min')
            }
        });
        setTimeout(function () {
            _0xe480x1a['find']('.top')['fadeIn']();
            _0xe480x1a['find']('.bottom .data div')['eq'](5)['html']('right now')
        }, 2000)
    }

    $(document)['ready'](function () {
        genDiv();
        setInterval(function () {
            genDiv()
        }, 15500)
    })

    genDiv();

</script>

Note that some functions have “BTC” as part of their name, which suggests that they were originally used for a Bitcoin scam and that the scammers simply reused the script.

At least the coin-ether.net scammers tried to hide their script. The lazy grifters behind ADAIO.online didn’t even put in that amount of effort.

How much have they been able to collect from gullible people?

By pasting the wallet address that ADAIO.online provided on their site at the time of writing (the better scammers know to change wallets often) into Cardanoscan, it appears that they’ve collected about 66,000 ADA in the past five hours. At current prices, that’s just under $125,000, or $25K an hour.

Let me say it again: There’s a lot of opportunity in crypto, but these “give me some of your crypto, and I’ll give you double back” offers ain’t it. Don’t fall for the scam!

If you’re someone who regularly watches cryptocurrency talking heads on YouTube, the algorithm probably suggested that you watch the video shown in the screenshot below:

It’s a scam.

I’ll explain below.

The “live” interview is a year old

For starters, the video, which purports to be a live interview with Ethereum creator (and son of one of my contacts from my Toronto days) Vitalik Buterin, is actually a “live” rebroadcast of an actual Coinbase video from last November:

That year-old video is embedded in coin-ether.net’s video to give it an air of legitimacy in the hopes that you’ll suspend your critical thinking and fall for their “giveaway” offer:

Here’s the “giveaway”: Send at least 0.5 ETH (US $4203.30 as I write this) to their wallet address, and they’ll immediately send double that amount to your wallet. And in case you don’t know what “times two” means, they explain it to you very clearly:

• If you send 0.5+ ETH, you will get 1+ ETH back.
• If you send 10+ ETH, you will get 20+ ETH back.
• If you send 50+ ETH, you will get 100+ ETH back.
• If you send 250+ ETH, you will get 500+ ETH back.
• If you send 500+ ETH, you will get 1000+ ETH back.

This is a psychological trick: it’s all about getting you to think of all that sweet Ethereum that could be sitting in your wallet — if you’d just point your browser at coin-ether.net and send them your ETH!

WHOIS coin-ether.net?

If you do a WHOIS on the domain coin-ether.net, you’ll get these tidbits of information that should trigger your “scammy sense”:

• Created on 2021-10-30
• Expires on 2022-10-30
• Updated on 2021-10-30

That’s right — this domain was born yesterday (at the time of writing), and its owners are hoping you were born yesterday, too!

coin-ether.net’s maps to the IP address 185.178.208.138, which is located in Rostov Oblast, located in the Southern Federal District of Russia.

The display of Ethereum transfers is randomly generated

If you go to coin-ether.net and scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see a constantly-updated table of transfers that purport to show people sending them some ETH and then getting double that amount in return.

It’s fake.

A simple “view source” of coin-ether.net’s home page shows that one of its imported scripts is something called table.js.

If you view the source of table.js, you’ll find that its purpose is to repeatedly call a function named createTableItem(), which creates tables containing randomly-generated Ethereum addresses and amounts in exchanges that always happen “right now”:

const createTableItem = () => {
  let inputValue = randomInteger(1, 100) + "." + randomString(1, "123456789");
  let outputValue = ++inputValue * 2;
  let txFIn = inputValue / 1000;
  let txFOut = outputValue / 1000;
  let cutWallet = BaseWallet.slice(0, 7) + "..."

  let item = document.createElement("div");
  item.className = "table_item ";
  item.innerHTML = `<table>
                    <tr class="table_item-top">
                        <td>${randomString(7) + "..."}</td>
                        <td>${randomString(6, "123456789")}</td>
                        <td>${cutWallet}</td>
                        <td>OUT</td>
                        <td>${"0x" + randomString(5) + "..."}</td>
                        <td>right now</td>
                        <td>${outputValue + "  ETH"}</td>
                        <td>${txFOut.toFixed(3)}</td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr class="table_item-apply">
                        <td class="left"></td>
                        <td ><img src="./images/Apply.png" alt="apply" /></td>
                        <td class="right"></td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr class="table_item-bottom">
                    <td>${randomString(7) + "..."}</td>
                    <td>${randomString(6, "123456789")}</td>
                    <td>${"0x" + randomString(5) + "..."}</td>
                    <td>  IN</td>
                    <td>${cutWallet}</td>
                    <td>right now</td>
                    <td>${inputValue + "  ETH"}</td>
                    <td>${txFIn.toFixed(3)}</td>
                    </tr>
                    </table>`;

  var first = table.childNodes[0];
  let last = table.lastChild;

  table.insertBefore(item, first);
  let itemsCount = table.children.length;

  if (itemsCount > 3) {
    table.removeChild(last);
  }
};

They didn’t hide it very well — even a student in their first week of a coding bootcamp would be able to find it.

And finally, there’s just plain common sense

Why would anyone simply give you double the money you give them?

There’s a lot of opportunity in crypto, but coin-ether.net ain’t it. Don’t fall for the scam!

If you read only one piece of tech punditry today, make sure it’s Benedict Evans’ slide deck, Tech in 2020: Standing on the shoulders of giants. Evans is a partner at Andreesen Horowitz (a.k.a. a16z), and it’s his job to try and figure out where tech is going next. Despite being 128 slides long, the deck is a quick read thanks to Evans’ concise slide-making style. More importantly: There’s a lot of useful information in them! I’m going to spend this week highlighting some key lessons from this deck.

Today’s lesson: Always bet on the toy.

The S-curve is a recurring image in Evans’ slide deck. S-curves describe a process that starts off slowly, picks up speed in the middle, and slows down near the end. It describes a non-linear growth process that you’ll see everywhere, in both natural and artificial systems.

Evans observes that the adoption of new technologies tends to follow an S-curve. In the beginning, a new technology’s adoption is slow, as it’s considered too silly or toy-like to actually be useful. Then it hits a tipping point where it becomes the hot new thing, and adoption ramps up quickly. Finally, the market for the technology becomes saturated, growth slows, it becomes “old news”, and people ask “What’s next?”.

Consider desktop computing. When it got started in the late 1970s and early 1980s, desktop computers were derided as toys. The fact that the IBM PC was developed by IBM’s Entry-Level Systems division indicates that they thought of the PC was something to tide their lightweight customers over until they were ready for a real computer. We know what happened in the end: people in offices found all sorts of uses for PCs, they became ubiquitous, and now they’re boring.

On slide 7, Evans points out that the history of computing technology has been a series of S-curves, with each S-curve spanning a period of about 15 years. The image above shows slide 7, with annotations that I added to spell out the overall trend. With each technology, the following happens:

• Size, cost and power consumption decrease
• Ubiquity, use cases, and power increase

With that in mind, Evans presents four major categories of what could be “The Next Big Thing”, which are:

1. Frontier tech
   • Quantum computing
   • New battery chemistry
   • Neural interfaces
   • Autonomy
   • AR optics
2. Important but narrow
   • Drones
   • IoT
   • Voice
   • Wearables
   • Robotics
   • eSports
   • 3D printing
   • VR
   • Micro-satellites
3. Structural learning
   • Crypto?
   • 3G / 4G / 5G
   • Cloud, still
4. The next platform?
   • AR glasses?

Note that all of these technologies are easily dismissable as “toys”, “silly”, or “not yet ready for the real world” — for now. If you want to be ready for the upcoming 15-year S-curve, make sure that you’re keeping an eye on trends in these areas, or similar topics.