TL;DR: Controversial cryptocurrency serial forker Rhett Creighton’s PANDA SLP token crowd sale wallet apparently has been “looted and exit scammed” by a trusted administrator of his 800CryptoClub (#800cc) project. Some 27.528 bitcoin cash (BCH) was moved (total of $5,734.11 at the time), emptying the wallet completely, leaving #800cc followers stunned.

Rhett Creighton’s PANDA Crowd Sale Wallet Looted, Exit Scammed

According to official government statistics, the average family income in the Republic of the Philippines is 22,000 pesos a month, which at present conversion rates is about $434/mo, slightly over $5,200/yr. Those numbers are relevant if only because, at least anecdotally, #800cc’s 1,832 member-strong Telegram group is made up largely of Filipinos.

By crypto standards, thievery totaling $5,000 is peanuts in the wider scheme of things. But to people in relatively poorer countries, that’s a year’s wage — not a small matter. And for #800cc members, many of whom are by definition new to cryptocurrency, it is their first lesson in what is by now a time-honored crypto tradition, the exit scam.

As Creighton himself explained, “It was actually a GOOD THING that the $PANDA multisig custodial wallet got hacked so cheaply. Moving forward, it MUST BE REMOVED. Future $PANDA Sale must be conducted sending SLP DIVIDEND PAYMENT DIRECTLY TO $CCDC V2 Holders. All Existing Pre-Sale Buyers still get $PANDA #800cc,” he also noted in the first public attempt to clarify if the crowd sale wallet losses will be replenished for initial investors.

800CryptoClub

800CryptoClub is the brainchild of Creighton, who is best known for having forked projects like Zcash to create ZClassic (ZCL), and a hybrid of ZCL and BTC to form Bitcoin Private (BTCP). Purists in the space accused him of cynically taking advantage of open-source software and the crypto speculative craze to mount essentially pump and dump schemes. Creighton was alleged to have birthed the coins, hyped them as viable alternatives to their parent chains, and then, well, exited in one form or another.

Whatever the actual case, his self-promotional legend is that he turned $800 into $1,000,000 over a short period of years by dabbling in cryptocurrencies. With his gains, he moved to Puerto Rico, and for a while spent his time on social media highlighting his new, low taxed tropical lifestyle in pictures and video. The #800cc project, Creighton claims, is his attempt to teach others what he’s learned, scooping up airdrops, while he gives away crypto with the lone requirement recipients, in turn, share their good fortune with others. He also claims to have alotted $20,000 bitcoin cash for just that purpose.

The intervening months since #800cc’s inception have gained Creighton a following of rabid students who, again, seem to be from countries like the Southeast Asian archipelago. They appear also to share whatever bounties in small amounts among themselves, brigade on social media such as Twitter to Like and retweet content, and have established a fairly organic and engaged Telegram presence. They’re even making instructional videos on how to mint SLP tokens.

Stunned

Recently, the group indeed discovered the utility of SLP tokens, an easy and much cheaper way to tokenize anything using the Bitcoin Cash network. #800cc and Creighton promoted a so-called CCDC token for members, and then marketed PANDA as a way to ride recent publicity the infamous ERC20 token HEX was getting. Holders of CCDC would earn PANDA dividends, essentially from a wallet holding its equivalent in BCH in a certificate of deposit type manner reminiscent of HEX.

The difference, according to Creighton, was PANDA’s largesse would be distributed mostly to CCDC holders, #800cc members who have the token, rather than to just its creator (as is the accusation often leveled at Richard Heart, principal author of HEX). As previously noted, some $5,000 in BCH was locked away in the hopes of potentially greater payouts at a later date.

The PANDA multi-sig crowd sale wallet was held in trust to @bolbetacrypto, @kissdeo010, @kayeelbie, @lasercrypto20, and @khezeyzey (their respective Telegram handles), according to the group’s primary spokesperson, “Lovella Bombase” (@louislove14). Through the channel #800cc ANNOUNCEMENTS Bombase posted her version of what might have happened to the now missing funds.

Obviously a Bad Idea

Bombase, along with Creighton, placed primary blame on the @bolbetacrypto (Bol) handle. He allegedly direct messaged “all the Multisig Wallet [holders],” Bombase posted to #800cc ANNOUNCEMENTS on Telegram, “saying we need to consolidate all BCH into one address. I and @khezeyzey are not available at the moment since we both don’t have access to our PC / Laptop. He then Dm’ed @lasercrypto20 saying the same thing because @laser trusted so much Bol he signed the transaction first, he then Dm’ed @kayeelbie saying the same thing and telling her @laser signed already, that’s why she signed and broadcast the transaction, only to realize later that the Transaction they signed was a withdrawal of 30.6 BCH. @kayeelbie immediately called @cryptofied and other SLP Admin after she realizes that Bol deleted his Twitter and Tg. @cryptofied then tell Rhett what happens, then the rest as you all know.”

Bombase did claim the swiped PANDA crowd sale funds are now located at bitcoincash:qz9d3uagy7qx3r3ep7fcml55d86szeal5cdyjugrex. She confessed to being scammed but could only guess as to Bol’s motives besides the obvious. “All we know is [he is] having a financial problem, and he’s losing his house, it might be the reason why do it, but still facing financial problems is not a valid reason to scam people,” she claimed.

Inside a private CoinSpice chat, Creighton shot back, “That’s why we can’t have anonymous strangers hold multisig custodial wallets on the internet,” confirming Bol “tricked 2 other keyholders, impressive really.” As for moving forward with PANDA and SLP dividend payments in the future, Creighton assured, “Well v2 obviously will need to utilize SLP dividend payments directly to coin holders instead of multisig custodial.”

When some in the same chat mused it was awfully convenient an anonymous person was able to steal the wallet’s funds, suggesting Creighton was somehow part of the theft, “I’m the one who put 20 BCH in,” he answered, and defiantly insisted, “FUCK you, I was scammed,” admitting the PANDA wallet security arrangement “was obviously a bad idea, but anyway it just proves the idea of a multisig wallet was stupid. Federations don’t work. Actually I knew it was risky but the amount was so small it was much faster and cheaper than building the SLP dividend direct payment way. But clearly the amount was not too small to steal,” he concluded.

CONTINUE THE SPICE and check out our piping hot VIDEOS. Our podcast, The CoinSpice Podcast, has amazing guests. Follow CoinSpice on Twitter. Join our Telegram feed to make sure you never miss a post. Drop some BCH at the merch shop — we’ve got some spicy shirts for men and women. Don’t forget to help spread the word about CoinSpice on social media.

DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.