The Infamous Kim Dotcom Returns

Kim Dotcom—a notorious hacker and tech founder—is starting a Bitcoin payments platform called Bitcache. While the news of a Kim Dotcom Bitcoin service will probably give mainstream elites a heart attack, a lot of investors are watching the Bitcache ICO with interest.

It would be easy to dismiss Kim Dotcom’s shady past if—and only if—there’s a chance to make money. Investors are willing to ignore a lot for triple-digit returns, especially where the words “ICO investment” are involved.

Since Kim is no slouch at building successful technology products, it’s plausible that he can generate enormous returns for investors. His bank account is a testament to that fact, or at least it would be if the U.S. government would release the $45.0 million of his they are holding.

Readers that are unfamiliar with Kim Dotcom are probably scratching their heads right about now. “Is Kim Dotcom a real name? Why is he in trouble with the U.S. government? None of this is making sense to me, Gaurav.”




Relax. All will be explained.

Here are five things to know about Kim Dotcom before investing in the Bitcache ICO.

1. He started off as a hacker.

Originally named Kim Schmitz, the German native became an infamous figure in technology circles by hacking NASA and the Pentagon. He was arrested several times on counts of computer fraud, data espionage, and insider trading.

2. Remember Megaupload? Well, he invented it.

The second thing you should know about Dotcom is that he was behind “Megaupload,” the online file sharing service that became a haven for bootleg TV shows and movies. At one point, Megaupload was making $175.0 million and employed 150 employees.

There were 50 million daily visitors to the site, but content creators were understandably upset about a website that made it easier to host pirated content. From their perspective, Megaupload was creating a space for people to watch their content without paying for it.

Eventually, it came down to lawsuits. And the content creators won. Megaupload was forced to shut its doors in 2012, adding to the growing list of problems for Dotcom.

3. He was arrested for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.

Not only did he serve some time in prison while his case was under review, but the governments of New Zealand (where his offices were located) and the U.S. seized a ton of his assets, including 18 luxury cars and $175.0 million in his bank accounts.

Some of that money was released after a judge ruled that police had used improper warrants, but the vast majority of it is still frozen. This is probably because the U.S. government is still out for blood.

4. Hollywood hates Kim Dotcom.

According to Dotcom, the U.S. government’s vendetta against him is fueled by Hollywood’s power. He believes that studios donated money to Obama’s campaigns as a means of gaining financial leverage. Now they are calling in favors to hunt him down.

Dotcom wrote a 39-page report that outlines the links between his prosecution in New Zealand and Hollywood’s stooges in Washington. Some parts are intriguing, while others read like bad fiction. But what is beyond debate is that Hollywood hates this man.

5. He has lied in the past.

As part of his claims of a grand conspiracy against him, Dotcom said there was a letter incriminating New Zealand’s prime minister. The letter was hyped as a “Moment of Truth” for Dotcom, yet it turned out that the e-mail was forged.

Long before that, Dotcom invested in a company while saying he would invest another $50.0 million, which naturally caused the stock price to jump. He then sold his shares at the premium and left the country. Legal or not, that is not someone who inspires confidence.

Bitcache ICO: Why Kim Dotcom Is Back in the News

Dotcom clawed his way back to relevance with two startups: Bitcache and K.im.

K.im is essentially Megaupload 2. It’s a file sharing website that runs on blockchain, enabling a chain of custody that will hopefully keep it from meeting the same fate as Dotcom’s earlier ventures.

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Bitcache, on the other hand, is a Bitcoin payments platform that allows you to pay for content as you consume it. It is the first of many possible Kim Dotcom Bitcoin collaborations. Let’s say you are watching an episode of TV and find it sufficiently entertaining, but you don’t want to pay for the whole show or the platform on which it’s airing.

Bitcache would automatically transfer a tiny amount of Bitcoin from your account to the creator’s after the episode ended. It creates an ecosystem in which content creators earn money from file sharing rather than losing it to pirates.

“Services like this will unchain the artists, because they can sell directly to their fan base on any platform of their choosing. No middle men,” Dotcom says.

Now he is hosting a Bitcache ICO, which means that regular investors like you and me can buy into Dotcom’s latest scheme. Is it a good idea?

Analyst Take:

For those who may not be familiar with the term “ICO,” it stands for “initial coin offering.” ICO investment has become extremely popular in the last 12 months, mainly because it is quick and often lucrative on both sides.

For example, Gnosis raised $12.0 million in under 15 minutes. Bancor raised $153.0 million in under three hours. Tezos convinced investors to give it $230.0 million. And the list goes on and on.

In fact, there have been 92 different ICOs in 2017. Collectively, they attracted more capital than VC funding rounds, which is a landmark moment for the cryptocurrency world.

It’s no surprise that people are starting to take notice. In fact, a Kim Dotcom Bitcoin collaboration seems overdue considering that he is a savvy technology entrepreneur and Bitcoin is a wealth creating juggernaut. For that reason, and that reason alone, it makes sense to consider investing in the Bitcache ICO.

That being said, Dotcom has a long list of enemies. He gets under a lot of people’s skin, his relationship with truth is a little shady, and his legal status is still up in the air. In other words, you need to have an iron stomach if you’re going to invest in him, because there is a ton of uncertainty there.