Cryptocurrency means business, and as highly volatile business, it attracts many players betting on the trend.
From tech-savvy individuals to rookies, to unknown personas and famous individuals.
One of which is Diet Bitcoin (DDX), a blockchain-powered cryptocurrency which is a hard fork of the Bitcoin network. The digital currency that promises a lighter and faster alternative to Bitcoin, is backed by Escobar, Inc., an investment firm ran by Roberto Escobar, the biological brother of the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Here, the company is running an initial coin offering (ICO) for crowdsale fundraising purposes.
The Diet Bitcoin website says the total supply of 1,000,000 DDX will be split in three separate token sales: 300,000 DDX will be sold at $50 (initially discounted to $2), another 300,000 will go for $100 a coin, and the remaining 400,000 will be priced at $1,000.
Everyone should buy as many Diet Bitcoin as they can afford, said Escobar, Inc. COO Daniel Reitberg. "The value will be very high as we are identical in numbers to Bitcoin, except we are 4000 times cheaper right now."
"Why would anyone on the planet buy Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency where there is no real team behind it?" asked Escobar, Inc. CEO Olof Gustafsson. "We at Escobar, Inc. are committed to support the cryptocurrency Diet Bitcoin fully and are managing the day-to-day operations of this new currency."
Forking the Bitcoin network isn't at all new. There are software available where anybody can create a fork with simple clicks. So just like any other cryptocurrencies and ICOs, people should be extra careful. Based on the volatile nature of digital currencies, there is no exact way of telling how they will perform tomorrow or the day after that.
And not to mention the many scams ICOs have done in the past.
But here, Diet Bitcoin wants to be different and legitimate. Besides publishing a white paper about the digital currency, Escobar has also released a book titled The True Story by Roberto Escobar: Pablo Escobar's Dietbitcoin which explains his motivation to launch the coin.
Among the things he said on the book beside his views on various elements of his brother's story, Escobar stated that Bitcoin was actually created by the U.S. government, and not by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, which is a contrary to popular belief. Here, Escobar hinted that Nakamoto was the front representative for the government.
Escobar suggests that Nakamoto approached him with a proposal for launching the Diet Bitcoin project, although he indicates that he later believes that it was "a setup by the American government to infiltrate Escobar Incorporated."
"The world is going to see that this was created by them," he said in his book. "And when they see it, it is too late, and when CIA founds out that the world knows about this, the CIA is going to sell all of their coins, and they will destroy the value of Bitcoin."
Roberto Escobar is optimistic about the future of his venture. As a businessman, he claims that most cryptocurrencies are fraudulent, and vows that his DDX will be there when all others fall.
"You can stick with your worthless coins,” Escobar says in the book. “Keep the Ethereum, Keep the TRON, keep the Ripple, keep the Bitcoin. You will see what happens. They will all go to zero, almost zero. But not my coin. Because my coin, this is going to be my new work in life."