I won't be terribly surpised if waits a while longer and then starts making a few payouts just to see the effecct on the market. So many believe that BTCST paying out will crash the market that it is quite possible that the APPEARANCE of BTCST paying out will crash the market.  Of course pirate will be happily buying more iif this should happen.

Another option open to him is to wait until friday, by which time it will be widely accepted by all but the most deluded of his investors that he won't be paying out. Then buy back a large portion of his liabilities for a fraction of their worth (possibly using an alternate identity), and then pay out the rest. In which case he would not technically have defaulted.

I don't really think the second option will happen. But I am so dumbfounded by the large mass of supporters (some of whom claim to not be investors) who religously maintain he will pay out, even in the face of mounting evidence that he won't, that I am forced to try and come up with plausible scenarios where he doesn't default.

Am I missing some information here? I have admittedly not been following this saga closely from the beginning. Is there ANY case to be made for BTCST NOT being a ponzi (other than "You can't PROVE that he IS running a ponzi so stop with the baseless accusations?") If so, could someone please provide a link?