Quote from: OgNasty on July 30, 2014, 10:00:16 PM

Here is today's update from Alpha Technologies. It appears we will be getting part ownership of the company as compensation for our delayed order.

Quote from: Alpha Technologies

An Opportunity for the Mining Community To Become an Integral Part Of Alpha Technology And Lead The Industry For Years To Come

Greetings Batch 1 Customers!

Like all of you, we are not satisfied with the delay and have decided to do something about it. We refuse to allow the investments of batch 1 customers to be anything other than a success. We want to reward you for putting your faith in us, especially considering batch 1 hasnt turned out how we all hoped it would turn out last year when we started. We want to rectify this situation, as well as learn from batch 1 going forward. It should be noted that this delay was out of our control, and we were only able to provide an update to customers after we had received feedback from third parties. After obtaining this information, we were able to give a definitive statement as to the extent of the delay. The issues causing the delay did not occur overnight; they were a series of events that we tried to resolve and had to investigate first. Only after we were sure of the impact on delivery did we release an announcement (We had to be 100% certain as this was news that will negatively impact us as a company). In light of these events, we as a company saw 2 possible roads here, where we can leave things as they were, with unhappy customers, or go out of our way to truly appreciate the fact that we were able to start because you put your faith in us. As such, we have decided to fully commit to our original commitment of transparency, an ethical open approach and your ROI. With this in mind we have also decided to un-ban everybody who was ever banned from the forum, and apologize if you felt it was unjust. We can now put all of this negativity behind us and move forward together.

We are well aware that our customers are worried that some competitor companies will be releasing devices around the same time as us, and they may struggle to achieve ROI. In order to overcome this worry and provide the customers reassurance that we are in fact an ethical company and are genuinely striving towards serving our customers, we are proposing to give up a 30% stake in the company to our entire batch 1 customer base. Our proposition is that you will receive the miner as well as a shareholding in the company (depending on your order). This is still being worked out, so you can expect more details very soon. Also, please note that our Mh/s to power ratio for batch 1 is still one of, if not the, best on the market and many of our competitors are still yet to ship or even announce shipping dates. So this would mean that as long as Alpha Technology is making money, batch 1 customers are making money. Bear in mind that we are talking about turnovers in the millions for our company; hence you are truly being rewarded for your investment and faith in our company. This should go without saying but just to be clear, please note that only customers who have paid their orders in full will receive this offer; any unfulfilled orders will be cancelled and subject to our cancellation policy as highlighted in our terms of order (which we have been completely open with since the start of this endeavour).

This is a course that many want and have been calling for with these types of projects. Not just with ASIC companies taking pre-orders, but it can even be seen in other industries with the advent of Kickstarter and similar projects. A great example of how it should not be done being Facebook buying Oculus for $2 Billion and those original backers naturally not receiving a dime of that money. Many have called for this fair approach and yet companies dont answer simply because they dont have to. People fund them regardless, as has been the case with us, and yet here we are offering this to you in order to prove our commitment to you. Most companies would have taken, and unfortunately have, taken the other road. Weve seen and spoken to people in the Bitcoin market whose companies started just like ours: obtaining their investments from first batches, but contrary to us would then proceed with becoming rich enough to simply mine themselves, while not caring about the people who got them started in the first place; only for dominating the market alone. What this shareholding effectively does, is make our customers an integral part of Alpha Technology by being partial owners of the company. This ensures that, no matter what happens, all of our batch 1 customers WILL get ROI one way or another as long as we are in business as you will have full right over issues of dividends forever. Considering how we have survived and thrived, despite the madness that has been batch 1, the odds are very much on our side, most would have broken under this pressure and looking for their first way out and yet here we are as such rest assured we plan to be in this business for the long term. You will also of course be given your say in decisions made by our company, by way of discussions and votes on our forum. We will in fact be having a vote on our forum very soon in regards to this issue, to see if most of you feel the same way as we do: and whether or not you are happy to proceed with this. We will email you the timeframe at which the vote will take place, and link to the vote very soon. If it is positive, we will put this proposition into practice and commence with all the legal paperwork. This proposition is something no other company in the crypto-currency industry has ever done before, despite past and present problems and complaints with delays in their projects. We want to overcome this and give our customers something back for their faith and patience.

Under the current circumstances, this is the best solution for all. If we were to increase hashrates further: it would push back shipping from September, and everyone will complain again asking for increased hash rates for this first batch, and as a consequence: this cycle would continue as we would have to redesign the miners over and over again, which wouldnt help anyone. Not to mention that it would be an exhaustive, inefficient and unrealistic waste of funds. We have done all we can and more than we needed to for batch 1 and we hope this does not go unnoticed by you. The same can be said for a discount; were sharing but, and sorry if this is too candid, were not stupid. Also, if we were to offer cloud hashing to customers, it would take a tremendous amount of time and effort to set up and have it running efficiently. On top of that, the hashing would only be temporary until it was not viable anymore; and we sincerely doubt you would be pleased with that. Cloud hashing is being explored, but not given any priority at this time. Another suggestion from customers was to ship extra miners for free from cancelled orders, this also is not viable as there wouldnt be enough miners to give everyone the extra miner. There will however be cancelled orders, and one possibility with this proposition is to set up our own mining operation immediately after shipment. Of course you will receive profits from this, proportioned to your share with the company, or we may simply just sell the miners. In any case: we will discuss all of this with you and you will profit either way.

We have secured key contacts in this industry, and hold a big advantage over any other crypto-currency company out there; this is a fact. In the near future alone, our batch 2 miners will be something special. They will be highly profitable and (bearing in mind all that we have learned through this process) we cant see how they will not simply be the best on the market thanks to an engineering advantage which would be foolish for us to share right now, but you will know in due course. We also have very ambitious and extensive plans for the future of our company, but we also want to listen to all of your ideas and thoughts so that we can use your input as well and work together on this in order to, hopefully, be on the cutting edge of the crypto-currency industry. We are giving you the opportunity to take that slice of the pie which you duly deserve, as you (and a little bit of us) are the reason Alpha Technology made it this far. We are currently in conversations with our legal team and accountants, and will be drafting up the proposal in detail and send out the relevant paperwork to the customers. With this proposition we hope we have demonstrated to you that you are highly valued customers and that we are truly in this market for the long term. We genuinely care about our customers and we want to actively help you not only making money from this industry but also, hopefully, contribute to it. We will of course disclose key information and documents to you with regards to our company in due course; the capacity and method of this is still to be determined, as we obviously cannot rush this due to its sensitive nature.

We are now all moving forward together and we are sorry but it must be said that constantly and unconstructively criticizing or trying to undermine us will only hurt yourself. Instead, we must be constructive and collaborative, as you and your funds are in this with us. Just as a reminder what has happened since the start: you pre-ordered a product, then competitors arrived on the scene. In order to secure your loyalty, we increased the hashrate to 90Mh/s which is fair enough, then we took final payment at 90 (if we were any other company: chances are we would have and could have stopped at this point, that is a fact.), we then decided to increase to 250Mh/s despite the fact we didnt need to. We delayed and despite the fact our terms give us leeway in this: for the sake and in the interests of our customers we still decided to go yet another step further by giving you shares of our company for the rest of its existence without the need for you to spend an extra penny or work for us hence there is no catch this is technically something for nothing in so far as what we are legally obliged to provide you (although, in this situation: it would only make sense to purchase your future units from your company, as you will receive profits back similar to a discount. It would also make sense to contribute to the company as much as you can in whatever capacity you can; as you would be directly helping yourself). All this on top of free shipping for batch 2 and 10% off any future batch of your choice; this is an unprecedented level of customer service.

We sincerely hope that you will appreciate our efforts to go the extra mile for you and that you will appreciate the offer were making to you. We want to thank you for your patience, support and investment in our first batch. We hope you will continue to support us and we promise we will continue to value your custom and input. We are really excited about the future of our company in this industry and we hope that you will join us in our excitement.

Thank you and were looking forward to be hearing from you!

Kind Regards,

Mohammed Akram

Director

You folks may want to take a CLOSER look at what it really takes to give stake in a company to customers in that particular country before taking their word for it. It may be in your best interest to attempt to get any type of refunds going or legal action (based upon your own due diligence from seeking legal counsel). Below is a post that gives some light into what it might take for A.T. to allow what they propose which based upon what their circumstances now as a company they may not be able to do legally. This is in no way financial/legal advice. Please seek the appropriate people for that if that is what you deem necessary. Good luck to you folks.

Quote from: retro72 on August 01, 2014, 02:56:48 AM

I think the house of cards is about to come crashing down on Alpha T. Once again they have rushed to action without thinking anything through.

I have been researching the UK laws on Public Offering Of Shares and they are pretty damn strict. If you offer shares to more than 99 people in the UK or any EU district (35 in the USA), it is considered a Public Offering. This cannot be done by a Private Company, it is illegal under The Companies Act.

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Section 81 Companies Act 1985 states "A private limited company commits an offence if it: offers to the public (whether for cash or otherwise) any shares in or debentures of the company; or allots or agrees to allot (whether for cash or otherwise) any shares in or debentures of the company with a view to all or any of those shares or debentures being offered for sale to the public".

Alpha will have to go public,this means they must have a minimum of £50,000 in share capital and be audited . Not only that, they have to jump through serious hoops, divulge large amounts of sensitive data and spend a lot of money.

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There are several disadvantages to completing an initial public offering:

Significant legal, accounting and marketing costs, many of which are ongoing
Requirement to disclose financial and business information
Meaningful time, effort and attention required of senior management
Risk that required funding will not be raised
Public dissemination of information which may be useful to competitors, suppliers and customers.
Loss of control and stronger agency problems due to new shareholders
The IPO process is time consuming, complex, and requires a company to have a clear and complete understanding of its core business functions before embarking

Another problem for Alpha is that the UK is very strict on who can be offered shares, what has to be disclosed and how they are promoted.

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"The law starts from the premise that the ordinary person in the street deserves to be protected from
people offering investments, and in particular shares, for sale to them. The logic is, that these sorts of
investments often require relatively significant sums of money and further that is it not easy for an
investor to know at first glance what constitutes a good‟ investment. The law therefore is very
prescriptive about what you can do to raise investment."

If the shares are to be made transferable, ie you will be able to sell them on or gift them they will need an Approval Prospectus which is an expensive document that needs to be approved by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority)

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The prospectus must be approved by the competent authority in the United Kingdom, which is currently the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its capacity as the United Kingdom Listing Authority. If the purpose of the prospectus is to induce people to engage in an investment activity, it will also need to be issued or approved by an 'authorised person' or it will constitute an unlawful financial promotion under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

On top of this, as Alpha are distributing these shares across the world, they will have to comply with the laws in each country.

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Beware of foreigners. If you think UK and EU securities laws are complex, try US
securities laws! If you are using the internet to promote your crowd fund offer bear in
mind that 60% of the English speaking audience on the internet are from the US. If a
US citizen in the US is capable of accepting your offer, then you are offering securities
in the US and so you must comply with US securities laws too! This can get very
complicated and costly for you when your subscribers are from outside of the EU.

Basically Alpha have once again shot the pooch. They have no idea what they are doing or the costs and the regulation involved in this harebrained scheme. The penalties are severe for flouting FCA laws, including heavy fines and/or imprisonment. Mr M Akram's offer may already be in breach of FCA laws as his statement could be considered a Financial Promotion.

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Making a financial promotion may be a criminal offence
Everyone is subject to the financial promotion regime whether or not they are a financial services company or work in the financial services industry. If a person who is not an authorised person communicates, or causes someone else to communicate, a financial promotion, they will be:
Committing a criminal offence unless an authorised person has approved the contents of the promotion or it is covered by an exemption.
Liable to a fine, up to two years' imprisonment, or both.
Any agreements entered into as a result of the communication may be unenforceable: the customer may be entitled to recover any money paid or other property transferred under the agreement and to compensation for any loss.
See Practice note, Financial promotion: sanctions, defences and FCA disciplinary action.

What is the financial promotion regime?
A financial promotion invites/induces someone to engage in investment activity
A financial promotion is a communication of an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity, such as entering into an agreement to buy or sell shares. It can be oral or written. A financial promotion can take many forms. For example:
A press release or briefing containing statements about future plans to develop the business and the impact on future revenue or profit performance.
Information posted on the company's website. The medium of a website is viewed no differently to other forms of communication.
A statement made by the chairman during an AGM (perhaps in response to a question from the floor) which speculates about the company's future performance or its share price.
Therefore, the legal team should be aware of all types of communications that the company will put out and ensure that those who are responsible for communicating with the outside world have received appropriate training.

And they are going to have to be A LOT more honest if they don't want to wind up in prison.

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section 397 of FSMA makes it an offence to make misleading, false or deceptive statements or dishonestly to conceal material facts with a view to inducing a person to buy or sell shares.

This is not a breach of the DSR the FCA take this sort of thing very seriously and prison sentences are regularly handed down for breaches of their many regulations. I've got a feeling this will be dropped like a hot potato as soon as a solicitor takes one look at it. Once again taking another large dump on Alpha's tattered credibility and leaving their customers FUBARed once again.