2. CIPHERMINE is either a fraud, a scam, or just plain not honoring redemption requests:
is there a difference between the three?
Technically, yes. Practically, no. Never liked Kate and CIPHER myself, personally. The whole thing just seems even more strange when combined with Deprived's disappearance and his relatively close ties to them.
In hindsight, and now having read everything Kate wrote and everything Deprived wrote, he just seems on a completely different level intellectually to her. She came over as narcissistic and somewhat naive, whereas he seemed to be one of the most able minds there was in the crypto-community.
For sure Deprived's decision to buy into CIPHERMINE.B1 had an influence on my decision to do the same, though I admit my own fault for not having done more to look at her with a skeptical eye. A lesson learned.
Having said that, she also sold herself as having run a number of successful businesses, and having spent so much effort on self-promotion I couldn't believe that she would risk her own reputation by taking the course of action that she has. I saw that as my insurance policy against the bonds not being redeemed. I mean, even if she escapes this without legal penalty, how can things ever be the same again?