Hey everyone,

In case you don't know what ExamSoft is, it is a company that provides 'high stakes' test-taking software. It is heavily used in the administration of the bar exam for lawyers and for final exams for law students. Their current version of the software is a new version called "Examplify". Examplify was used in the February 2018 bar exam and required a series of "URGENT" updates about a week before the exam; during the exam, the software became extremely buggy. The software is essentially repurposed ransomware. When the program is installed and running, it acts like a virus. The company and my law school simply tell us to trust them that it is okay. Furthermore, ExamSoft's terms and conditions state that they will comply with law enforcement orders, etc. after stating that they do not retain personal information.

After doing some digging, I was able to uncover a tiny bit about how the software works (this is an email from their customer support to my law school):

"Examplify is a computer-based testing application with the main benefit being a secure, offline testing capability. The ability to provide a secure, "locked down" testing environment is a priority for our clients, and one of ExamSoft's main selling points. Due to this need, the Examplify software does edit registry entries on the user's device when running in "secure" mode. These registry entries are added to put the computer in a secure mode where only the Examplify application can run. This limits the user's access to all other areas of their device, including their background image, file libraries, or any other applications on the computer. Students are warned at the start of an exam before entering this mode. As part of Examplify's processes, the application cleans up registry entries created at the end of usage returning the device to its initial state and ensuring there is no permanent changes to the registry. In addition to the changes to the registry, Examplifydisables certain services on the device to limit internet access and interference with the security of the exam. We also save content to specific Examplify folders on the device. During the exam, Examplify logs the applications that are open when going into Secure mode. We also log computer details, including OS specifications. Outside of these changes and the saving of our own data and logs (including the information just mentioned), we do not actively copy or store any other information from the device, including personal files, drivers, or other user data."

Request: I am hoping someone with technical digital security know-how is willing to stress test the Examplify software for me and look for anything weird. I'm not asking for you to hack their system, just to download the file from their website (if you need credentials to download, message me and I can send some over) and look under the hood to see if someone pissed in the engine. People in law do not think about this and I do not trust the word of a bunch of lawyer wanna-be's that my personal info is safe. I also do not have the technical know-how to accomplish this on my own.

To explain why I am wary, ExamSoft has had a LOT of problems over the past couple years; a brief list of issues is compiled below:

1. Examsoft messed up my computer: https://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/4hs94w/examsoft_messed_up_my_computer/

2. Exam Soft malfunction during first and last 1L finals: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=200514

3. Bar Exam Software Debacle Causes Testing Delays Across The Country (Feb 2018 bar exam debacle WITH EXAMPLIFY): https://abovethelaw.com/2018/03/bar-exam-software-debacle-causes-testing-delays-across-the-country/ ("On the first day of the exam, test-takers were faced with widespread outages of ExamSoft’s Examplify software, which caused exam delays in several jurisdictions. Thousands of bar candidates were wide-eyed with worry when they tried to begin their essays and their exam applications didn’t work — at all. This mess all started with a series of “URGENT” updates to ExamSoft that were made less than a week before the exam was slated to begin...").

4. The Biggest Bar Exam Disaster Ever? ExamSoft Makes Everyone’s Life Hard: https://abovethelaw.com/2014/07/bar-exam-disaster-examsoft-makes-everyones-life-hard/ (covering ExamSoft's massive error in the 2014 bar exam testing period). See also https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/bar-exam-tech-disaster-inspires-lawsuit-threats-operat-1613129108

5. TobyInHR, Exam day horror stories, Reddit (posted 3 months ago): https://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/7lb1q8/exam_day_horror_stories/ ("2 out of my three Examplify exams crashed on me last week. The only one that didn't was a Scantron multiple choice test (needed to use Examplify to track our time, since it was self-scheduled). The two exams that crashed also refused to upload after the exam. I just kept getting an error about how my computer was not connected to the internet, which was objectively false. Fairly simple solution: Examplify saves your stuff locally throughout the exam, every 60 seconds. The Examplify folder contains a (I would assume encrypted) copy of your exam, so if it fails to upload, you just have to send Examsoft a .zip file of your Examplify folder, and they can manually upload it.

Any comments or thoughts are appreciated.

I like DeepOnion and Factom right now. Storj is neat too if you want a Factom competitor. All of them are at good overall prices.

I think BTC will be totally fine. It has staying power and doesn't make any claims to be more than what it is. Proof of concept is solid, and now its all just about tweaking it. I did see something slightly problematic last night though where some researchers found 8 instances of child pornography images saved onto BTC blocks which could really fuck stuff up because that would make accidental possession of one of those blocks super illegal. People might not want to risk it if this becomes more prevalent

Yeah, this firesale is annoying. It might kill a lot of altcoins (if it hasn't already). I'm seeing stuff that used to be a dollar pushing 3-4 cents right now which is causing problems for development because founders aren't able to actually fund their developers at these prices. I think BTC is gonna hit $2-4k but I'm not shorting it. Rather, going to buy on the way down and stay away from most altcoins for now. Hard to tell if they'll be able to survive (aside from Dragonchain due to Disney money).

Fucking trustee is being a giant dickhole 

You're one of the first people I've heard agree with me about this! My thoughts are slightly different in that I think cryptos can be broken up into three classes: (1) currencies (bitcoin; monero; zcash; ltc; ripple; other 'store of value' coins); (2) commodities (ETH; some other ones; anything that gets 'consumed' when using the platform; and (3) utility (factom; storaj; espers; etc.; tokens that don't get destroyed and serve some sort of functional purpose but which are built upon a different cryptos platform).

Ideally, in this system, btc and the like would be classified and taxed as foreign currencies, ETH and the like would be taxed as commodities (60/40 rule), and utility tokens would continue to be taxed like property.

Too bad the IRS will never get their shit together enough to figure this out!

I appreciate the suggestions, I'll go ahead and incorporate those ideas later today! Thanks for the merit

Welcome to crypto! It's a fun place to be. Once a coin is distributed, one of the goals of the development team is to get the coin listed on exchanges. The team's effectiveness in getting the coin listed can vary a lot based on the community support behind the project. Often, to get a coin listed, an exchange requires a certain amount of upvotes before a coin is listed. The coin will generally be listed on small, obscure exchanges at first. As trading volume increases and the project details become more concrete, the coin might get listed on larger and larger exchanges. A coin will not be listed on exchanges that exchange into fiat until the coin has obtained widespread adoption and trust within the community as a legitimate and important project. The reason for this is the fiat exchanges act as the regulatory gatekeepers for crypto and try their best to work within existing legal frameworks. Smaller exchanges often operate in legal gray areas. Notably, when coins are listed on big exchanges for the first time (binance, OKEX, Coinbase, etc.), you'll often see a huge spike in price.

The coin's price can vary between exchanges, especially for new coins. Coin price is a function of how thin/thick the order book is (how many orders are being placed for substantial amounts). A thin order book can drive the price up or down quickly as market orders fail to be met because the price is either too high or low. As order books get thicker (like Bitcoin), the price volatility will steadily decrease as the market becomes more liquid and better able to meet demand.

Because coin prices are based off order book thickness and trading volatility, the price for a crypto asset can fluctuate between exchanges (arbitrage opportunities) because the crypto markets are not nearly as efficient as other currently available capital markets. As a result, pricing a new asset can be difficult. This is where Coinmarketcap.com comes in. Coinmarketcap.com (and other similar services) aggregate trading prices and order volumes among all exchanges which list any given crypto asset. The Coinmarketcap algorithm then does internal calculations and spits out the aggregate price for the token (although the price on coinmarketcap is not necessarily the price on any given exchange).  

Happy it helps, keep researching and you'll be okay. There's a lot to learn in this space but you have plenty of time to learn it.

Thank you! 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3015144.new#new

(trading; ICOs vs. Airdrops; explains the differences and then analyzes potential market effects of various token distribution models)

You've been researching cryptocurrencies for a bit now and you think you might be ready to diversify into less established coins, but you're wondering how to choose which coin to pick. Keep reading to learn about the various frameworks that currently exist for the distribution of new coins.


Odds are, you've run across a plethora of open "ICOs" ("initial coin offerings"). As an "ICO" sounds similar to an "IPO" ("initial public offering" for the sale of securities of publicly traded companies), you might be inclined to trust the legitimacy of such an offering, but pitfalls are rampant and the unwary might lose their shirt by investing too much in the wrong ICO. That said, ICOs can also be a great investment opportunity. In order to invest in an ICO, you'll need to send some sort of coin (one of the ICO's accepted trading pairs) to a specified wallet address.

ICOs are extremely speculative and should be approached with extreme caution and care. Always read the associated "white paper." You are also heavily encouraged to browse forums like Reddit and Bitcointalk to see if other #cryptoheads can assist you in your analysis. Exploring forums also gives you the opportunity to gauge the strength of the coin's community, which is important if you expect the coin to ever become widely-adopted.

Usually, to participate in an ICO, you'll need to send the coins from the address you intend to use to receive the tokens you are entitled to in exchange for your contribution of ETH/BTC/LTC, etc. The author once made the mistake of sending ETH from a Coinbase account to an ICO address (spoiler: it doesn't work and, to my knowledge, there's no way to reverse the transaction). You'll usually want to use an ERC-20 compatible token wallet (we recommend MyEtherWallet or MetaMask online wallets; make sure you read their instructions and backup your wallet and private key(s) appropriately). Note that an ERC-20 wallet will only work for tokens on the ETHEREUM network. If the coin runs on a different script, ERC-20 tokens will be useless and you will lose your money. ALWAYS READ THE ICO INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!!!!!!!!!

If you want to invest in ICOs but don't know where to find them, check out ICO Alert for an up-to-date calendar of most/all ICO offerings (both ongoing and upcoming).

Often, ICOs offer presale bonuses (I've seen anywhere from 10% bonus to 70% bonus). Keep in mind that, while bonuses do sound nice, they can sometimes harm the cryptocurrency's ability to grow because the early buyers who got the bonus are have incentive to sell the currency at a profit the second it goes live on exchanges, which can sometimes cause the price of a token to swan dive.


You might think an ICO is the only way new cryptocurrency coins are distributed, however, this is not true. In fact, some of the most well-known coins today never had an ICO. Some examples of coins that did not utilize an ICO include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero. These coins chose instead to rely on stable community growth, miners, and a confluence of other factors to make their coin marketable. While a non-ICO method of coin distribution has worked for the cryptos listed above, there are plenty of coins that have attempted something similar but which have failed miserably and now represent "dead" coins.


In a variation of the traditional distribution model expounded above, it is also possible for a coin to be distributed via airdrop. Airdrops are a really cool way of distributing coins.

Essentially (the following explanation can vary substantially and is only meant to help you conceptualize how an airdrop works), airdrops reward early adopters and have the potential to be extremely anonymous. The specific procedural details of participating in any given airdrop will vary substantially between cryptocurrencies, but you can generally find the rules on the crypto's website. For an example of Airdrop rules, check out the DeepOnion Airdrop Rules (last accessed Jan. 24, 2018; unsure if link will stay live after airdrop period ends in about 11 weeks).

Usually, the first-step in participating in an airdrop (aside from possible registration requirements) is to get some coins. If the coins have been premined, you will probably be able to get the coins on an exchange or through the coin's website. In order to get coins, you'll need a wallet address for the coins to be sent too. Usually, for new coins, you'll want to use the coin's specified QT (desktop) wallet as it will be difficult to find any third-party support for a brand new coin (third-party support comes as the project matures).

Once you have a wallet address and the coin-creators know where to send future airdrops, you simply need to maintain eligibility for the airdrops to benefit. Usually, the amount you receive from an airdrop will be in proportion to the amount of coins you are currently holding in your QT/desktop wallet (especially if the coins use a PoS system instead of or in addition to a PoW system of verifying transactions). For example, DeepOnion benefits early supporters by providing an added distribution to people with 10,000 tokens or more in their wallet (as a way to secure the system).

One of the neat (likely intended) effects of airdrop-style distributions is the ability to quickly increase the coin's per-coin price. Because airdrops have the potential to increase one's coin holdings exponentially during the duration of the airdrop period, people tend to hold the majority of their coins so that they can acquire even more in the next week's airdrop. This "hodling" incentive is good for helping the coin stabilize so that new investors aren't scared off by unacceptable levels of price volatility.

As with anything in the crypto space, be wary before investing. That said, DeepOnion was my first airdrop style coin and I've been thoroughly impressed with how the system has worked.


While past-performance is NOT an indicator of how the future will shake out, I personally prefer the traditional model of distribution and the airdrop model of distribution over the ICO model. However, the ICO model does provide an extremely interesting model for future crowdfunding endeavors and does allow for the average consumer to have access to investment opportunities that have traditionally been limited to venture capitalists and accredited angel investors.

Ah crap. I failed. I just made up some random coin name. Don't wanna actually sow confusion with a real coin though, no, not at all related to Bamit.

Whole point of the post was just to point out that people should investigate coins a bit more before getting all hyped up.

Have you guys heard of this? It aims to decentralize onomatopoeias by aggregating different words that sound like their meaning and distributing them via 'rick-roll' style digital packets neatly inserted into other altcoins. Its an ERC-20 token and so it's automatically compatible with all other ERC-20 tokens, meaning one can simply upload their onomatopoeia to any ERC-20 token and annoy the users before they're able to spend their coin! I hear they're working on atomic swaps too so that we can use this wonderful technology with other blockchains!

No white paper yet, but I think the idea really speaks for itself. Gonna go to mars baby!

^^ THIS!! ^^

Instead of technical analysis though, you might do better with dollar-cost averaging. It's a bit riskier with cryptos than with stocks because the volatility is more pronounced in cryptos, but done for long-enough, you'll do better than most assuming the market remains profitable over time and you pick the right coins to get into

It is kind of an interesting phenomenon that merit is given out so seldom (at least from what I can tell, but maybe my posts just suck )

I think the reason for this is twofold: (1) many of the people with lots of merit are merit rich and don't necessarily think about rewarding higher quality posts by noobies (this probably stems from the newness of the system and will decrease in time); and, (2) as stated before, lots of people simply don't read other people's posts and so lots of gold gets missed on pages 2-155 (assuming a 156 page thread).

My nano ledger is what I use for personal holdings, but for my holding S-corp., I use Exodus because of the ease of use for multiple parties not near one another. Big fan of Exodus. I've also had good experiences with MyEtherWallet, although its much more barebones. Probably slightly more secure than Exodus though since Exodus has backup capabilities (unless security is measured by your ability to recover lost passwords  )

this runs on its own blockchain, right? It's not some ERC-20 token or anything like that?

Please, no one in the US listen to this person. This is a blatant falsehood. People who mine cryptos realize a taxable event the moment a coin is mined (due to accounting difficulties, it is likely administratively acceptable to do this every 1 coin as opposed to for every miniscule block reward split among members in a pool). Even if the coin is not sold for fiat, IT IS TAXABLE.

Furthermore, exchanging the coin for something else of value (in whole or in part) is going to create a taxable event where you must calculate your basis and recognize the appropriate amount of gain at the time of the transaction, if this gain is on a capital asset and has been held for more than a year (such as Bitcoins held for personal investment by an individual), it will be entitled to favorable capital gains treatment. If, however, the coins are held in a pool by a partnership (LLCs included unless they make the check-the-box election) or S-Corp, the taxes must be paid on gain as of the last day of the partnership's taxable year. This is true EVEN IF the coins ARE NOT SOLD FOR FIAT OR OTHERWISE EXCHANGED FOR ANYTHING.

To the person I quoted, please don't give people bad advice. It's okay to say you don't know or you're not sure if you're right. But don't claim to be an expert on things you know nothing about because people might trust you, make a bad tax decision, and then blame cryptos on the whole for their problems. 

This is true for the most part. Capital gains is normally 20% (although it can scale down based on your personal income levels; certain exceptions may exist). Ordinary income rates are used instead of 40% but the highest ordinary income rate is 37% under the most recent tax bill.

Keep in mind, however, that if you are MINING the coins in a business, you are not entitled to long-term capital gain rates because the mined coins will be treated like inventory and inventory is a special asset class for purposes of US tax law. You can do some fancy footwork to get around this, but it involves multiple related entities and is complicated enough to deserve professional consulting to find the most efficient chain or link of entities.  

Furthermore, if cryptocurrencies (or just Bitcoin) is ever classified formally as a COMMODITY instead of a SECURITY, no coins will be entitled to long-term capital gain treatment because commodities, like inventory, have their own set of weird rules which also disallows capital gain treatment for the purposes of US tax law.

Self-directed IRA seems suuuuuuper iffy. You have any support for that being an acceptable position for someone to take without realizing the potential risks of getting audited? To my knowledge, the IRS does not agree with you that Bitcoins can be deposited into an IRA or purchased with an IRA. Not saying its disallowed, but if so provide proof please.

LLC = make sure not to use this model if you plan on mining. S-corp. allows you to avoid self-employment tax that would be unavoidable for LLC mining business (because mining is a service and partnerships must pay self-employment tax on service income). Also, an S-Corp might be better, if a little bit more complicated. I prefer the S-Corp model but do your own research. S-Corp provides the main benefit of the LLC in that you're entitled to flow-through profits and losses.

For a better idea of the issues, talk to a lawyer who specializes in the field. Otherwise, pay your tax. You don't want to be wrong on this one because the penalties are going to be draconian if you fail to report / underreport and get caught. Playing the audit lottery is unwise.