NBA Metaverse Partner Terminates Relationship, Threatens Reporters Covering Deal(defector.com)
defector.com
NBA Metaverse Partner Terminates Relationship, Threatens Reporters Covering Deal
https://defector.com/metaverse-company-blames-unlikely-third-party-for-recent-misfortunes-following-termination-of-76ers-partnership/
65 comments
"...this would seem a strange time for the 76ers to end their contract with Color Star, the Cayman Islands-registered, Dubai-based ready-mix concrete outfit pivoting to Web3 technology and hyping the forthcoming launch of a celeb-populated metaverse" Such a fantastic quote
no redflags at all
None. Not even the Color Star CEO being a mysterious person named “Sir Lucas Capetian”...
This company feels like a combination of every shady business person and wantrepreneur I’ve ever crossed paths with. Bombastic CEO who thinks he can skip the “make it” part of “fake it till you make it” and then strongarm his way past any obstacles with legal threats.
The way the CEO misspells NY (New York) as “MY” in his own e-mail signature is a fitting touch.
The way the CEO misspells NY (New York) as “MY” in his own e-mail signature is a fitting touch.
Also what is with that address, A108 Adam Street with a Manhattan zip code that doesn’t exist? Google seems to place it at City Hall Park in lower Manhattan, which definitely isn’t a place that receives mail. There’s also a long list of scammy looking companies using that address.
Edit: also looks like Google maps places it at the park down by Dumbo. Very weird.
Edit: also looks like Google maps places it at the park down by Dumbo. Very weird.
Yes, searching for that does produce a bunch of odd results, many of which use "[email protected]" as their email address and literal "Lorem ipsum" as description : https://www.google.com/search?q=%22A108+Adam+Street%22
Some of the results also include the odd term "Bootstrap Template". Perhaps there is some web building tool that uses this address as the filler text on a template page?
Some of the results also include the odd term "Bootstrap Template". Perhaps there is some web building tool that uses this address as the filler text on a template page?
That's exactly it:
https://bootstrapmade.com/demo/Flattern/
Bootstrap is just a front-end web framework and there's nothing inherently wrong with using a nice-looking Bootstrap template to get a decent site up fast. Real companies doing that make sure to swap in their own contact info, though. Every search result with the Adam street non-address is for something shady.
https://bootstrapmade.com/demo/Flattern/
Bootstrap is just a front-end web framework and there's nothing inherently wrong with using a nice-looking Bootstrap template to get a decent site up fast. Real companies doing that make sure to swap in their own contact info, though. Every search result with the Adam street non-address is for something shady.
The hilarious part is this “CEO” just rolled with the fake address from the Bootstrap theme then and put it on his letterhead.
It is a total scam - there's no such address in 10006. Anyone who is a CEO is not going to have an address of the office written incorrectly. The scammer(s) have not spent any time in NY hence they do not know that New York, NY is Manhattan but Brooklyn, NY is Brooklyn even though both are in New York City, NY
What is mind boggling in that some idiots at 76ers and NBA got swindled by clearly a non-existent entity.
What is mind boggling in that some idiots at 76ers and NBA got swindled by clearly a non-existent entity.
Putting the virtual in virtual reality, can't fault them for inconsistency if nothing is real on any level.
He literally lives in a van down by the river.
I see a lot of fake companies/websites list their address as 405 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017 -- which is the UN's NY HQ. There's a few mailing centers with P.O. Boxes in the area that a lot of fake companies are registered to as well. They must think having Manhattan in their address lends them some credibility.
They must think having Manhattan in their address lends them some credibility.
It does. That's why, thanks to number portability, you can sell a 212 area code number for hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.
It does. That's why, thanks to number portability, you can sell a 212 area code number for hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.
I mean, "he" can't even spell his own name:
https://twitter.com/dhm/status/1480306092622024706
Expecting him to know the correct abbreviation for New York may be asking a lot lol.
https://twitter.com/dhm/status/1480306092622024706
Expecting him to know the correct abbreviation for New York may be asking a lot lol.
LOL I’m pretty sure the screenshot of “their” avatar creation is actually from Forza Horizon character customization screen
It is! The author of the article is aware.
footage of a meeting between the NBA and the "metaverse partner"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8f-BQFo7lw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8f-BQFo7lw
first thing I thought of lol.
I can't believe South Park is as solid as ever when it comes to capturing the absurdity of cultural phenomena.
I can't believe South Park is as solid as ever when it comes to capturing the absurdity of cultural phenomena.
All they give butters is a piece of paper and he uses that to break out of a mental asylum, spread chaos, and sell nfts. Incredible.
That flipchart presentation reminds me of so many PowerPoints that I'm feeling a little targeted...
You lure your customers in, and then you fuck them with some NFTs. You can't just sell food to people.
Thing is, people have been shelling real money for virtual items for a long time. Remember MMOs, hell even Diablo? Team Fortress 2 and the whole hats money making machine? Well, now all that is going to end up mainstream.
I don't like it one bit but status symbols have been around since before there were humans. You can see this shit in animal societies, too
Thing is, people have been shelling real money for virtual items for a long time. Remember MMOs, hell even Diablo? Team Fortress 2 and the whole hats money making machine? Well, now all that is going to end up mainstream.
I don't like it one bit but status symbols have been around since before there were humans. You can see this shit in animal societies, too
> people have been shelling real money for virtual items for a long time
I think the difference is that at least to someone, those virtual MMO goods had value. You could wear the stupid hat. You could buy in-game stuff with the virtual gold. You could live in your Ultima Online castle.
NFTs really don't have any intrinsic value to anyone, at all.
I think the difference is that at least to someone, those virtual MMO goods had value. You could wear the stupid hat. You could buy in-game stuff with the virtual gold. You could live in your Ultima Online castle.
NFTs really don't have any intrinsic value to anyone, at all.
Everyone knows there's SOME sort of market for NFTs, if you spend your life terminally online, it makes sense that you'd be interested in status symbols for them. Or if you play a game, you'd want items that give you a leg up or have some aesthetic appeal. I can even see a situation like some magic the gathering cards, where an NFT in a particular game could gain value over time if the game has a contingent of diehards and the NFT provides some unique ability.
But the whole thing seems so craven, just like freemium games that south park also skewered, based on taking advantage of some addicts/clout chasers who crave the rush of some digital bits attached to their avatars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2luhwy3KAE0
But the whole thing seems so craven, just like freemium games that south park also skewered, based on taking advantage of some addicts/clout chasers who crave the rush of some digital bits attached to their avatars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2luhwy3KAE0
People have been trading items in online games for real money for as long as there have been online games. Which is longer than “blockchain” has been a thing, much less NFTs. Some games welcome it, some try to fight it.
The only thing NFTs seem to offer is an extra middleman who can make money off of these transactions.
The only thing NFTs seem to offer is an extra middleman who can make money off of these transactions.
> The only thing NFTs seem to offer is an extra middleman who can make money off of these transactions.
Even that isn't new. Valve has been taking a 30% cut of everything sold on their community market for as long as I can remember.
Even that isn't new. Valve has been taking a 30% cut of everything sold on their community market for as long as I can remember.
yeah, a lot of "web3" really seems to boil down to "I'm the person all the money runs through now instead of the existing players, also everything has a few more extra layers of complexity and abstraction for no good reason".
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As a gamer, I can fully understand cosmetic items as sort of pricey micro-expansions. I still don't understand NFTs. How do you show off an NFT? I'm imagining people posting a long cryptographic signature into a group chat, and the other people replying with "ooo" and "aaah" emojis? Not really sure I want to know any more about that subculture than I already do, though.
I think NFTs are mostly a scam, but I could see people showing them off in some sort of centralized "gallery" type of game. It'd be like how people show off their islands in Animal Crossing, except you could show off the artwork and other things you collected. There's way too many hurdles to make it viable, but I can see a hypothetical way that people could show them off like real collectibles.
Another thing I thought would be useful in games, but unlikely to ever happen, is using NFTs to track ownership of in-game cosmetics. That way cosmetics you get from known e-sports pros could be worth more than cosmetics you purchased from whatever store, the same a pair of Michael Jordan's shoes he wore during a game is more of a collectible than buying the equivalent shoes from Footlocker.
Another thing I thought would be useful in games, but unlikely to ever happen, is using NFTs to track ownership of in-game cosmetics. That way cosmetics you get from known e-sports pros could be worth more than cosmetics you purchased from whatever store, the same a pair of Michael Jordan's shoes he wore during a game is more of a collectible than buying the equivalent shoes from Footlocker.
Social media (twitter), dating apps, job site profiles (skill accreditation NFT's), "metaverses" (probably overlaps with social media), the ability to even get into a given group chat (NFT required for access).
Just think of NFT's as a digital receipt (incl. tickets or club membership), certificates and then think of use-cases where proving that you have one of those would be useful. Of course you can argue that the entire blockchain aspect isn't necessary but that's a different conversation. Or if this is a good thing or not.
Just think of NFT's as a digital receipt (incl. tickets or club membership), certificates and then think of use-cases where proving that you have one of those would be useful. Of course you can argue that the entire blockchain aspect isn't necessary but that's a different conversation. Or if this is a good thing or not.
I agree the virtual goods thing is not new, hats etc. But those were always viewed as a little silly too, and I'd argue they actually provide more value than the average NFT. I really don't think it's going to go mainstream. Most of us are already tired of NFT nonsense, and other virtual goods can barely be said to have gone "mainstream" either, after all this time.
I laughed so hard I ended up spitting all over my monitor while watching this...
This might be my favorite story of the year. So many weird twists and turns. It has to be some kind of money laundering operation, right?
This is one of the very few times I agree with an online assertion that money laundering is a plausible explanation.
Feels to me like "con-man capitalist took the con too far and people started pay attention to how much of a con this sounds like".
Descriptions of the alleged product in the article confirm that the metaverse is a cheap knockoff of Habbo Hotel.
Reminds me of Rabbitjack's Casino on QuantumLink in 1986.
Is there any reason why the press release thumbnail is a picture of a Fortnite lobby?
This has gotten to the point where it transcends even the most bat-shit insane people; this has to be an elaborate troll or they are delusional.
This has gotten to the point where it transcends even the most bat-shit insane people; this has to be an elaborate troll or they are delusional.
Would love to hear the backstory on how this deal ever happened.
Granted sports organizations and can be as dysfunctional as any organization, but you would hope they would do a little vetting of who they make deals with.
Granted sports organizations and can be as dysfunctional as any organization, but you would hope they would do a little vetting of who they make deals with.
Some years back, one of the major English football teams, Southhampton FC, had a partnering deal with Banc De Binary.[1] BDB was a leading company in the binary options industry, which was a total scam. The Times of Israel started a series, "The Wolves of Tel Aviv", and blew the whole thing apart.[2]
For months, the Times of Israel kept pounding on this story. It took quite a while. At peak, something like 40% of the Israeli finance industry was binary option scams. Some of the scammers were well connected politically.
Amazingly, it was legal in Israel to run financial scams against non-Israelis. That changed only when it became an international embarrassment big enough to hurt the country's image.
Some of the scammers pivoted to crypto. Others moved operations to Bulgaria. But none of them seem to have gone to jail in Israel. Some were caught in the US or the EU and did go to jail there.
[1] https://financefeeds.com/we-lobby-southampton-fc-on-why-they...
[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels...
For months, the Times of Israel kept pounding on this story. It took quite a while. At peak, something like 40% of the Israeli finance industry was binary option scams. Some of the scammers were well connected politically.
Amazingly, it was legal in Israel to run financial scams against non-Israelis. That changed only when it became an international embarrassment big enough to hurt the country's image.
Some of the scammers pivoted to crypto. Others moved operations to Bulgaria. But none of them seem to have gone to jail in Israel. Some were caught in the US or the EU and did go to jail there.
[1] https://financefeeds.com/we-lobby-southampton-fc-on-why-they...
[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels...
That’s terrible, I gotta think even a high level vetting would set off alarm bells with something like that.
Back story:
https://defector.com/what-the-hell-is-this-company-the-76ers...
HN discussion of the backstory:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29682102
https://defector.com/what-the-hell-is-this-company-the-76ers...
HN discussion of the backstory:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29682102
Trust the process.
The following is pretty far down on the list of facets of this story which are straight-up bonkers, but...
I would think that any threat of legal action on Color Star's part is an empty one, since that would mean "Lucas Capetian" would have to appear (either in-person or via video) for the purposes of a legal deposition. That seems unlikely, given "his" reticence to appear in public or reveal anything at all about his true identity.
Those with legal expertise, feel free to weigh in here.
I would think that any threat of legal action on Color Star's part is an empty one, since that would mean "Lucas Capetian" would have to appear (either in-person or via video) for the purposes of a legal deposition. That seems unlikely, given "his" reticence to appear in public or reveal anything at all about his true identity.
Those with legal expertise, feel free to weigh in here.
His company would have to appear, sure. But not him. And by "appear" I mean, hire a lawyer and designate a 30(b)(6) witness.
I'd definitely subpoena him. But it can take a lot of money to get to that point...
I'd definitely subpoena him. But it can take a lot of money to get to that point...
How can a person like this fool a billion + organization?
Because people who run the a billion+ organizations are imbeciles that who don't know how to wipe their own ass without a team of twenty people providing support. So it is just the question of being introduced to the people who tell those that run the organizations what to do. It is not that difficult is those that that tell those who runs the organizations are properly incentivised.
metaverse is a word im already sick of
Amazing article.
Can someone translate the first sentence of the article for me? I have literally no idea what any of this means.
> Eagle-eyed viewers of Friday night’s Celtics-76ers tilt in Philadelphia will have noticed a sudden absence of the ubiquitous Color Star banners recently seen splashed on every available flat surface inside the home team’s arena
> Eagle-eyed viewers of Friday night’s Celtics-76ers tilt in Philadelphia will have noticed a sudden absence of the ubiquitous Color Star banners recently seen splashed on every available flat surface inside the home team’s arena
> Last night, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers played a basketball game in an arena in Philadelphia. If you were looking carefully (I write sarcastically), you may have noticed that the interior of the arena looks different from how it has recently – the advertisements for Color Star, which had been everywhere (I write hyperbolically), were now missing.
Thank you. The article assumes I know a lot of background: what Celtics-76ers is (apparently two basketball teams), what a "Celtics-76ers tilt" is (a match between them?), what Color Star is, that their banners (advertisements?) are ubiquitous...
Defector is a sports website, so I think they can safely assume some background knowledge.
The target audience is likely people who don't live under a rock.
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Celtics vs 76ers game last Friday. NBA games tend to have a lot of banner ads and anyone paying attention could have noticed that there were no Color Star banners to be seen during the game.
In case you're not being facetious: It just means that Color Star's advertisements are no longer visible in the 76ers' arena (because the partnership was terminated).