Arbitrade, Exchange, Criticism, Meeting & More

December 14, 2018

Arbitrade has recently launched a full website which references a ‘Bermuda Block Exchange,’ the company released a statement criticizing an analyst who was a former supporter, the analyst is now strongly questioning the company’s credibility and said he is working to block them getting a licence in Bermuda, and former Premier Michael Dunkley has met with the analyst.

That is an extremely oversimplified summary of the recent happenings regarding Arbitrade, and the latest developments involve a number of factors, and we have attempted to summarize some of them below, providing links to more comprehensive information.

More Extensive Website Unveiled, Bermuda Block Exchange

The company has now launched a more extensive website, which provides significantly more information on their plans, citing a ‘Bermuda Block Exchange’, which they said will “provide a transparent and trusted way for approximately 50,000 institutions to scurely trade regulated security token inventory to be issued by up to 88,000 publicly traded companies from 50 markets in 26 countries.” They showcase Victoria Hall in Hamilton as their ‘future home office.’ You can view their full website here.

Screenshot from their newly designed website:

Arbitrade - Google Chrome 12142018 40256 PM

Analyst Ronnie Moas, A Prior Supporter, Strongly Criticizes Arbitrade

Mr Moas, the founder of Standpoint Research who often tweets about cryptocurrency, was previously a strong supporter of Arbitrade and their ‘Dignity’ coin, which is referred to as $DIG on Twitter.

He appeared to be a strong proponent of the company over the past few months, posting numerous tweets about the company to his 45,000 Twitter followers, and also apparently including information about the company to his paying subscribers at Standpoint Research.

Arbitrade previously cited his support, with their website stating, “Ronnie Moas, a well-known stock, and cryptocurrency analyst and a vocal supporter of Arbitrade’s vision, was invited to meet Hayden Gill, CEO of CoinMiner and to personally tour the Atlanta mining facility today. It is clear that judging by his public profiles on social media had this expert very excited by what he saw.” That page is no longer available on the company’s redesigned website, however a cached version via Google is here.

Mr Moas previously raised eyebrows with some Bermudians on Twitter by posting a few tweets claiming he would build a “massive orphanage” in Bermuda, saying it will be a “five-star orphanage w/assistance from Dignity & Bermuda government” noting that it would be “close to the orphans in the Caribbean.”

Mr Moas has now posted many strong tweets calling out Arbitrade, saying he is reporting them to the SEC, there are “red flags all around,” he will “try to block this license in an effort to protect the public,” saying he will “not keep this shocking and disturbing info that came my way in the last two weeks to myself.”

He has also indicated that the company has apparently contacted him asking him to refrain from the negative comments, tweeting they can “shove the Cease & Desist letter” as they will not “silence or intimidate” him and he “will expose these characters.”

He has also tweeted stating that people have apparently lost money due to the matter, and his tweets can be read here, and you can also watch a video interview Mr Moas recently did with the ‘Wild West Crypto Show’ on the matter here on Youtube.

Arbitrade Criticizes Ronnie Moas

An email sent out recently by the company claimed that Mr Moas has “sent out several updates to his subscribers recently discussing Arbitrade/DIG timelines being missed, as well as claiming instances of being ‘misled’ by Arbitrade executives and consultants.”

“While some of his emails contain factual information pertaining to matters relating to crypto-mining, gold, Bermuda, etc., in connection with Arbitrade, the claims made by Mr. Moas being misled on timelines for delivery of certain items are rejected.

“It has chosen to domicile in Bermuda, a country which also holds companies to the rigorous standards of business and compliance under which all directors, officers, and consultants have been fully vetted prior to the company being approved to do business within the country.

“While it is true that the company has, for numerous reasons, experienced delays, it has been as open and transparent as possible with Mr. Moas on everything that the company is working on which could be publicly shared,” the company said, adding that they are “legally bound by non-disclosure agreement.” You can read a PDF created from the email they sent out here.

Last time we asked Arbitrade for comment, they said, “The Company is legally bound by non-disclosure and privacy obligations and is therefore not at liberty to comment any further on its transactions with third parties other than the content of any official press releases.”

Premier Tweets ‘Note’

Premier David Burt has waded in to the discussion in recent days, as on December 7th he tweeted that “Public comment for Arbitrade was regarding approval to purchase a building, which is wholly unrelated to any approvals which may be issued by the BMA to operate a Digital Asset Business in Bermuda.”

He was responding to someone who tagged him saying “Arbitrade a company with background checks at highest level, according to @BermudaPremier, you can always ask him.”

Premier David Burt tweet Bermuda Dec 7 2018

It was actually the second response on the matter from the Premier, who does not often post responses to individual tweets, as last month he tweeted a response saying, “Note: The Bermuda Government does not ‘back’ private companies or any digital asset.

“Public comment was regarding approval to purchase a building, which is wholly unrelated to any approvals issued by the Bermuda Monetary Authority to operate a Digital Asset Business in Bermuda.”

Mr Moas Meets With Michael Dunkley

Former Premier and current MP Michael Dunkley has long expressed concerns about Arbitrade, and when Mr Moas was actively tweeting in support of Arbitrade, he tweeted some negative comments directed at Mr Dunkley.

However, Mr Moas has now tweeted his apologies to Mr Dunkley saying, “I have had a few very heated exchanges w/@BDAMilkman [Mr Dunkley's Twitter name] before, but in the last 2 wks I realize he was right about DIG & I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

As Mr Dunkley was traveling in the United States, he met with Mr Moas earlier this week, where they had an “interesting two hour conversation.”

Tweet posted by Mr Moas showing him meeting with Mr Dunkley:

Ronnie Moas tweet December 2018

Mr Dunkley said, “For months I have researched and followed public announcements regarding Arbitrade. Sadly, Arbitrade and the Premier have not answered many questions and this astounding lack of transparency has resulted in a compounding of concerns and ‘red flags’ surrounding this venture.

“Numerous people have reached out to me to discuss this matter, both locally and overseas.

“A few days ago Mr. Moas contacted me and asked to talk. As I was traveling through his hometown, and had a layover, we met and had an interesting two hour conversation.

“I intend to continue my research on this matter and will also continue to speak publicly when appropriate.

“We all want Bermuda to progress and for opportunities to be created for Bermudians. In doing so we also need to maintain the good reputation that we have earned through the years. Any new business in Bermuda needs to be able to fully explain their operations and be open and transparent. If they are unable to then that in itself is a red flag that should be considered by the Government and regulatory authorities.

“In addition, cryptocurrencies and ICO’s have a record which shows that over 90% of ICO’s fail and over 80% are scams. As a jurisdiction we must also protect investors as required.”

Links To Information

We attempted to summarize some of the recent developments and conversation surrounding the company above, and the links contained above to more comprehensive information are reprinted below.

  • Arbitrade’s website – Link
  • PDF of the email sent by Arbitrade about Mr Moas – Link
  • Mr Moas’ Twitter account – Link
  • Mr Mous’ video appearance on crypto show about this matter – Link
  • The $DIG hashtag on Twitter with conversation about the matter – Link

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Comments (20)

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  1. Dunk says:

    Dunkley looks uncomfortable in that picture. This Moas guy just switches to whoever is….well you know the saying. Whoever pays the piper, plays the tune…

  2. Gregg says:

    This has Dunkley written all over it. Next!!

    • Retro says:

      Really? This reminds me of Burt’s swizzlegate controversy except this time he has managed to make all of us look like idiots.

  3. Hmmm says:

    Dunkley is looking for attention; lol you’re irrelevant bro.

    • Drink that titty milk! says:

      Really? That what you take from this article? These guys are a scam and Bermuda, especially the Premier, are risking our international reputation on this lot.

      • 2 Bermudas says:

        25-11 is all that matters to these lot. Day to day, week to week is how they see things. When the civil service doesn’t get paid one day then they’ll ‘woke up’. Ha ha ha!!

  4. RED FLAGS says:

    This has nothing to do with Dunkley and everything to do with the reputation of this country.

    Stop being political when it is totally unnecessary please.

  5. Onion says:

    This will end so badly. This company is so dodgy.

  6. Law says:

    The Milkman and the investor are both idiots and obviously hell bent on destroying Bermuda’s new economic pillar! Just shut up Michael and go back to making your milk! We won’t allow you to hurt our Island by reaching conjecture and doing your pink panther inspector analysis. You think so much of yourself but in reality you are not a smart person or a seasoned investor and neither is your new buddy!

    • Question says:

      This is the ‘new economic pillar’? You lot are hilarious.

    • aceboy says:

      There is no pillar. Instead of lapping up whatever the PLP politicians tell you stop and think about this company.

      Dunkley is actually trying to help Bermuda not get sucked into a huge scam.

      Remember the Black Mayors Conference debacle? That was blatantly a scam and anyone with an internet connection and 5 free minutes could see that. This is just a bigger version with much more at stake.

    • aceboy says:

      You have been led to believe that this is going to be the third economic pillar of our economy. Where did you get this idea?

      It couldn’t have been our Premier, surely???

      This is what he has just said after being asked about Fintech jobs:

      “I am not in way, shape, or form holding this out to be a third economic pillar,”

      Perhaps you might want to amend your thinking a bit. You need to be fluid and try and keep up with what the government is saying NOW, not what it said a few weeks ago.

    • Double S says:

      Your own Premier has scaled back his previous claims about this being a ’3rd pillar.’ See his comment below in the latest Bernews article:

      “I am not in way, shape, or form holding this out to be a third economic pillar, but what I do believe is that it can serve as an enhancement to what we’re doing in financial services and make sure that we can continue to innovate and lead in the area of being an international financial services jurisdiction.”

      You were misled yet again.

  7. 2 Bermudas says:

    Blockchain Caines and Crypto Burt going to sink the only thing keeping this island afloat – International Business.

    25-11!!! Ha ha ha!!

  8. Enquirer says:

    On May 24, Arbitrade claimed to have over 200 developers working for the past 6 months (and 160 before that). There is absolutely no evidence of those developers whatsoever. Can you get clarity on that? Perhaps find out which office they’re working out of and how their salaries were funded?

    Also, it claimed that there was a “world class development company” doing their coin swap. Can you find out which one? Also, if they have 200 developers in crypto why did they have to outsource the coin swap?

    Also, they made specific claims about the number of mining rigs and the numbers in their claims do not add up to later claims. Can you investigate? Perhaps get the addresses for the mining done so far?

    Also, they claimed that launch was “weeks away” in late 2017 and would have “millions of users” by 2019. Why the delay?

    Also, Arbitrade claimed that there was no ICO for their tokens like Dignity but the main wallets have been slowly shrinking in size from 100% owned by one in February to now spread across over 3,000 wallets. If there was no ICO then was Arbitrade (or a related party who owned the tokens) selling them on the open market?

    If there was no ICO then how do private citizens hold the coins?

    What will Arbitrade do now that the SEC has deemed that tokens like Dignity are unregistered securities (since its returns are derived from the profits of mining rigs as per the white paper)?

  9. Family Man says:

    I’m sure Arbitrade is totally legit. I mean, really, all their backers and supporters have such sterling reputations. As soon as they get their 395,000 kg of gold stored in their new headquarters building they’ll be taking over the Hamilton Waterfront for redevelopment. One of their first events will be to host the long delayed Black Mayors Conference.

    • Vote no more says:

      You think they’ll hire there own plane to transport the gold.

  10. bermewjan says:

    900 jobs gone last year
    Electricity usage has fallen by 20%
    EU Substance equivalency is about to chase away even more business
    The government are risking our sovereign risk rating for pie in the sky money laundering concepts like crypto, arbitrade and gambling
    They are further damaging our reputation internationally by pursuing laws that contravene human rights

    …. here comes much deeper contractions in our economy which are going to hit our poorest the hardest. Thanks to both parties. You all suck!

    Let someone who at least understands economics manage our economy.?Your focus on the Emperors new clothes just for vote clambering is killing our economy. Morons!

  11. MB says:

    Funny how the believers keep ref premier, govt comments and ‘purchase’ of building as proof not a scam…lmao…ok so premier has weighed on stressing no licence yet but WHY the deafening silence from the realtor and owner of the building …cos all of Bermuda knows no way this building is sold.
    In contract maybe..but sold, who are you kidding and the realtor has duty to set record straight