Why Hcash (HSR) isn’t a scam.
So, I’ve been hearing a lot recently about how ‘Hcash’, ‘Hshare’, ‘HX’, etc is considered a scam. After reading some of these pieces and then being in contact with a few admins from the Hcash telegram, I felt wholeheartedly compelled to launch a counter-argument regarding one particular article as to why the company isn’t a scam at all.
Time and time again I’ve been reminded by life that if you don’t do the proper research you will receive improper information, and that just because a company doesn’t have clear information doesn’t mean that it is being run by a malicious group of evil scam artists or that it’s being controlled by the Chinese government (I’m not even going to start on that one).
This article will be directly referring to ‘Why is Hcash (HSR), a Clear Scam, the 53rd Most Valuable Cryptocurrency?’ In a methodical manner I’m going to address each and every one of his points. In the future, I’m also going to produce more articles both on rebutting other Hcash related articles and what my stance is on the project.
- Hcash wasn’t formally named Hshare — no, Hshare is the name of the placeholder token (HSR), while they began working on their mainchain network, which will either be named Hcash when launched or renamed to something else (HX or HXC has come up a few times in the past). Simple research would have found this (i.e clarifying information from admins or by reading their whitepaper)
2. Large price increases (14.3%) around March of 2018 — During this time (and in early March), hype was gaining momentum as the supposed release of their mainnet was coming. Specifically, around this time they finished testing their testnet, they were making regular updates on how to use testnet software and were providing highly anticipated technical information relating to their development. Really it was the testnet completion that drove prices up. Many fans of the project were happy that the 5+ month promise seemed close to completion, no surprises. I’m sure that anyone who’s an alt-coin hodler is used to at least a few wild swings a month in any direction, no matter what coin they hold. Additionally, if you go to coinmarketcap, you can see that during the period of March, prices were historically low for Hcash, thus, small price increases of even $1 would appear as large percentage increases/decreases.
3. HSR’s ‘projects’ are just copy paste jobs from Decred (DCR) — no, while a majority of the mainchain’s code and tools are from Decred and properly accredited as such (see their github or this article), they do have the inclusion of BLISS (a bi-model lattice based signature scheme — see their github here), a genuine addition to the chain that will allow for supposed quantum resistance (proven both mathematically and theoretically), enabling a signature scheme that will outlast the traditional ECDSA schemes used today. This scheme was also implemented over other schemes so that it could be more easily integrated with the work that Dr Joseph Liu is doing over at Monash University, where they are currently researching a new linkable ring signature (the technology behind Monero). Oh, and if you didn’t know — Hcash has partnered with Monash University (ranked in the top 1% of world universities) and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (ranked in the top 100 universities in the world) both of which have research laboratories working on RingCT protocols, Cross-Chain transactions and Privacy-preserving cryptographic techniques that will first be implemented in Hcash. This acts as further proof that Hcash will not be a simple copy paste project.
Additionally, if we’re going to use the ‘scam’ card for every coin that’s built off another’s network, you may as well call every ERC20 token in existence a scam. Another reminder that slow development and the use of open source code doesn’t equate to a scam. Yes, I am aware that proper accreditation was only given recently, but it’s still given and the Hcash team are clearly slowly providing some kind of innovation.
4. The entire website of the former Hshare was copied from City of Zion — As mentioned before, it’s Hcash, not Hshare and I think the author hasn’t really understood who the website belongs to. The Hcash website is still online and running, whereas the website he’s referring to is the Hybrid Network, a group of developers in the United States who were working with Hcash on the development of the mainchain. The website they used was an accredited placeholder while they developed their own (they used open source code available on the CoZ github, while the Hybrid Network’s fork can be found on their github). Right now they have their own website and none of the previous CoZ content can be found.
5. Their online presence is also shady — In the west it’s certainly barren, however, most of the Hcash audience and investors come from mainland China, other Mandarin speaking countries and South Korea. Thus, while their Chinese wechat and telegram groups (both official and unofficial) overflow, their English counterparts look small in comparison, leading to some suspicion.
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6. Their Slack is reportedly really difficult to join and takes forever — Hcash doesn’t even have a slack anymore so yes, their slack most likely is difficult to join. They publicly announced their use of telegram and discord (now only Telegram) from the 18th of January (after their announcement), and pinned several messages on their slack stating the movement. Another oversight. Simply joining the slack or their telegram would have enabled the author to see that.
7. EOS…TRX…and WTC were bad but ‘those sins don’t even compare to what Hcash-or Hshare-has managed to pull off — and, what exactly have they ‘pulled off’, Tim? Using open-source code to create a network? Giving proper accreditation? Delaying their progress (much like how EOS recently did amidst their security concerns)? Having an audience primarily from China and other Mandarin speaking countries? Having a team that may at times appear incompetent? Promising innovation and taking longer than expected to deliver? Look, a sloppy project is one thing, but a scam is another. I think this project has tons of potential, and over the coming months we’ll see whether it can live up to a modicum of that (hint: I have faith). I have a strong suspicion that the project is merely being mismanaged because the team behind it are spread thin on too many projects (also I don’t believe that their Australian managers are really the ones managing the company, I believe the real ‘bosses’ are from China or other areas from the Asia Pacific region).
It seems like Hcash has become everyone’s favourite punching bag, which is understandable. It’s new and there’s not a lot of information about it. But I think to create a more level playing field, it’s necessary to create counter articles when necessary to help create that awareness.
I hope this has provided you with more information as to what Hcash actually is and that before believing what people post online (even what I write), you go and do your own research. Honestly, it’s the only way to find the truth.
In the future I hope to provide an alternative stance on more of these pieces as to provide a more level playing field for Hcash. For reference, yes I am an investor and I do have something to gain out of the company succeeding and yes I do believe in their long term vision… despite their apparent inexperience and fumblings.
Thanks so much for reading till the end. I appreciate it a lot and hope it benefitted you in some way, shape or form.
Please note:
[Throughout this piece, the word scam is being defined through Google’s definition of what a scam is, being ‘a dishonest scheme; a fraud.’]
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Disclaimer: Please do your own research before investing in anything crypto related. Be thorough, be complete and make your own decisions based on that information. There are already too many shills and manipulators out there taking people’s money.
