[IPO] Teehe - DAO sports book and casino based on Peershares

[tomjoad]

Why every single bitcoin company in this list (https://angel.co/bitcoin) not anonynous?642 companies

For the same reason it doesn’t include any Counterparty or NXT implementations; it’s outside the traditional angel-investor scope of the website. Peershares introduced a disruptive new way of handling decentralized equities. Given the uncertain regulatory environment Teehe would be operating in, I think it’s a clever move to structure their DAO through Peershares.

[kschneezy]

One of the more ambitious, yet incredibly practical projects I have come across.

It takes cryptocurrency back to its disruptive roots

[willy]

Does teehe rely on centralized servers or do the trades / bets occur on a distributed blockchain?

[Teehe]

Centralized servers.

We have weighted our strategy to approach this, we came to conclusion that current blockchain technology still can not offer solution that would deliver Teehe, at least not on scale and reliability/security we want it to.

Naturally, it is in our best interest to eventually move to blockchain (or something similar). However, such technology does not exists now. We will have do our best to support project that could deliver this solution in the future.

Some ideas were thrown internally on how to run this on the blockchain, however all had point of failure with security of such blockchain. Only solution we could foresee is to run it as sidechain of Peercoin, but that is hypothetical.

[willy]

How will the elected teehe managers guarantee, that those servers won’t be seized?

[Teehe]

They can not be seized as they are not related to Teehe in any traceable way.
Only one that will be associated with Teehe is server where frontend website will be hosted, however that will host no meaningful information and can be replaced in seconds.Burner servers (VPS).
Wikileaks operates in the same way.

[willy]

Thank you!

[Teehe]

Thank you for bringing up those important questions. We are happy to answer it.

[Teehe]

Updated Prospectus document; http://teehe.net/pdf/teehe-prospectus.pdf

Including FAQ section assembled from questions from our community members.

[peerchemist]

Announcement:

@Hyena has joined Teehe team.

Hyena is a cryptocurrency enthusiast since 2011. He is the owner and lead developer of cryptograffiti.info. Also, he is working on a Bitcoin based online multiplayer betting game and is interested in hosting it on Teehe.

He has master’s degree in software engineering and he is currently working in the area of cyber defence as an expert of secure programming.
We have agreed that many attack vectors can be prevented simply by the architectural choices of the software system.

We are sure this is a great addition to our team and will help us deliver a prestigious platform for our future customers.

[Teehe]

While not directly related to Teehe, this is nice article: https://thebitcoinstrip.com/blog/investing-in-bitcoin-casinos.html

It shows how big this industry is, and how much Teehe can expand. Teehe offers a lot of advantages over existing companies on the market; with use of stable currency, well designed and custom tailored system and most importantly decentralized ownership.

[cryptog]

They can not be seized as they are not related to Teehe in any traceable wa

How do you make sure it is not traceable?

[Teehe]

Without releasing too much details; simple answer: We will use I2P tunnels to connect our infrastructure in one network. So communication between components can not be tracked or spied on.

Also, there is no physical person behind any server or domain.

[cryptog]

From the FAQ section:

merely the money
transmission process to online gambling companies has been outlawed by the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006.

So teehe does not need any money transmitting license because there is no fiat transfer involved at all.
However it acts as if it were the case because of the stability of NuBits.
That is beauty of NuBits.
In my interpretation correct?

The gambling industry is one that reacts to change quickly; it was one of the first industries to move
operations to the internet, it was one of the first use cases of Bitcoin.
I think this is very true.

Edit: typo

[cryptog]

By the way, would shareholders be able to vote for motions?

EDIT: Answer from the business plan

There is an
integrated motion voting system that enables the system to operate as true distributed
autonomous organization, every shareholder participates in decision-making. Also, data
feeds will be supported for passive shareholders.

[Teehe]

Yes, your interpretation is 100% correct and beautifully sentenced.

[Teehe]

Sure. However we must wait for Nu to become open-source first. Also, we will rarely use motions I guess as managers will do most of the work. Beside choosing managers of Teehe motions could be use for voting for Marketing strategy, partnering with some exchange, etc.

[desrever]

@Teehe, excited to learn about new layers being built on top of Nu.

After reading the business plan, I have some questions and doubts, especially one outstanding issue.

When comparing the legal aspects of Nu vs. Teehe you said they are comparable. True, but while the main product of Nu as a DAO is the decentralised network/currency itself, Teehe’s main product is one centralized platform - actually a website from what I read in the business plan.
Without going too much into details, did you consider a strategy to keep that website open/immune from seizing? If you did, it is worth mentioning in the business plan imho.

EDIT: uupps. found a partial answer in OP

Beside classic Internet channels our platform is accessible trough Tor and Namecoin’s p2p DNS system to avoid possible censorship in the future.
Our platform will be exclusively hosted in politically neutral countries with sane and well-implemented privacy laws to ensure safety.
With focus on security, anonymity, and stability we envision a long and fruitful organization.

Secondly, the business leverage an heavy assumption:

Volatility causes professional gamblers to avoid use of digital p2p currencies. Volatility risks made it impossible for them to bet with Bitcoin.

Are you absolutely sure of it? Common sense might suggest this is true, however assumptions derived from common sense derailed many startups. Can you test/prove the assumption? Did you surveyed professional gamblers? Does anybody on the team have experience with professional gambling, especially using bitcoin? Have you talk to failed bitcoin betting businesses ?

Knowing that you tested the aforementioned assumption will make prospect investor much more confident in your business plan.

Another possible weakness in the plan lies, imho, in relying mainly on word of mouth for marketing while declaring that the profits for Teehe comes from commissions on bets (aka you need large volumes) .
I personally consider the below paragraph of the plan a bit weak :

The biggest form of advertising for Teehe is word of mouth advertising. Customers who are happy with the service Teehe provides will let others know about it. These peers are likely in the same demographic that Teehe wants to attract. This form of advertising can be applied to the Internet as well. Teehe stimulates word of mouth advertising. For example, after a customer wins a bet they have the option to share their wager on all the different social media platforms. This expands the traditional word of mouth from one person to a whole network of people.

Finally, where did the name Teehe came from? Except from one entry in urbandictionary I couldn’t find any reference. I personally believe that there is an hard tradeoff here to consider between the originality of the name and the possible harm that it can make in terms of marketing a product with a name difficult to spell/type/remember.

[Teehe]

Without going too much into details, did you consider a strategy to keep that website open/immune from seizing?

Yes, as explained in OP we will host the frontend only in countries where privacy is respected and enforced by the law.

This is a nice question from community member, followed by nice answer. I will use it to deliver you answer.

So, what would happen if a government found your servers?

Nothing.
Which government would be responsible in this case?
No government has rules or authority over NuBits and Teehe did not offer service in any nation state specifically.
We broke no laws, this is important to comprehend. Teehe is not illegal.

Even if authorities do seize the server and get around heavy disk encryption, what would they see; a database full of soccer game results and current odds.

Naturally we will have backups of database and wallets and the important stuff will never be on that server.

Technology has come far, Teehe is really not endangered from authorities if we utilize technology properly.

Our threats will come from within crypto-community (hackers, scammers, ddos) and reliance on Nu network and it’s ability to hold the peg.

“Volatility causes professional gamblers to avoid use of digital p2p currencies. Volatility risks made it impossible for them to bet with Bitcoin.”

Are you absolutely sure of it? Common sense might suggest this is true, however assumptions derived from common sense derailed many startups. Can you test/prove the assumption? Did you surveyed professional gamblers? Does anybody on the team have experience with professional gambling, especially using bitcoin?

Yes on every question.

Have you talk to failed bitcoin betting businesses ?

No, as there are no such. At least not some that failed due to business model.

Professionals gamble with Fiat, that is a fact; 99.89% of gamblers gamble with Fiat. Bitcoin is still very much irrelevant in gambling business. Stay with me, I will give you a tour now.
Our managers know this from experience, as they have gambled online before.
What is the gamblers itch we are trying to scratch?

• Money deposit/withdrawal fees;

Credit card company will take fee, PayPal/Skrill will take a fee, gambling house will take a fee. Those can reach up to 20 USD on each transfer in any direction. Most of people gamble with less than 50 USD at the time. So they loose up to 50% of their stake just to transfer the money.

• Money transmission delays;

It will take up to two days to get your money to gambling house, even more if you need to withdraw.

• Fiat to Fiat conversion fees;

Most of gambling houses accept Euro/US Dollar. If customer uses another currency, credit card company or PayPal/Skrill will rob you on conversion rate.

• Easy taxation on behalf of authorities;

Authorities ignore small time players. However if you score big win, like 5-10-20k Euro governments will try to tax it. Sometime taking as much as 50%. With Fiat you can not hide this money, with cryptcurrency you can.

• Total loss of privacy;

Your bank, credit card company and goverment can track your activity easily.

• Seizure of customers funds by bank or credit card company.

This happens sometimes, you can read about it on gambling/betting forums. For no obvious reasons credit card company or PayPal will just take your funds and keep them for months as you try to get it back hopelessly.

What do we solve? All of the above.
We handle USD without handling Fiat, thanks to NuBits.
Customers can use Bitcoin to reach us; Bitcoin is for us what credit card company is to classic gambling house.

Bitcoin is easy to acquire in most of the world, you can buy it in numerous ways ranging from credit cards to ATM’s.
It is also highly liquid and easy to exchange back to Fiat. Best of all you can use Bitcoin to purchase stuff online or even pay the bills.

We allow customers to bypass classic financial institutions while retaining their habits.

imho, in relying mainly on word of mouth for marketing

Indeed, it is poorly worded. Thanks for noticing, we will re-phrase it. It is the case however that we expect our customers to be from similar social circles due to nature of cryptocurrency and crypto economy.

Finally, where did the name Teehe came from?

We have based the name on: http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Tykhe.html
Adopted it to English language and modern demographics.

[desrever]

good points, Teehe seems to address all of them.

So, what would happen if a government found your servers?

Nothing.

Teehe is really not endangered from authorities if we utilize technology properly.

Correct, seizing the server is unlikely. However they will block outgoing connections from their own state to the server (try to access any UK gambling website from another EU IP address). That will put an entry barrier to the service which will impact the user-base.

we expect our customers to be from similar social circles due to nature of cryptocurrency and crypto economy.

True, please consider that the network effect will be considerably smaller. People is likely to tell their friends “dude you should check out airbnb for your next trip” but less likely to go around and advertise they gamble online with cryptocurrency.