A former Senior Advisor for Dash Core Group, an organization working on the Dash network, has seemingly disappeared without a trace with funds investors sent to his previously trusted masternode management service.
The former Dash Core Group Senior Advisor, MooCowMoo, ran a masternode management service called masternode.me that according to Dash Forum users hasn’t been paying out rewards to users since at least August of this year. To host a masternode users needed to send MooCowMoo a total of 1,000 Dash, at press time worth around $50,800, as well as a flat fee for 90 days of service.
On the Dash blockchain, coinbase rewards are distributed between miners, masternode operators, and the Dash treasury. Those who run a masternode are rewarded for supporting the network, with 1,000 Dash being needed to run one. Setting a masternode up requires some technical knowledge, and as such users turn to hosting services.
On a year-old Reddit thread, users showed they trusted MooCowMoo’s service not only for him being a member of Dash Core, but also because he had a “massive reputation under his belt” and had been serving “many customers for years now.” MooCowMoo reportedly had a dead man’s switch that would send “all funds back to the originating addresses in case he’s hit by a bus.”
The former Dash Core Group Senior Advisor did warn users it was shutting down its service and returning all of the funds to investors, but seemingly never did.
So, to address the stress, I’ll be shutting down shares and sending back all deposits to their origination addresses within a week or two as time permits.
Despite his reputation and supposed dead man’s switch, Dash investors are complaining on forums they ended up losing their funds after sending them to MooCowMoo’s service, and Dash Core Group told them to figure the situation out themselves as “there is power in numbers.”
Senior Advisor for Dash Core Group (@Dashpay), owner of a “Masternode Shares” service, disappears with the funds of several Dash Investors.
Dash Core Group tells users to figure it out themselves: “there is power in numbers”.@CoinSpice @coindesk @fluffypony pic.twitter.com/uiuvt9AlJL— DashUncensored (@DashUncensored) December 2, 2019
Fernando Gutierrez, Dash Core Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, responded to a report published by crypto news outlet Bitcoinist on the apparent exit scam, claiming MooCowMoo was “never hired by DCG and left the project years ago.”
Gutierrez added that Dash Core Group “strongly condemns his behavior and has been trying to communicate with him for months to help community members affected by this,” adding that Bitcoinist’s coverage was “reckless and very disappointing to say the least.”
Currently, MooCowMoo isn’t listed on the Dash Core Group’s team page. CryptoGlobe dug into internet archives and found that an archived page from July of this year – one month before MooCowMoo announced he as shutting down his service – of the Dash Core Group’s team page shows he was then still listed as a Senior Advisor there.
We reached out to Fernando Gutierrez for comment and he shared with us that MooCowMoo was never really a member of Dash Core, the U.S.-based organization working on the Dash blockchain, but was part of an initial group that wasn’t clearly defined. As such, he was “never contracted or hired to perform any work on behalf of the entity.”
Gutierrez added MooCowMoo was listed as one of the company’s advisors for some time “in recognition of his early contributions to the project.” He added the Dash Core Group is aware of what’s going on and is doing what it can to help users recover funds:
Dash Core Group strongly condemns his behavior. During the last few months, we have been in contact with many of Moocowmoo’s clients and shared with them the limited information we have. The organization doesn't have any relationship with Moocowmoo and this was his private business. Unfortunately, we have no way to directly provide a solution to this issue.
He also revealed the former Dash Core Senior Advisor shared with the company in the summer of this he was shutting down the service and refunding clients after mentioning he had personal problems, and that some have indeed been refunded.
As far as the Dash Core Group knows, he said, “he funds have not been moved and he has been paying the returns of the masternodes to his clients, so it is not confirmed what his intentions are.”
Featured image via Unsplash.
