Once upon a time, ‘Pontifier’ got a free NEM stake by tweeting about NEM back in 2014 (… actually he wasn’t even eligible, but more on that later). Stakeholders were given instructions that were posted on BitcoinTalkForums in order to claim. Basically you had to create your XEM wallet and transfer your stake (no one else could do this for you).
But this guy, Pontifier is adamant that his claim was ‘stolen’ by NEM. So what happened?
Well, I said you had instructions (open a wallet, transfer the funds) but there was another instruction… you had to to check back for updates. The stakeholders were given a ‘claim window’ which was only 1 month long, but this was extended to 8 months due to the the amount of late claimants (i.e. people who stopped following the project and didn’t check back). This extended window of time allowed over 140 stakes to be given to late redeemers.
Because the claim process was managed by volunteers at the time, the claim window had to come to an end. However the community then had a problem, what to do with the unclaimed XEM? No one came back to claim in almost a year, they had moved on and the claim window had finished. So, the active community members voted and decided to create the ‘community fund’ which was used to help startup companies using NEM.
After the claim window was closed some people came on Bitcointalk to complain about them losing their stake. When they learned about the extended claim window most people understood what happened, took responsibility for it and left… some smart fellas even bought in again!
But there is one man… who is a walking-talking salt-mine, and that man is “Pontifier”.
Pontifier shows up at /r/nem in 2018 (four years later) after NEM recently broke $1 in January of that year. He started saying that the NEM Foundation stole his claim (actually they weren’t even in existence back in 2014). But, as I will point out in the details, this is complete bullshit. He missed his chance, plain and simple. At one point he actually admits this in a video that he made by himself.
I’m not shitting you… honestly I’m serious!
But, if you would think an admission of culpability would get old Pontifier down… well you would be wrong about that! Pontifier’s latest twist in his winding yarn is actually pretty scummy, and one of the main reasons I decided to pen this shitpost. Realizing that he isn’t winning anyone over by attacking the NEM Foundation, he decides to play the victim card and pulls his son into this. He is now claiming that he had bought a stake for his son as well… and if you read on I’ll show you why he is lying about this too.
Even if we ‘steelman’ this argument and we accept that he did, without doubt, buy his son a stake. This also fails. The reason why is because he apparently created a secondary account which was meant to be his sons. The first problem with this is that his son is too young to signup for BitcoinTalk. The second and more important reason, is that you were not allowed to make two accounts to buy a stake each… this was known as creating a ‘sockpuppet’ and those type of accounts were actively purged. You were however allowed to buy two stakes with one account (which he could have done under his Bitcoin Talk username ‘pontifier‘). It doesn’t make sense to why he would make another account, but that’s going to be a running theme here…
EDIT: The above is incorrect. Pontifier got in contact with me about this site and correctly pointed out that you could create two accounts in order to buy for a loved one. However, he has yet to explain the discrepancy between his initial claim (2.25 million XEM) and his more recent claim (4.5 million XEM), because of this I still question whether or not he actually bought a stake. This could be easily proven by making a signed Bitcoin transaction using the wallet he bought the stake with, however he has refused to do so in the past.
I still don’t believe he actually bought a stake for his son and if you read all of this, you will understand why. Even if he did, he admits to doing so via a sockpuppet account. I believe that he honestly did get the ‘twitter stake’ but he either forgot about it or got frustrated with the wallet creation and left.
If you want the deets, then read on… but if you catch the ’tism from this post don’t blame me!
You would have had them, if you claimed them…
Original Bitcointalk Thread (Where it all began):
The instructions are pretty clear. Hold tight and check back on your BitcoinTalk account. Simple right?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=426303.0
"3. How can I get my shares ? You will need to access your BTT account to send a PM or make a post confirming the ownership of the account to claim your share. Detail instructions in an announcement will be posted here, NEM reddit, NEM facebook, ournem website and the announcement will last at least 1 month. It is your responsibility to read and follow the instructions to claim your shares. So please check back frequently. Thanks."
Pontifier’s Original Claim
Pontifier originally claims to have lost one stake on the 26th of Janurary 2018, he literally writes ‘2.25 Million XEM’ in the comments. He says that NEM didn’t give him his stake “just because”. Riiiiight!
Pontifier’s comments on /r/nem
Pontifier’s New Claim (go big, or go home!)
Having no luck with /r/nem he hops over to /r/cryptocurrency, in this thread he ends up admitting that he wasn’t actually eligible to claim in the first place. Then for the first time ever he mentions about his “son’s stake” (19th Feburary 2018). Now he is claiming that he is owed 4.5 Million XEM, talk about doubling down on a busted flush.
[The prior month he had only ever mentioned a single stake (the 2.25 Million XEM)]
Pontifier’s comments on /r/CryptoCurrency
Pontifier’s BTT Forum Account & The ‘Tweet Stake’
Pontifier’s actual claim is about the ‘tweet stake’. It should be made clear, that he never actually put down any of his own money for this stake. This stake was only available for accounts created before the 2nd of January 2014 and with > 20 activities
Pontifiers Account on Bitcoin Talk (created on 1st February 2014 with < 20 activity)
It is true that his account wasn’t old enough and didn’t have enough activity to claim the ‘twitter stake’ AND he wasn’t the first person to actually tweet it, (user ‘LAHAINA’ tweets first) but he got on the list anyway!
At this moment Pontifier is the luckiest guy in the world, he’s not gonna mess this up, right? …right?
Pontifier Admits To Not Following The Bitcointalk Instructions
“HMB…” Pontifier says, determined to really outdo himself this time! He uploads a video to youtube in which he admits to not following the instructions on Bitcointalk.
"Jeff (Past VP of NEM): Can you tell me why you didn't get your coins?" "Pontifier: I had other things come up and I wasn't watching Bitcointalk all the time..."
So there you have it. The REAL reason why Pontifier didn’t get his coins, given to you by none other than the meme-man himself.
Watching a dumpster fire is fun, but this is where it gets legitimately worrying. If you check his other videos on his channel, Pontifier ends up following the then Vice President of NEM outside the venue and screaming at him until police are called.
So, to sum up! A guy who didn’t really qualify for a free NEM claim, gets one anyway. Never puts down a cent of his own money. He was then informed about the claim window like everyone else. The claim window is extended for over half a year. He never bothers to open a wallet to transfer the stake during this time. He shows up four years later, flies to a different state than the one he lives in to scream at the then VP to give him back his coins that he never took possession of in the first place!
You.can’t.write.this.shit.
Well, there ya have it folks. An interesting character and a constant supply of salt. Don’t expect him to leave /r/nem anytime soon! If you’ve made it this far… sorry for wasting your time.
P.S. If you are wondering why I took the time to write this article, it’s simple. It’s easier to write a 1,200 word article than to argue with this guy. Hope you enjoyed it.
Most of the rest of the story
The entire thread of /r/cryptocurrency when we found out this character was bullshitting us the entire time (if you expand the ‘deleted’ comment on that thread it expands out, detailing more dishonesy and when we find out about the ‘tweet stake’)
Twitter Update!
Pontifier is currently in New York City during Consensus 2018 in order to ‘protest’ about the coins that he is ‘owed’. I, for one, am not surprised. However there are people on Twitter who are foolishly spreading what Pontifier tells them. I suggest that those people should have more common-sense than to re-tweet the bullshit some random guy on the street has told you as fact.
Doing so could make you look like a complete fucking idiot in front of all your followers.
My advice to you twits on Twitter is to not even engage with the dude. I mean, I don’t give a fuck if you do or not, but take it from me… it’s a waste of time.
In the beginning I honestly thought the guy was legitimate, but it got to a stage that we knew he was lying. We spent a lot of time going through his posting history in order to catch him in his own lies, and yet he still plays the victim. If you are gonna chat to him online or IRL do yourself a favour and read through the links posted, they are months old and very very loooong. Only then will you get an idea of what your dealing with here. And it’s not just /r/nem it’s /r/battlebots too… (https://archive.fo/yOtsw)
Just smile, nod and walk away. You don’t want to get too close to this flaming inferno, it’s better just to watch from a safe distance.
A BIG thank you to all those who are re-tweeting this sourced and archived article. I really appreciate it, however please DO NOT engage in a debate with this guy on Twitter. This is EXACTLY what he wants. He needs Twitter arguments to stay relevant and build his victim narrative. Just leave a link to this post and people can see for themselves. He cannot dispute the record of facts here, that’s why linking this post has resulted in deleted Tweets from his ‘supporters’.
If you ever want to know about the actual kickass NEM technology call over to /r/nem and we will be happy to help!
Who is Pontifier? 