On August 17, 2012, known initially as “First Pirate Savings and Trust,” a massive ponzi scheme that had been operating for nearly 1 year, crashed and burned. Founder and operator, Trendon Shavers (Bitcoin forum username, “pirateat40”), escaped with 146,000 Bitcoins, worth more than $800,000 at the time. (48 of the 100 investors lost all or part of their investment.)

The SEC arrested him in 2014, charged him with defrauding investors, and in 2016 he was sentenced to 18 months in jail. In addition to the prison term, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered him to pay $1,228,660.93 in forfeiture, and another $1,228,660.93 in restitution.

A civil suit followed, pinning an additional $40 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty of $150,000 related to Bitcoin Savings and Trust.

This is a 1 /10 Limited Edition NFT. This artwork is limited to only 10 NFTs available for purchase.

Art details: Original digital hand painted motion art portrait. (Not Computer Generated) The ticker tape displays the historical daily price indexes recorded on this day.

Dimensions: 720 x 1080, 19.2 MB, Duration: 15 seconds

Created with Corel Painter, Adobe After Effects & Adobe Premiere

Artist: Denise Holt