I'll get to those rumors in a minute. Minds.com after Patrick Byrne's $6 million investment is worth $30 million. Techcrunch calls Minds "a model of hybrid financing"; Wefunder judges Byrne "a good fit". Oh yeah, and as to this Soros nonsense....

Granted, with a clump of snakes hissing loudly in our grass, it's hard to keep up with the news about Minds. For example the deliberately-generated hysteria about Patrick Byrne who according to the whisperers "bought Minds and took over". The hisses get even crazier but let's start with that one. 

Patrick Byrne, who us CEO and majority owner of Overstock.com, made a $6 million investment in Minds through Overstock's wholly-owned subsidiary Medici. Medicine is his venture capital fund investing only in blockchain-related projects. Byrne did not "buy Minds and/or take over".  Byrne bought into 20% of Minds. The Ottmans and Mark Harding control 80%. Byrne has a seat on the board of directors, which is chaired by John Ottman and has majority Ottman membership. 

Everett Cook writes of the Minds-Byrne venture capital deal in his Wefunder blog, "Series A funding is about more than just money. It has to be. For a company at this particular growth stage, the challenge is about partnering with the right kind of financier, one who aligns with the startups' existing values and philosophies. 

"Align with the wrong funding partner here and risk the potential of a future Series B, or worse, lose control of the mission and vision that started the company in the first place. [The good news is] not just that the wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com’s goal is to change the world by advancing blockchain technology, but also that Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock and an active player in the crypto market, is joining Minds' board of directors."

Minds users who had previously invested in the site made out like bandits. 

In 19 days back in July 2017, setting an SEC record, 1500 Minds users raised $1.2 million in an innovative "ICO", a cyptocoin offering. Those smaller 2017 investors are getting a good return on their investment. Minds was worth $15 million back then. In a year, it has doubled to $30 million, partly through the October 22 infusion of $6 million by Byrne. 

John Briggs at Techcrunch explains that this is pacesetting. "Minds is a model for the future of hybrid investing, a process of raising some cash via [crypto] token and raising further cash via VC. This model ensures a level of independence from investors but also allows expertise and experience to presumably flow into the company." 

Consequently, Minds CEO Bill Ottman, when I texted him to check the rumors flying around Minds shot back, "Lol No They bought 20% Whoever's saying that tell them to stop Pre money valuation of 24m Post money 30 Medici put in 6 Pretty simple...."

There is moreover another far wilder rumor, that George Soros who is described as a "socialist" is "taking over Minds". That one is right over the cliff into the vale of absurdity.

Far from socialist, Soros is a ruthless capitalist who once made a billion bucks in a month by helping to crash the British pound. Had Soros wanted to invest directly in blockchain companies, he would have. Soros instead -- long before Byrne bought into Minds -- briefly became an investor in Overstock and got back out months before the Minds deal. Anyone who thinks that investing in a Byrne company that owns a fund that Byrne controls somehow gives that person control of Byrne has no concept of Byrne. Even Byrne's mentor Warren Buffet, the third wealthiest person in the world, cannot push Byrne around.  

And, oh yeah....

 Soros sold all his stock in Overstock in May 2018. Byrne's Medici subsidiary invested in Minds in October 2018. By the time that Byrne bought 20% of Minds, Soros was not even an investor in one of Byrne's companies, much less in Minds!!!! And so definitely no, get real, by no longer being an investor in a Byrne company that owns a fund, that Byrne controls, which in turn is investing in lots of young companies, Soros does not somehow control Byrne's 20% of Minds, which by the way [see any elementary school math book] is not a controlling interest in Minds to begin with....

I note all this just in case fact -- you know, that thing called reality -- matters even slightly to those who are sowing panic out there... 

_______________________________________________________

Please research before posting. I want to go back to carping to Minds about the glitching comment threads on the Blog platform....

Update on that last: The gltich in the comment thread has been fixed. Just refresh the page.