There has never been a lack of people who would like to create their own cryptocurrency. Even though thousands of such projects exist already, people always find a new reason to start over. For most aspiring cryptocurrency developers, there is a big problem, though. Few people actually know how to create their own version of Bitcoin. It seems some people are willing to pay up to US$5,000 on Upwork to get their own version of Bitcoin or Ethereum. It’s a worrisome trend, but one that is entirely to be expected at this stage.

Expect a Wave of new Cryptocurrencies

Considering that powerful cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are completely open source, it’s difficult to grasp why people would hire someone else to create a new version of this code. After all, the template needed to create a new cryptocurrency is already there, but it does require a bit of work to change its name and such. One of the bigger problems is that people would love to change the number of coins or some of the template’s technical features without knowing the first thing about writing code. A problematic scenario ensues.

Thankfully, there are convenient solutions to solve problems like these. All one needs is a small amount of money to pay someone else to do all the work for them. That is exactly what we are witnessing on platforms such as Upwork right now. Several ads can be found for people willing to

One particular Upwork ad shared on Reddit details what some people expect in return for their US$5,000 payment. This person wants a new cryptocurrency and a website to go along with it. The currency must be developed on a specific operating system and needs to have built-in mining support. Moreover, its mining difficulty will need to adjust accordingly, and there has to be a premine as well. This premine will not be brought into circulation until the owner decides to dump it on the open market.

Moreover, there doesn’t have to be a supply cap, yet the user wants “blockchains for every coin”. That makes literally no sense, but it gets even better. Their goal is to get on an exchange such as Bittrex, even though the latter would never list this currency. There’s also mention of how this currency should be visible in different “mines” which also hold this currency. Without a clear grasp of cryptocurrency “lingo”, getting involved in this industry is not necessarily the best of ideas.

The “developer” also wants his premine to be hidden from the public and not made visible on the blockchain. Everything about this project sounds like a major exit scam waiting to happen, but that sort of thing is not entirely new in the world of cryptocurrency. This is how most alternative cryptocurrencies operate these days, as premines and pump-and-dump schemes have become the new normal in the past few years. It is very worrisome that people have outsourced such jobs on Upwork for US$5,000.

All of this goes to show people mainly see cryptocurrency as a way to scam other people. The nefarious intent associated with this particular Upwork project is visible for everyone to see. Dishonest project managers are not hard to come by in the altcoin world, as only a handful of these currencies have any real-world value. Everything else is either a copy-and-paste job or a currency created by a developer waiting to dump a massive premine on new investors.