Submitted by CoinTelegraph

The brother of late Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar, Roberto Escobar, has released his own alternative to Bitcoin (BTC), a BTC hard fork called dietbitcoin (DDX).

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

Roberto Escobar’s connection to dietbitcoin has been independently confirmed by a spokesperson for Escobar Inc., Roberto Escobar’s investment company, to TheNextWeb today, March 22.

Roberto De Jesús Escobar Gaviria’s website for dietbitcoin includes a 281 page book, available as a downloaded PDF, entitled “The True Story by Roberto Escobar: Pablo Escobar’s Dietbitcoin” and subtitled, “After making $100 bln dollars, Roberto Escobar launches the dietbitcoin ‘DDX’ cryptocurrency.”

If one does not have time to read the full version, which includes chapters entitled “The Other Peruvian Plane,” and “Noriega, The Traitor”, interested parties can download the white paper laying out the impetus for the creation of DDX in a short introduction:

“I am the first person in the world, Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria, to publicly come out and claim that Bitcoin was created by the American Government, and I am not going to be the last person to say this. The world is going to wake up. The world is going to see that this was created by them. And when they see it, it is too late, and when the CIA founds out that the world knows about this, the CIA is going to sell all of their coins, and they will destroy the value of Bitcoin…That’s why I am creating my own cryptocurrency called dietbitcoin (DDX).”

Dietbitcoin is currently running an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that consists of three rounds with 1 mln DDX coins as the cap for the crowdsale. The pre-ICO round 1 offers a total of 300,000 coins for $2 a coin, a sale price from the $50 originally listed, pre-ICO round 2 offers 300,000 coins for $100 each, and the ICO will have 400,000 tokens for $1000 each.

However, the total number of coins is written as 1.8 mln, with a supply cap of 21 mln.

According to Roberto Escobar’s book, it was the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto that approached him about cryptocurrencies initially:

“I get a phone call, this time it is from El Conejo [nickname]. El Conejo is telling me that he is talking to Satoshi Nakamoto. He is not just talking. He is with him right now in Lima, Peru. I said, ‘El Conejo, I do not know who this man is. Bring him to my house.’ El Conejo responded “OK.”

I kept reading in the newspapers about this cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. I didn’t know what it was all about. I didn’t care. Until El Conejo called me again. This time, he told me that we are doing our own cryptocurrency. I didn’t understand. He told me that the founder of Bitcoin wants to do a cryptocurrency with the family of Pablo Emillio Escobar Gavirira. I said, ‘OK. I approve the deal.’”

However, Roberto Escobar then explains that Nakamoto approaching him was actually “a setup by the American Government to infiltrate Escobar Incorporated,” and thus his dietbitcoin is the superior coin as it will not allow the “Americanos” to track users’ purchases.

Escobar was also apparently in contact with another well-known figure in the crypto community, John McAfee in the hopes of creating a cryptocurrency together, but eventually turned the deal down for being “too small:”

“I didn’t like the guy; small guy. I never heard of him before. Nobody in Colombia knows his name. I do not know if the world knows about him or not, but I do not know about him.

I said to El Conejo, ‘How can you make a company with a guy that nobody knows about except you?’ El Conejo said ‘It’s not like that.’ I replied ‘Well that is the way that it looks to me. John McAfee I never heard of him. I never heard of his name. It’s a worthless name. You know the name that you need is my name. Not the name of this man.’”

Robert Escobar also explains in his book why he does not think that Ethereum (ETH) is a legitimate coin, mentioning the youth of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as a factor:

“Ethereum is a complete scam. This is nice technology, but it was created by a small child. Who cares about this child? I do not care. He can come here and talk to me in my face. I will say ‘Sir, you are a gringo. You think I care about the gringo coin? I don’t care.’ All of these other coins and tokens; do not even get me started on tokens.”

Earlier this year, another big name, actor and “zen master” Steven Seagal, attached his name to the new cryptocurrency “Bitcoiin2gen,” which also posits itself as a “superior or more advanced version of [Satoshi Nakamoto’s] Original Bitcoin.” However, New Jersey has since sent a cease and desist letter concerning Bitcoiin2gen’s ICO, alleging that “unregistered securities” were offered in violation of securities laws.