HILARIST

BitCoin Association Hackathon III-- August 2020

First...

A JOKE

(to lighten the room)

Save for: 3¢

HILARIST

Comedy-on-Chain

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“Don’t Forget...

Laughs Are Cheap”

HILARIST

• Hilarist starts as a simple joke app

...but becomes a central hub for COMEDY

• Hilarist lures amatuer comedians with a fun simple way to earn money

… but finishes by creating copyrighted professional comedic stars

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HILARIST is a one-stop-shop for COMEDY

Music...

$20.00

69¢

BOO!

Yey!

BEFORE JOBS:

This album has just one good song, but people paid $20 to find that out the hard way

AFTER JOBS:

Jobs used Napster threat + a new tech (iPod) to convince Music execs to sell songs a la carte

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Jokes...

$20.00

3¢

BOO!

Yey!

BEFORE HILARIST:

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We GUARANTEE Hilarist will have MORE JOKES & BETTER JOKES & BETTER MEDIA

AFTER HILARIST:

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Use BSV micro-transactions to create a new industry where none existed. Then upsell more complex medium (standup podcasts…)

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Save for: 3¢

Why Buy a Joke?

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• “Damn! I forgot the punchline!”

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• “Wait, Lemme start over, I’m telling it wrong”

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• “I have a great joke for you; shucks, how did that one go again? Lemme think…”

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• It’s 3 cents!! (Amazon already proved “convenience”)

Never EVER forget a joke again

Save for: 3¢

← Screenshot of actual running app page.

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• Dark Background: allows joke teller to access joke incognito (under picnic table) w/o throwing off a bright light
• Thick Font: Easy readability for old eyes
• Small Title & Author: Not as important as being able to easily & quickly read (& tell) joke

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• TO-DO: We are SUPER excited about Joke-Etymology which will be an early addition via a button segue
• BSV on iOS requires “trail-blazing”: This has slowed us down but we have 2 plans to have app up BEFORE London!
• Test Flight: Our app is already snowballing a database of jokes just from a handful of alpha testers, and is fun and useful already. Gamification is next & will significantly accelerate momentum.

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DESIGN CHOICES:

JOKE ECON 101

Facebook Users 2025: 3 BILLION

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10% buy a single one-liner joke every year: 300mm users at scale

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$0.03 per joke * 300 mm = $10 million revenues JUST FROM 1-LINERS

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Hilarist will charge for punchline views (< 1¢ per click)

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One-liners just the “gateway drug” to standup podcasts, videos, merch

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iOS/iPhone app works in concert with Apple TV. Hilarist will rival Comedy Central

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Artists hooked as Hilarist provides both Easel** & new source of revenue

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Users will follow comedians; Hilarist will sell local tickets on behalf of comedians

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Users: “What’s the #1 joke in the world right now?”

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Jokes are cheap; is this a real business?

Profits and Operating Margins

We have little to no costs other than 2 developers looking to make just enough wages to support respective families

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Database is CloudKit, which is free so long as we provide users who can download things to iCloud (which makes Apple money)

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Gross margins are absurdly high as apps don’t have hosting costs

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Marketing is word-of-mouth via comedy clubs, marketing “Easel”

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No overhead: Both John & Josh are EXPERIENCED remote workers, no office

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Microtransaction businesses will be VERY high operating margins if the businesses have a natural moat vs competitors

Competition is very weak

because BSV is the only logical way to monetize jokes

1-liners:

Joke-books

Joke-apps

Joke-sites

merch:

No real central location for comedic merch (Best Buy came AFTER Wal-Mart, Sears and JC Penney)

Standup videos:

Netflix

DVDs

TV specials

podcasts:

No app has consolidated them

Anatomy of a cheap joke

• Comedians will be able to publicly post jokes & charge a fee for users to save those jokes
• 1-liner economics: A (ie:) $0.03 joke could divide into 1 cent for Comedian-artist, 1 cent for Hilarist platform, and 1 cent (30%) for Apple for use of iPhone + back-end services
• Users save jokes such that they have a list of their favorites, for easy quick access to a joke-base curated by themselves.
• Each Joke maintains a cumulative revenue, which serves as the ranking
• Joke ranks on the public joke-base would be maintained at different time intervals such as “Top Jokes of the Day”, “Top Jokes in History”, “Top Jokes of the Year” etc….
• Jokes would be filterable for geo-location (jokes about pickup trucks and country music in the south, about Hollywood industry in the West, etc…) , topic, content-rating (G, PG, R…), amongst other things. Similar to how Amazon ranks books.
• Single jokes changes how jokes are monetized, from legacy joke books (1,000 Jokes….) to single-purchase jokes-- similar to what iTunes did for songs (vs albums).
• Hilarist would almost encourage people to steal jokes with screenshots or even writing down the jokes seen on the app. But why would we do this?

Go Ahead.

Nick our Jokes.

We Dare You!

(screenshot, pen/paper, it doesn’t matter, we don’t care)

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Gateway Drug for our premium products

Byte-sized CANDY--> Vertical Growth

$0.03 One Liner Jokes

$0.06 Story Jokes

$0.09 Story Jokes as read by… (animated speaker, celebrity voice)

$0.49 Full Standup Comedy registration/copyright etchings (immutable ledger)

$0.99 Live Sketch Comedy Videos

$1.99 Full Standup Comedy AUDIO-- Routines as Podcasts: amatuers, pros

$9.99 Full Standup Comedy VIDEOS

$2.99 Scripted Comedy Videos

$3.99 TV Comedy

$9.99 Movie Comedy

FREE Comedic Events/Calendar

$99.99 Tickets (Standup, Sketch, Improv, Comedy classes...etc…)

(prices will be dynamic-- set by artist. Prices below = examples)

PREMIUM CONTENT

VERSION 1.0

...and the Joker Got Away! HEY!

Why don’t we worry about users ganking jokes? MICROTRANSACTIONS

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When Amazon began charging sales tax in the US in most states, they lost their #1 advantage over “bricks-n-mortar” stores. It was then, consumers realized CONVENIENCE MATTERS. Certainly users can easily steal jokes, but with microtransactions we are betting that a 3 cent joke makes it easier to just save the jokes a user REALLY likes in a swipe, rather than laboriously try to cheat the system. Will some poor college-aged kids steal jokes? Sure; they also still steal their music 2 decades after the birth of Napster. But part of adulthood is having enough money to not worry about a 3 cent or 9 cent or even 69 cent tap. Steve Jobs sold the music industry on this concept in 2001 with iPod and iTunes, and Hilarist will create a Comedy Media Empire based on the ground floor of comedy… 1 Liners. Similar to music, the joke industry is practically non-existent past the occasional $25 joke books sold on Father’s Day. We think Comedians will flock to Hilarist to get paid for the least-intensive comedy to write (the single joke), and Hilarist will convince them to use the platform as their artistic easel...

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(from “Jingle Bells, Batman smells…”)

• Hilarist will be a shining example of the power of microtransactions AND the power of the immutable BSV Network!! A two-for-one beacon for BitCoin.
• Previous page is what a 1-liner joke will look like when the user attempts to read it (under the picnic table) before telling the joke to friends.
• Our app is up and running on Test Flight, amongst alpha-testers the joke data-base accumulates even without monetization.
• Hilarist has been in contact with Rafa & Alex @ Hand Cash to be among the first beta-testers of their “Cashport 2.0” product due late December
• Hand Cash’s product should allow for easy integration of well-known wallet amongst BSV users-- allowing users to sell and buy jokes with the same ease in iOS as Money Button has for web apps
• The Hand Cash product should ALSO allow Hilarist to write & read jokes to the BitCoin Network-- for immutable storage of pseudo-copyrighted media.
• Development on iOS has been VERY fast, but adding BSV to the app has been VERY slow bc iOS (Mobile) is new ground for Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.
• A public joke will have a buy-button (similar to Money Button)-- buyers will swipe to save it to “Favorites” so he never forgets the punchline NOR the joke itself. He has quick access to all his favorite jokes-- no last-minute searching.

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STATE OF THE APP

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Oh!

We forgot to tell you about the best part?

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WHY COMEDIANS WILL LOVE HILARIST...

Hilarist “EASEL” = Comedian’s Best Friend

• EASEL: Comedians typically carry a notebook in their pocket at all times, because one never knows when new material will come to mind. Hilarist is an iPhone app for a reason-- allowing professional and aspiring amatuer comedians to record their thoughts and eventually hone them into money-making 1-liners, stand-up routines, sketch comedies, and even movie scripts.
• Comedy has a hierarchy based mainly on length of content, and while Hilarist begins today with the shortest form of comedy (See “Duke’s Joke”... JellyCopter!) aimed at the easiest audience (kids < 4 yo) it will quickly grow to serve the entire Comedic “stack”. Thus ideal for vertical growth. Remember the lesson of MTV, what started out as just music videos quickly grew into a billion dollar enterprise. What did MTV do differently?
• MTV focused on a single genre of content; it’s parent Warners furthermore extended the verticals horizontally and ended up with not one but several vertically-integrated franchises (see Nikelodeon)
• Vertically, Hilarist is an easy sell to Comedians, as joke-rights has become a point of contention among professional stand-up and sketch comedy artists. Enter IMMUTABLE BLOCKCHAIN timestamps which act as pseudo-copyrights.
• EZ Path: 1-liners, story jokes, written stand-up routines, audio stand-up “podcasts”, live video tapings. What’s the moat which protects the Comedic castle tho?

AND...

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WHY AMATEURS WILL LOVE HILARIST.

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Introducing

JOKETYMOLOGY

WARNING! JOKE IS LAW

• GAMIFICATION: Hilarist will incentivize “Joketymology” or Hilaretymology for old jokes. First submitter of an old joke will be approved (all jokes will be approved by human editors) to sell the joke, but can be bumped by another user filing the same joke but with better (older) etymology. This inspires not only historical “proof of work” to be done (similar to attempting to trace old folk songs) to earn joke income, but solidifies Hilarist’s joke database as the premiere place to learn everything about jokes. Hilarentymology is vital to the business moat but also to creatives…

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• PSEUDO-COPYRIGHT: While Hilarist doesn’t file formal copyright, it’s filing of jokes immutably in the BSV Network acts as a lawful proof comedians can use to protect their work. Our research shows Comedians have lots of troubles with plagiarism, both intentional and un-intentional. (Ask us about the story of a Stormtrooper Standup). Hilarist aims to become a Comedic for-pay database. Comedians will eventually pay a nominal “burn fee” to etch their work into the BSV Network “forever” storage using concepts like OP_PUSHDATA.

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• LAWSUITS? Hilarist abides by law just like Youtube abides by law. Cease & Desist, monetary claims, and legal disputes all matter. In fact, Hilarist encourages these things because it’s half the reason for its existence in the first place. Hilarist’s biggest solved-problem is giving comedians an “easel” or scratchpad to record their work WHEN creative inspiration happens-- Hilarist in pocket.

MOATS = FAT MARGIN$

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TOP 100

Industry Best Comedian Income via Traffic

HILARIST

3¢

Tulips! (bsv)

First-Mover-Advantage via BSV Microtransactions

Artists Luv EASEL

Comedic

Copyrights

Anyone know what the #1 joke in the world is right now?

“We don’t either, but…

WE

Will

Soon!”

Thanks BSV!

RANKING COMEDY

1. What is the #1 joke in the world? Aren’t you slightly curious? Hilarist answers that just like iTunes and Spotify answer it… with revenue performance. Not a new concept, but new for 1-liners and comedy media-types it IS a brand new concept.
2. What’s the #1 joke this week? During Valentine’s Day, the answer might be different than Xmas. Santa jokes give way to Cupid jokes which give way to Elections Day jokes about politicians. Jokes don’t get old, they are seasonal, derive from new world events, & constantly change.
3. Bad jokes get pruned; timeless jokes stick. The money is why.
4. Rankings will occur in specific demographics, geographies, times, and types. Just like music.
5. Comedy is a big tall building, but 1-liners are the ground floor, and the rankings are why pros and amateurs can compete on even playing field. Who will write a better BSV joke than John Pitts?
6. Green is the color of money and nature, it’s very public, and green is our choice for demarking our “Top 100” concept (to be renamed eventually… Hit Parade, “Top 40”, Billboard = examples).
7. The Green “Hits” page will serve as the user’s entryway for finding new content; when a user loves a piece of content, she can save it for EZ access in the future.
8. There’s many uses for 1-liner joke search-- wedding speeches, political talks, salesmen...etc…
9. Some jokes are as timeless as Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”; some are 1 hit wonders...

Saved Favorites Here

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Top Worldwide Jokes db

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Comedian’s Easel

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This “easel” will have newest UI/UX concepts & update freq’y

HISTORICAL BILLION DOLLAR PRECEDENTS

• Comedy Channel (like MTV-VH1)
• Netflix Comedy
• Best Buy, Toys ‘R Us verticals came AFTER Wal-mart, Sears, K-Mart
• Hit Parade, “Top 40”, Billboard, Spotify & iTunes Top Hits, Top of the Pops

“CUT & PASTE” HORIZONTALS

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QUOTES

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POETRY

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LYRICS

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MEMES

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Word of Day

See the history of cable TV, once the new medium came out, verticals spoils went typically to the first smart operators who pieced together a themed channel. Nickelodeon, HBO & Showtime, MTV & VH1, Bravo, Romance (what channel is that one again?), Cooking, Fuel TV.

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All horizontals to the left are ideal for “Top 100” or “Top of Charts” margin protection. Natural monopolies.

LOOK IT UP….

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MTV started with a stupidly simple concept, early cable companies used to attract users away from free TV to subscription cable TV: Create new focused single-niche channels. Nickelodeon for cartoons, The Movie Channel, and Music Television which was 24 hour music videos. A stupidly easy version 1.0 turned into billions.

Extra Revenue Streams

• Referrals/Affiliate-providers
• Poetry & Joke books
• Comedic MERCH: Mugs with cartoons, Poetry/Lyrics T-shirts, Gag Gifts, Joke apparel
• Artist comedy tour tickets & other events

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Book: “Satoshi Doodles”

Revenues

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Enhancements

• Joke Entymology GAMIFICATION:
• Not only is joke entymology a new “art” but also a gamification can be made of users posting old jokes which would allow them to participate in the revenue streams-- creating incentive to add to the joke database and make it the biggest in the world. A user would own a joke for as long as they could provide the oldest entymology for the joke. Comedic history would be written by the users.
• Comments: Jokes made social by allowing comments… “My dad used to tell this joke and his story is…”

“Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss” -- Won’t Get Fooled Again, The Who

Craig said once that a Rennaisance-Era French Poetry Major couldn’t make any money, so why bother studying such nonsense. He was wrong. His own creation will prove it. Hilarist, Poetry-List, Lyric-list, Quotables, Meme-List will all allow a new breed of artists to make a living from being creative. Better, it will rank them in time and place. Steve Jobs changed the music industry in 2001 by breaking the single out of its album chains. An industry which was born on singles but took a 3-decade hiatus into consumer-unfriendly album sales has happened again but in a different horizontal→ Comedy. Hilarist will one-up iTunes by not only creating revenues where there were none, but also mirror iTunes in getting rid of the fat content purchase (Joke Books, Netflix subscriptions to get your comedy, Podcast subscriptions, etc…)

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Comedic Copyrights: EASEL… The Joke Stops Here

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VERY important in comedy, and particularly a complaint amongst standup comedians who make millions from their craft, is joke plagiarism. BitCoin immutable ledger will once-and-for-all end arguments over comedic-material attribution.

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Furthermore, Hilarist serves as the Comedian’s “easel”-- his gateway for CREATING, SAVING, COPYRIGHTING & PUBLISHING comedy. Easel allows lightning-quick addition of content to the copyright machine. Comedians would not only have a memory bank for their rough drafts, but could quickly copyright anything in a jiffy. This would be a product in its own right.

Watch Jerry Seinfeld bathe in his joke-writing PAPERS… (videos on next page)

https://youtu.be/fqQ4sWu_tm4?t=223

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Then watch as he can’t read his own joke:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6h7dbg (ffwd to 0:55)

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Easel solves BOTH problems-- with EASE.

FFWD video to: 3:45

DISORGANIZED CUMBERSOME NOTES:

CAN’T READ HIS OWN HANDWRITING (A Joke):

FFWD video to: 3:42

EASEL: a comedian’s notebook in pocket

Valuation:

• We are searching for our first Angel investors and don’t wish to disclose open negotiations or valuation-- except in person.
• Both John and Joshua wish to dedicate 100% of their time to building Hilarist’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th… umpteenth versions which we would like to release rapidly in the next 6-12 months
• We believe speed to be the most critical factor; it will be important to establish a moat early in our vertical and horizontal growth segments.
• Three all-important margin protectors: 1) Chart rankings 2) Payouts to artists 3) Amatuer onboarding & conversion to professionals
• Comedy Central approaches 100 mm US “subscribers” with avg cable channel ~ 50¢ / month
• CC international subs approaching 400 mm, Viacom** revenues > $10 billion
• Hilarist has a MUCH wider audience potential than Comedy Central, as Hilarist will be on-demand, in your pocket always, highly curated & personally-geared entertainment
• As the central hub for comedy, based on a brand new model the industry never saw coming, we think Hilarist has potential for multi-billion valuation.

**Viacom: https://sym.re/RC7j1WE

About Founders:

John Pitts

Josh Kaunert

• 20 Years Equity Research + Macro analysis. Top stock-picker at > $8 bn hedge fund. Successes: EXPE, AMZN, AMD, RIMM, GOOG, PYPL, Neteller, AAPL, RYAAY, BN, IBKR, ETSY, SODA, Oil ‘16, SQ, TWTR, SNAP, BSV, & Planaria (see John Coyle)
• Nuclear Submarine Officer: Lt. USS Houston. Crypto-officer, Nuclear Weapons Officer, Engineer
• B.S. Applied Math > Physics, iOS Dev. Lambda*
• Onboarded 3 BSV investors whose combined net worth is in 9 digits +
• Passionate about BitCoin SV after finding it met criteria for money; namely, backed by a tangible valuable asset… COMPUTATION
• Devoting rest of life to BSV as we conclude last great chapter of the Computing Age. BSV builds a FASTER, MORE SECURE, CHEAPER internet
• Heroes: William Rowan Hamilton, Edison, CSW
• 2nd half of life Motto: “What’re you guys so surprised about? I’m not letting you have ALL the fun”-- Ol’ Nate Scarboro, Longest Yard

• iOS Developer, Lambda School*
• *Lambda School in its 4th year is already as hard to get into as Stanford & Harvard. Crams ~ 6 years worth of coding & Computer Science into 6-9 months and the LS model is the future of modern education.
• Section Leader, Lambda School
• Passionate about BitCoin SV after considering the coming impact of microtransactions combined with frustrations with current state of the ads-succubus internet
• Eats nails and washes it down with fermented barnacle piss
• Life goal: make cool techie stuff; impact lives; get paid doing it
• Interests: Swift backends, blockchain, CloudKit, Core Data, Node JS.
• Heroes: Austen Allred, Barnacle Bill the Sailor, Popeye, Captain Kangaroo, Captain Caveman, Capt. Jack, Capt. Ron, Captain Morgan, Captain n Tenille
• “I’m Barnacle Bill; I’m Barnacle Bill the sailor”-- Barnacle Bill (the sailor)

JOHN

JOSH

Version Plan: (in progress moving this from google spreadsheets to Trello

Version Plan: continued

Just thought of one!

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Lemme get out my new comedic EASEL and crank it out so I don’t forget it…

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Hilar-List-Us! It’s a hit!

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...and no one can steal it, because it’s etched into the Rock of GENESIS as soon as it left my fingers!

Thanks Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, when did you get so FUN?!

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