This friday I've got my next hearing in the Crypto Class Action against Facebook & Google for banning the ads of the cryptocurrency industry in early 2018.
[UPDATE: Hearing has been delayed until April because Judge is super busy.]
This will be my fourth 90+ minute hearing before Justice Rares and I have filed a very large amount of material supporting my claim.
@brianoflondon has also prepared some amazing interactive charts showing the impact of Facebook, Google and Twitter's ad bans on market prices and volumes.
We've also included data on amounts raised in ICO smart contracts and amounts locked up in DeFi smart contracts which shows an amazing correlation with the ETH price.
I'm not sure this analysis has been published anywhere else. The ETH price is clearly driven by the amount of ETH locked up in smart contracts.
We think its pretty persuasive that Facebook and Google's ad bans caused the big market drops in 2018.
We hope the Judge finds it persuasive too.
This is just a screenshot as the interactive charts are HTML, produced by @brianoflondon's amazing self taught Python skills.
To give you an idea of the immense amount of material I've filed to support our claim, have a look at this 5 volume Court Book I complied to bring everything together.
Just like an army is only as good as its logistics, a legal case is dependent on its evidence and file management of huge amounts of material.
The preparation requires 100x as many hours as the clash in the Courtroom.
If I was billing my time at an hourly rate for a lawyer of my seniority and experience and @brianoflondon's time at a similar rate for consultant then getting to this stage would have already cost well over $1 million.
Andrew Paul Stuart Hamilton v Facebook Inc. & Google LLC NSD899/2020
Court Book Table of Contents
Volume 1
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Interlocutory Application: Leave to Serve and No Adverse Costs Order |
| 4 | Applicant Submissions for 11 Sep 2020 Interlocutory Hearing |
| 13 | Applicant Submissions for 30 Oct 2020 Interlocutory Hearing |
| 17 | Applicant Submissions for 18 Dec 2020 Interlocutory Hearing |
| 21 | Applicant Submissions for 5 Mar 2021 Interlocutory Hearing |
| 27 | Complete List of Authorities as at 1 Mar 2021 |
Volume 2
27 Aug 2020 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affidavit | |
| 7 | Annex A | AG’s Hague service guide |
| 15 | Annex B | Facebook Address for Service NSD 246/2020 |
| 17 | Annex C | Google Address for Service NSD 816/220 |
| 19 | Annex D | Facebook 2019 Annual Report |
| 129 | Annex E | Alphabet 2019 Annual Report |
| 228 | Annex F | Andrew Hamilton CV |
| 236 | Annex G | 19 Mar 2018 Letter to ACCC |
| 240 | Annex H | 31 July 2018 Letter to ACCC |
6 Sep 2020 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affidavit | |
| 5 | Annex A | Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities |
| 10 | Annex B | Facebook Terms of Service |
| 18 | Annex C | Facebook Ad Ban Policy 30 Jan 2018 |
| 22 | Annex C1 | Facebook Ad Ban Policy 30 Jan 2018 (alt copy) |
| 26 | Annex D | Facebook Ad Ban Announcement 26 Jun 2018 |
| 31 | Annex E | Facebook Ad Ban Announcement 8 May 2019 |
| 34 | Annex F | Facebook Ad Ban Policy 8 May 2019 |
| 35 | Annex G | Google AdWords Terms and Conditions |
| 40 | Annex H | Google Ad Ban Policy June 2018 |
| 41 | Annex I | Google Ad Ban Policy 26 Sep 2018 |
| 44 | Annex J | Google Ad Ban Announcement Sep 2018 |
| 45 | Annex K | Google Ad Ban Policy 7 Jun 2019 |
| 50 | Annex L | Google Ad Ban Policy current |
| 54 | Annex M | Google Terms of Service 31 Mar 2020 |
| 68 | Annex N | Google Terms of Service 25 Oct 2017 |
| 73 | Annex O | Internet of Blockchains (Web 3.0) Article |
9 Sep 2020 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affidavit | |
| 3 | Annex A | ACCC acknowledgement of receipt |
Volume 3
10 Dec 2020 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affidavit | |
| 9 | Annex A | Nanopool ETH earnings |
| 13 | Annex B | Exodus Wallet ETH transactions export |
| 17 | Annex C | Cryptocurrency holdings 31 Dec 2017 |
| 18 | Annex C1 | BTC Markets - ETH price & volume chart |
| 19 | Annex D | BTC Markets ETH transactions |
| 20 | Annex E | St George ETH sale deposits |
| 21 | Annex F | Acorn purchase with ETH |
| 23 | Annex G | Grant Hamilton Crypto Advisory Marketing Material |
| 29 | Annex H | HiveBuzz Screenshot |
| 30 | Annex I | 30 Jan 2018 Daily Steem Stats Report |
| 56 | Annex J | Steem Statistics |
| 57 | Annex K | Steem Sales Bittrex & Finance |
| na | Annex L | ACCC Digital platforms inquiry - Final Report (lodged separately) |
| 61 | Annex M | Google response letter regarding cartel claim |
| 62 | Annex N | Facebook crypto ad disapproval message |
| 64 | Annex O | DOJ Google Anti-trust lawsuit statement |
| na | Annex P | Mark Zuckerberg Senate testimony (video file emailed separately) |
Volume 4
1 Mar 2021 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton - Part 1
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affidavit | |
| 11 | Annex A | Bitcoin White Paper |
| 20 | Annex B | Ethereum White Paper |
| 55 | Annex C | ETH Price and Volume Charts |
| 58 | Annex C1 | Google Ad Ban Media Report - 14 Mar 2018 |
| 59 | Annex D | GDAX Flash Crash explanation |
| 63 | Annex E | ICO Charts |
Volume 5
1 Mar 2021 Affidavit of Andrew Hamilton - Part 2
| Page | Annex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 69 | Annex F | List of completed ICOs |
| 124 | Annex G | USA 2017 IPO total raise media report |
| 125 | Annex H | ETH Price and Volume Charts with ICO monthly raise data |
| 128 | Annex I | Bancor statements re ICO |
| 134 | Annex J | DeFi Pulse - DeFi top Projects and value locked in DeFi |
| 136 | Annex K | ETH Price and Volume Charts with ICO & DeFi data |
| na | Annex L | Interactive ETH Charts - HTML format - Separate file |
| 138 | Annex M | Facebook Subsidiaries - Exhibit 21.1 to 2019 Annual Report |
| 140 | Annex N | Alphabet Subsidiaries - Exhibit 21.1 to 2019 Annual Report |
| 141 | Annex O | ASIC Extract - Google Australia Pty Ltd |
| 146 | Annex P | Facebook Revenue Recognition - page 64 of 2018 Annual Report |
| 147 | Annex Q | Google Revenue Recognition - page 55 of 2018 Annual Report |
| 149 | Annex R | User comments on cryptocurrency ad disapprovals |
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