If it looks like a scam, expressed like a scam, and promoted like a scam, then it probably is a scam.<p>Let me explain... achieving scale with public and private blockchains is a difficult computer science problem. Even if Dr. Nikolai Durov [1] is a genius, he is competing with other geniuses who are at least trying to probe their points in a more formal way [2]. It is not by chance that it is taking so long for Vitalik and other researchers to solve the scalability and security issues in Ethereum. So until other peers don't analyze Dr. Durov results via adversarial attacks we will not know how real are his claims.<p>A serious alternative to this ICO would be raising money for a PoC including hiring other researchers to break the original scheme. For example, before RSA was finished, Adleman worked on breaking the schemes devised by Rivest and Shamir until RSA was born [3].<p>This does not mean that you cannot make money, speculation works in a different dimension.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Durov" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Durov</a><p>[2] <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J8hehbnZWzcIUMQcxMiGbjz86wDu3zDFF7UtkR0XjGE/" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J8hehbnZWzcIUMQcxMiGbjz8...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://teacher.scu.edu.cn/ftp_teacher0/chjtang/teach/adleman.htm" rel="nofollow">http://teacher.scu.edu.cn/ftp_teacher0/chjtang/teach/adleman...</a>