And this ethereum sale is pre-pre-mined ... pay now for the chance to get pre-mined currency later.
I'm intrigued by the concept, though. Decentralized storage, compute, scripting and secure exchange is an ideal platform for autonomous corporations.
It's less a lottery for the early adopters and more a money funnel for the creators -- and a cash toilet for everyone else.
The technology here is interesting but not new, and the problems that will make this fail are found in the social fabric, not code.
Realistically, though, I think there is a scalable new business model emerging: make up something of no tangible value (bonus points for instead selling a promise of providing something of intangible value), slap on a price tag, add pretty design and some concept videos. Rinse and repeat until the pop.
But they already have proof of concept clients and scripting languages set up. It's not as if they're doing a crowdfunding campaign with just an idea. Would I be wary of the project if it had no code? Sure, anyone would be. But am I wary of a project that's being actively developed? Certainly not as much. The code can speak for itself.
As for the non-technical aspects of the project it seems to me that the ethereum team has tried to make the fundraising fair and non-speculative. There is a great amount of fear from people who have vested interest in some alternative cryptocurrencies in this thread. It is a shame that we cannot have rational discussions as it usually the case on HN. Greed is not always good.