It appears the ultimate basis for saying BetKing.io scammed investors via the ICO is the lack of buybacks.
My reading of how the
buybacks work is they are based on the total raised and the total profits of the bankroll.
There appear to be 70 million tokens offered for sale, and 100 million total. The price appears to be based off of only the tokens offered for sale.
As an example, if they raised $35 million in total, the price for the tokens would be $0.50 each ("Token Price").
The buyback price appears to be based on the bankroll profits for the preceding quarter ("Quarters Profit") and the Token Price. As an example, if the Quarters Profit was $5 million, they would take 10% to apply to the tokens, or $500,000 and add this to the Token Price, and offer to buy back 10% of token holders at this price. So the Quarters Profit portion of the buyback price in this example would be $0.05, and the Token Price portion of the buyback price would be $0.50, for a total of $0.55. In this hypothetical example, $3,550,000 would be used to buy back tokens.
According to how the
ICO page described how the ICO proceeds would be used, only 50% of the ICO proceeds were to be used to fund the bankroll, and the balance was to be used for operating expenses.
In the above example, $17.5 million would be allocated to the bankroll, and $5 million would be bankroll profit, but after the buyback, the total bankroll would be $18.95 million.
If the profits were lower, things would take a turn for the worse for token holders. For example, if bankroll profits were only $2 million, then $3,520,000 would be used to buy back tokens, but after the buybacks, only $15.98 million would be left in the bankroll.
Adding to the risk is that bitcoin's price may decline (it did), and the "Token Price" portion of the buyback price may get more expensive in terms of bitcoin, and the bankroll and bets appears to be denominated in terms of bitcoin. It should be simple enough to convert any bankroll profits to dollars when buying back tokens.
The way I am reading how bankroll profits are used to fund buybacks, only 1% of bankroll profits are used for buybacks. This hardly sounds fair, but token holders were free to negotiate different/better terms before buying.
The entire setup appears asinine, and subjects everyone to unnecessary risks. I don't understand why a percentage of bankroll profits would not be converted to etherum, or a stablecoin that could be airdropped to token holders in the form of a dividend. A market may develop for these tokens to capture the anticipated future cash flows of the dividends.
The way I read the terms, betking needs to buyback token holders at the Token Price if bankroll profits are zero (he needs to buy back 10% of tokens).
A decreasing percentage of the original amount of tokens issued will need to be repurchased each quarter in order for 10% of the remaining tokens to be repurchased. The first quarter would see 10% of the original tokens repurchased, the second quarter would see 9% of tokens repurchased, the 3rd quarter 8.1%, and so on.
My question to betking would be: Were 10% of outstanding tokens offered to be repurchased at a price described above? If not, I believe you have not honored your obligations.
Anyone can correct me if there is an error in my understanding.