There's also the weird blip in all of this of the hashpoint conversion. If you have Paycoins from the hashpoint conversion, they're still worth more than if you had "mined" BTC instead of getting hashpoints. I think Paycoins would have to dip below 50 cents for the hashpoint "mining" to have not been worth it.
How did you come up with that number?
Or it could have been a confidence trick. IDK. It still stands out, though.
Often the high returns encourage investors to leave their money in the scheme, with the result that the promoter does not have to pay out very much to investors; he simply has to send them statements showing how much they have earned. This maintains the deception that the scheme is an investment with high returns.
Promoters also try to minimize withdrawals by offering new plans to investors, often where money is frozen for a longer period of time, in exchange for higher returns. The promoter sees new cash flows as investors are told they cannot transfer money from the first plan to the second. If a few investors do wish to withdraw their money in accordance with the terms allowed, their requests are usually promptly processed, which gives the illusion to all other investors that the fund is solvent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
This was a textbook ponzi scheme.