Topic: How to Identify a Ponzi - page 3. (Read 131731 times)

BitConnect was so successful in stealing users money that it has inspired multiple copy cats like EthConnect and Bitstrades (the latter has done paid ads on both CoinMarketCap and ccn.com).

List of ponzis and ponzi ICOs.
https://www.cryptolendingprograms.com

BitConnect is down for the past two days.  Also, did Cloudflare drop them?  They claim to be under DDOS attack.  And a second state ruled that they were selling illegal securities.

Texas regulator rules against BitConnect.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/texas-regulator-orders-bitconnect-to-cease-and-desist-marketing-securities

Their end might be near!

I also reported them to Cloudflare which is going to forward it on the web hosting provider.  Cloudflare should ban their website completely.

I reported the BitConnect reddit to the reddit admin(s) and encourage you to do the same.

USI Tech looks like a ponzi.
https://www.coindesk.com/texas-slaps-bitcoin-investment-firm-cease-desist/

This account is mostly focused on exposing BitConnect.
https://twitter.com/bccponzi

In the US you can report ponzis to the SEC. I just reported BitConnect (not entirely sure it submitted properly - so if a couple other people would like to do this as well, that would be great).

https://denebleo.sec.gov/TCRExternal/questionaire.xhtml

First time I heard of this one!  I can only imagine how many medium sized ponzi schemes are using Bitcoin...
https://www.coindesk.com/cftc-sues-new-york-man-over-alleged-600k-bitcoin-ponzi-scheme/

I started reporting some Bitconnect ponzi Youtubers.  I think I'm getting timed out by YouTube after only reporting 5 (I hit Submit and get a spinning cursor that doesn't acknowledge my report).  So if other people would like to join this campaign and report a couple people (until you also get timed out), that would be appreciated!

I'm using Firefox.  It is very easy to report a video as promoting a Scam.

It looks like there might be as many as 100 people promoting Bitconnect on YouTube.

Regal Coin is the latest big ponzi.  Apparently a spin off of Control Finance.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to shut down ponzi ads on Google?  (Control Finance used to have them)
And how can we shut down Youtubers who are promoting ponzis?

Looks like Control Finance is shut down for good.  They are trying to spin off a new site and shut down the old ponzi. Very ambitious!

BitConnect is an above average professional ponzi.  So it fools more people than average.  Other major new ponzis are Aurum Bank and Control Finance.

Some of these ponzis have large referral fees, and a lot of the Youtubers that are promoting them are making their money on the referrals.  There might also be some people running ad-campaigns to make money on referral fees (I've seen rumors, but no direct evidence).

Bitcoin Connect is a likely ponzi.  Offering 1%/day interest (variable) for a "trading bot" which is very similar to the story that Bitcoin Savings and Trust used.  While the official offer is 0.1 - 0.25% minimum, the actual returns they are giving people are closer to 1%/day.

They are also behind BitConnect coin which somehow has the 14th top market cap on CoinMarketCap.com.

I'm contacting CoinMarketCap.com to have them delisted and urge you to do the same.

Stellar Lumens isn't a pure ponzi but has some questionable practices. They give away coins to BTC holders, and then profit by holding on to a large number of them.  The victims of the ponzi are the people who buy the (probably) worthless coins.

https://www.stellar.org/blog/bitcoin-claim-lumens-2/

SEC rules against GAW Miners and Zen Miner
http://www.coindesk.com/sec-wins-11-million-default-judgment-gaw-miners/

Paper on ETH based ponzi schemes.  Found over 100 of them, but only involving 40k ETH and seems to have declined since the DAO hack.  I wonder if some of the larger schemes are more smartly disguised (ex. mining)?

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.03779.pdf

Possible miner ponzi scheme in India.  I haven't checked it out, but if they are really promising a 10% return per month you all know what that indicates...
http://coinjournal.net/founder-india-based-bitcoin-mining-pool-gbminers-running-ponzi-scheme/

Now you could get very rich doing bitcoin mining (or more accurately employing cheap labor and you focus on supervising), but the best way is you get lucky with your timing.  You ideally want declining BTC prices for a year or so - so miners are in decline, and then you start up your mining business and the BTC prices take off.  So you make a killing because your costs are flat and your revenue just tripled.  If this happened you could earn 10%/month, but it wouldn't be predictable.  You could also lose 30% month or gain 30%/month.

So the hosts general view was that Trendon Shavers was just a regular Bitcoin enthusiast who ran a business that accidently turned into a ponzi scheme.  What do people think?  I'd love to see some fact checking on what he said.

Trendon claims that he was lending out money to people who needed it at a mean rate of 10.4%/week (and then he paid 7% interest to his "investors").  For one thing, I know that the top rate for lending out money on Bitcoinica was fixed at 20% APR (by contrast at BFX the first year the APR was over 100% -- this was both long after the ponzi ended and not anywhere near enough to pay 7%/week). So he couldn't have made significant money doing that. 

I'd be very surprised that anyone would want to borrow at those rates and there is no way that arbitrage (or selling locally) was that profitable.  The current bitcoin and USD P2P lending services have much lower rates (20-50% APR for BTC and 10-20% APR for USD).

One possibility is that people were borrowing BTC from Trendon with the intention of building trust, borrowing more, and then running off with it.  And this is what he says happens - though he refuses to name these people.  The story would only be credible if he has names.  I think the SEC (or a class action lawsuit) would want to go after them to get the money back for the ponzi scheme investors.

Long interview of Trendon Shavers, Bitcoin Savings and Trust:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/4yl7do/mt_gox_might_have_been_insolvent_as_early_as_july/

I'm skeptical about everything he says and the hosts are extremely gullible.

One would think you wouldn't know what a Ponzi is, being a "newbie" with a few posts

Then ya look a little further and say.........why play stupid?  

edit to not hi-jack:

Ponzi's are spotted with a "too good to be true" promise.  The old saying, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.  Or change it up to: If it's too good to be true.  It's a SCAM/PONZI.

On this board, I've noticed bought accounts (like yours) or new accounts is always a great start for smelling shit's coming 

And a few other's I'll save for a later time.