Topic: Learn-to-Earn tokens another pyramid scheme? (Read 188 times)

Interesting enough but Learning star (LSTAR) continues to develop. They launched Android version recently and the number of twitter followers is now more than 1.1 million.

I am still watching this project and one thing striking is that this project has not turned out to be one of those quick ponzi schemes like some of these "move-to-earn" projects.

Hopefully the developers will not quit in the nearest future. Stay tuned for more news.

How many good concepts fail under the onslaught of speculation when an asset is viewed not from a utilitarian point of view, but from the point of view of making money, preferably quickly. This is the main problem with all these business models. On paper everything is well painted and, most importantly, useful. In fact, the number of users who come there for earnings is much higher than those who bring liquidity to the project. Because of this imbalance projects quickly collapse and then no one is interested, although they encourage users to do sports, study, etc.

It's definitely shady but not really unheard even in our real life. For example, if you want to do business as a doctor, you have to get a license and pay an annual fee for it. Same with British Council holds a test and grants English proficiency certification, all with a fee. But as the crypto grow, most kind of 'pay upfront to earn' seems more like a scam than an actual real deal.

Learn to earn based projects may look beneficial but actually these are worthless these tokens are obviously a part of pyramid schemes and I am agree with your point. If we will try to find out the utility cases of learn to earn tokens then I am sure we will definitely get nothing in results which indicates the main disadvantages of these kind of useless tokens it's better to avoid them.

Financial pyramids are characterized by what you wrote, i.e. the entry fee (buying something to enter the system), and the commission received when each new member joins.
It would be good if you give an example of the project you are talking about, because I would not like to accuse all the projects involved in Learn-to-Earn in general, but any buying packages or entry fee, unfortunately, is usually linked very badly and it is definitely a red flag.

Most likely yes. If there is some requirement before start earning then it can lead up to being scam or another ponzi.

But if the learn to earn approach for free then its likely good or we can called like bounty since you earned from learning it. Just like in the real world try to learn something and earn out of it. Most people in crypto are easily hooked with something like attached to word earn. So any concept is probably a boost to their needs.

It can be called as a new model of pyramid scheme. Axie infinity has been telling us a lot about how it works. No new users meant the dump. There would be no people who interested to bought its NFT again. Just look at how inflation was happening not only for the slp token but NFT was also being inflated as well. People are generating this more and more everday, this is also destroying the price of NFT
The new users are the key point why this model can a big sustain for long term. Play to earn was not a perfect model.

especially now during bearish times, only the good ones will survive....

For me, there is a huge possibility that this will be a scam, another shitcoin or just a hype.
There are a lot of projects x-to-earn, like move-to-earn, etc.

There are some project or concept that is good but for me, it will still take a lot of time, especially in the development of these projects. The concept is good but the implementation and real use case is difficult and complicated.

Yeah, good point, I mean eventually it could transition into some sort of ecosystem aiming to help some studies and/or industries you have mentioned above.

Isn't this already a thing? Like well, generally I mean. I've participated in a bunch of studies and whatnot that gave me a quick buck after like studying their materials and answering their survey questions by the end. If the learn to earn crypto model follows the same style, I don't think it's going to be an issue.

The demand here would come from players wanting to earn and the people who would supply would be organizations or industries that would want to perform a specific study, is how I would imagine it. Most x-to-earn models only really feel like a scam since their coins are hyped to the heavens and beyond, I'd see it more as a stable type really, well at least those that I've tried anw.

I did not know about this multiple reply thing, thanks for sharing.

I have a feeling that LSTAR is in some sort of transition stage and they keep developing under relatively tough bearish market situation. I also read that they educated 2.5 million of users so far. I dont know if thats true or not and how effective this education was per se, but if its true, then there is definitely some potential. Like I said time will tell.

I wasn't particularly referring to paying something upfront but the general model of learn to earn. It would be weird if the biggest exchange would start asking for money that way hehe. They will surely receive a lot of negative feedback if they did.

"you can't earn if you don't pay upfront" is shady. A quick glance at LStar and I notice they have some sort of a scholarship program. I bet that's another route to earn aside from buying their NFT. I think that's smart move on their part not to be called a ponzi.


P.S.
Multiple replies in a row is prohibited by forum moderators. You can use the "insert quote" feature to respond to different comments just like what I did in this post.

I heard about it too but I could not find if Binance requires to pay something upfront... In BNB ...

I agree with your definition. Thanks you for your clarification.

BTW, I have checked, LSTAR does not have a requirement to pay in order to learn English, you can do it for free. BUT you cant earn $ if you dont pay upfront.

So I dont think that LSTAR falls under "ponzi" scheme definition which does not mean whether it will turn into a scam project/ or not.

Now OTHER "learn-to-earn" projects may or may not follow this model (not to pay anything upfront) and this may raise a red flag. This is why I stated that its too early to call the "learn-to-earn" model a scam because projects may differ in terms of their approach.

Responding to wxa7115:

Also, if I may suggest, since many of us here hope to make some profit and some of us have concerns about karma... I found that if profit is made, share some of your profit with people in need... Would it work for karma? (Somewhat a rhetorical question...)

    

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Binance started that model with Coinmarketcap? I haven't done it but it's something like you read something about a project then they give you some questions to answer and earn something.

I can also understand the comparison with pyramid schemes since a lot of so-called "network marketing companies" use the phrase "learn to earn" in their speeches or presentations.

Depends on how the marketing system works.  If this kind of system relies on recruitment or referrals and that referral needs to buy a certain amount of coins or tokens to be a registered user then it can be labeled as a pyramid scheme or possibly a Ponzi scheme.  But if there are no recruitment requirements and the market relies on the free market of buy and sell or supply and demand then I do not think that it falls under a pyramid scheme.

First, these are tokens, not coins. But here is my thoughts about karma. If you sold a "non-scam" token(or coin) at ATH and someone else bought it hoping to get more profit, but instead he/she lost money later, would you consider that you still have a good karma? Remember, not all "non-scam" tokens/coins regained their value or gained only a fraction of it because, for example, the team does not care about price anymore, they only care about project development. So you left someone with that "non-scam" tokens/coins in the wallet awaiting to get their money back but they could never get it back.

Some people call crypto a "scam" but only time can tell if a project is a complete scam. It could be that "learn-to-earn" model will turn into a complete scam. Or it could still bring some values to the community by educating people who want to learn English (or other subjects). Time will tell. Right now I would just observe these projects without recommending to invest into them/ or invest only a small portion of your portfolio, at your own risk.   

Personally, I might recommend to invest only after doing a good research and my personal preference is projects focused on a good technology where the teams consistently deliver results without asking you to pay you anything upfront. I am not excluding the possibility that some of these "learn-to-earn" projects will be worth of investment, like I said, time will tell.

It is not early at all, if something has the characteristics of a scam then it is important to identify it early so we can avoid it.

Also I am against investing in any coin like that, now it is true that if you are early and the coin becomes extremely popular you will make some money, but can you live with yourself knowing that the money you got is in fact money that came from the pockets of someone else and that they were scammed? If you ask me I think it is better to not attract that negative karma if you can avoid it.

In my opinion, it is much better to be anxious when knowing a new tokens. Some look like a legit project but it the end, the so called project is a scam that will only make their investors lose money. I have something to ask, would you buy the token when you are not sure if it's legit or a scam?. Well, that's your own conclusion and as what I read about op's explaination is it feels like it is another pyramid scheme type of token. "You need to buy something first before you can start earning. Is it that kind of suspicious?.

I think its too early to make a conclusion. To some extent, many "something"-to-earn projects (e.g., play, move, dance - you name it...) have some sort of pyramid scheme which does not mean that they are not profitable if you enter / exit at the right time. LSTAR for example has made minus 9X from ATH and it could be a good point to enter (not a financial advise).

A new business model called Learn-to-Earn appeared in the crypto market some time ago. So far, there are not many projects on the market and most of them are not represented anywhere at all, I mean some large platforms. A quick glance at the concept again invites unpleasant comparisons with pyramid schemes, where the project lives only from new users. Again, in order to start earning something, you must first buy something.

Do you think Learn-to-Earn is another model with pyramid features or is it different here?