I'm sure many of you have already heard about this, I just wanted to go back to it real quick from my own experience watching this ponzi scheme start out from the very beginning.
I am personally not sure if the victims are going to be able to win this case as it's not entirely sure who was behind Bitconnect, being able to find those people and especially the money will be a very hard task considering that if it's in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency makes it really difficult, especially if it has been traded and being held on anonymous currencies such as Monero.
That's only one part of it though, there is a difference being an investor in it as it might give you the advantage of receiving back the amount of Bitcoin you invested yourself in it (if the money were to be found) any profits though are supposed to go back to the people that invested after you. If you as an investor were not aware of it being a Ponzi then the chances of you going to jail are rather slim.
If you on the other hand offer to sell these tokens either directly or through promotion, which I'm guessing that's where the referrals come into play, then things change quite drastically as the Bitconnect token is an unregistered security in this case. Here is a snip from the SEC's rules of the promotion of Ponzi schemes:
It doesn't sound so nice, right?
a promoter is liable even if they are themselves victims
These are the dangers of promoting something where you aren't sure what it truly is. This is also why it's important for people to know what open-source technology means compared to Bitconnect's "trading-bot" that was never disclosed what it exactly did or if it even existed. Heck, had there been a trading bot they would've probably done much better than how things turned out now during this long downtrend of cryptocurrencies after BTC's ATH at 19k.
I want to take a moment to thank a user here on Steem who very early on realized that this is a Ponzi and did his best to try and flag promotions of it. Thank you @pfunk, I remember talking with you about it once as there were so many users coming to the platform promoting it with their referrals back when the price was still under $1 and you helped me see what was wrong with it early on and since then I tried my best to warn users not to invest or touch this coin. Thank you also to everyone else that did their best with this.
Now before and during the closing of Bitconnect there have been a lot of these promoters deleting their youtube videos or posts and comments on other platforms but there is something many of them might've not been aware of at the time and might come back to haunt them now as things are getting serious. That is the immutability of the Steem blockchain that records all posts and comments of all time, this is why it was important to try and warn people to not get involved in this currency which was not open-source and the founders were not made public as it was screaming red flags for so long.
I've said this a few times before, I know block-chain technology is pretty new and offers so many advantages to often seem "too good to be true", but with something like Bitconnect offering 40% returns a month it was just way overkill and people that invested in it were just really completely new to the scene or they knew it was a Ponzi and imagined they'd be able to get out of it before everyone else.
Stay safe out there, Steemians.
https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmRz4JEqvTEoCQK9V8ssoV7LKyb2fHBpYEp7xZyqnQL2AP
Good luck with that, but a bit too late. They should have thinked twice before putting their money into a shady online business. Greed is a powerful thing.
What happened with bitconnect was pretty sad for the investors, but they should have researched a bit more into what they were investing... It was obvious to some of us that it was a ponzi scheme from the beginning, i mean if their bot was that good they wouldn't be taking other peoples money to "multiply it" they would have just used the bot themselves and get rich.
I do feel bad for the people that invested a lot of money into it, i even read there were some people that committed suicide over this so at least i'm hopeful that a lawsuit may bring some solution to the money issue or at least some closure to the people that lost money in it...
The sad thing is that this didn't affect jus the bad investors. There were tons of people who depended of them. I'm sure some of the ones who committed suicide had families and friends who were left behind by this. The Bitconnect tragedy is not just an isolated issue of bad money management or lying. It's a big build-up of evil and corruption that will be punished sooner rather than later. I really hope to see the people responsible for this behind bars, even though the cryptocurrency market is not yet well regulated in most of the world.
I just want some closure for the people that lose all their money on this sham and closure for the family members that lose loved ones on this scheme.
Punishment too, the people that did this must be found and punished... And the hundreds of youtubers that were in the ponzi scheme too, i saw many videos of youtubers luring people into bitconnect with 100$ giveaways, their arguments against it being a ponzi scheme were always like, hey i'm making money so its not a ponzi scheme and to prove it to you i'm giving you 100$ just create an account under me... just growing the pyramid... those people must be investigated too...
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rianrise/hamas-army
I think the multi level marketers that made a lot of money from affiliate links should be held accountable as they have deleted a lot of videos from youtube which to me is a clear indication of guilt. All this talk of we need to regulate the market well here is the perfect opportunity as most of the guys promoting this where clearly U.S citizens and I'm sure there are existing laws that can be used. I.E. False advertising, miss selling, fraud etc.
maybe all people to suicide because when the bitcoin to down much⬇️🤣, there is much people to buy bitcoin, because in them mainset bitcoin always up ⬆️ . so me never suicide 💪🏼💪🏼 i am be a man 💪🏼🙏🏻👍🏼 @lunaticpandora
I have never committed suicide either. That's why I can be here today replying to your comment. If I had committed suicide I would be dead and I wouldn't be here. I would probably be ashes, since my family cremates their dead. In fact, I think it is lucky that I haven't committed suicide just so that I can tell you that I'm still alive. Thank you for existing, @julian01. You're an inspiration to the ones who come after you. I hope you live a life of success from now on and that Steemit brings you closer to your long-awaited desires.
You had me in stitches.
good job
I feel lucky and blessed I saw warnings about this when I first got into crypto back in June and didn't get caught up in this. I feel for those who did. But I also look at investing as gambling. You can't put $100 in a slot machine and demand your money back because you lose, so if you are investing if you choose wrong it is like putting your money in the wrong slot machine. That is why I start small then only keep profits in when I invest after I make money off of it. That way if I do make a mistake in a choice I make, it is free money I am playing with.
This is so crazy... That's why its best to make individual findings and background checks before rushing to buy a coin.. I pity that weren't aware that its a ponzi scheme.
I'm sure ~80% were aware of it. :/
Well, it's so unfortunate for them.. They will have to bear the losses and be wise enough to make the right choices next time..
No 100% knew what it was, There is no trying to play a victim here.
Bitconnect grew because people were greedy and they still are greedy trying to go after them in court those same people will see another buttconnect clone and wont even hesitate to jump on it.
Why feel sorry for them?
People should learn from these scams and investors should take a lesson from this whole event. There are still many Ponzi schemes out there like Bitconnect and people with high influence like Trevon James and Ryan Hildereth are still promoting those.
Thanks for this post @acidyo. We need to inform more and more people and make them aware about these scams. SCAMs like these will hurt the reputation of Crypto Universe and have an adverse effect on adaptation by new investors. 😑
And they're still doing it with scams like davor coin bitconnectx etc.
Yes @safetony. That needs to stop otherwise people will lose their hard earned money and they will lose faith jn Cryptocurrencies. As long terms investors, we do not want that.
This speaks true to me and because I just watched a video of a guy who was at the same age as my dad who invested his life savings into bitconnect. He was trying to have a nest egg for his autistic son but now he's left with nothing and his kid who can't fend for himself is going to have a harder time because these Crooks pulled some b******* on a whole bunch of people. They didn't just hurt good people they also put a negative spin on crypto itself. I hope these guys face Justice one way or another. What do you think is going to happen to them?
Omg!! That's really painful, what's he going to do now??😢 i pray they get justice or even so i hope Karma visits them real quick.
Here's the vid:
I wish he put a bitcoin address up so I can donate to his kid's future.This is just a negative daint on the crypto world
WOW :(( ... if this man come steemit... it can get something of this back here . Who know this man... you must say this for him ....come steemit .
Hopes and dreams coming from a known Ponzi .
Goot
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rianrise/hamas-army
Still, I read many posts on daily basis promoting scammy ponzi schemes and taking huge profits via referrals. Funny thing is that same people who promoted bitconnect have started promoting other schemes now!
Nice
Let us observe a minute silence for Trevon James and CryptoNick who's just gotten themselves in hot soup.
I just hope this plays out well cus if it doesn't, we gon be hearing about Jail sentences very soon.
My Verdict: Stop using ponzi and shitcoins to tarnish crypto's name.
Don't forget @craig-grant - probably not welcome to Usa
I remember at he start pfunk called out a guy on it being a ponzi. There were others too. It looks very dodgy for the promoters of it now!!
Good. The crypto community wants blood. I hope this class action results in "shock and awe" in favor of the plaintiffs, so no other scam ICO/coin tries this shit again.
Probably been watching too much game of thrones... but the ruling of this case should be analogous to putting a head on a spike to show any other would be unethical scammer what the consequences are.
It was simply hyip system that depends on BTC continuity up trend in 2017 there is no trading bot They were using.
in fact if someone invested 20,000 in BTC and invested 20,000 in bitconnect he would get more profit just by holding BTC
And that's what they did they were just holding BTC and give the profit in $ those 40% monthly were in $ not in BTC.
I hope each one get harmed from bitconnect get there money back . 😭
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I'm a simple man. I see a Carlos Matos video, I click.
The promoters were well aware of the nature of bitconnect (ie that it was a complex ponzi). Many were extremely visible as well, promoting bitconnect on YouTube etc. At the very least they are going to spend the next few years looking over their shoulders, partly for the law and partly for disgruntled investors they convinced to sign up!
That SEC rule you listed could apply to a lot of youtubers.
@acidyo This is pretty interesting because STEEM may play a role in the First of its kind case when this goes to court. I can hear the Judge now asking the Prosecution for the File of all of the Evidence on the STEEM Block Chain. Unlike Govt. Alphabet Agencies the Evidence is not Lost.
Well... if they didn't put everything in one coin they would be fine.
Bitconnect had an amazing advertisement and it was working like a giant scam machine because of it. it's a great example of a fast-growing cryptocurrency just on Fomo.
I even regret not buying a few tokens at the very beginning to sell them in a couple of months. I'm surprised that it lasted exactly for one year, as I've predicted hmm...
Even though I feel bad for people who lost their money, but they were constantly warned. And it was enough time to leave when the stakes were already too high.
Excellent post friend and i think in such schemes early birds always fly high and late investor's end up losing the money, so it's better to do complete research before putting hard earned money in such schemes, i also think that it's extremely difficult to win such cases because investor's do investment at their own risk.
its really sad , for all those guys who invested in,, thats why we need some sort of regulation in this field
The story behind bitconnect was quite a tragedy, the way it rose and fell was even epic, people needs to be informed before they, take step into investing what they don't know about, well @pfunk I'm sure he really did his best to earn people of this.
However I'd like to say people should learn before they earn, it's going to prevent a lot,
It's a tragic lesson for all as much as we want to take risk and invest, we have to be wise ND earnest
Thank you for this @acidyo
These warnings really help the new comers to the technology. Appreciate you and @pfunk for the early warnings. It has become really hard now to distinguish what's legit and what's not.
Can you link some steem articles, where BitConnect was promoted?
Lucky me, I do not have enough money to invest:))
So I didn't care about those postings
I am not giving a chance for money to be found and returned to the owners, well some of them are dead so it's pointless for them and their family. Solving this case won't change anything in my opinion. Rather than solving a scheme like this, we need to prevent this happening.
Creating awareness is the perfect solution. I'm pretty sure if this happens again, too many people will be lured into.
People with good knowledge need to spare their time a bit and educate people.
And also governments need to start campaigns for their citizens and give them information about what to do before investing.
The next ones sued should be cnbc : telling you how to buy bitcoin in ath at 21 k or better the super hot ripple token XRP AT 3 USD ...i wonder how those trades ended . Crypto still seems like the wild west.
Bitcoin has made you a very important goal. I liked it very much in your post. I learned from a lot that thank you very much about sharing a great post about Breton with us all.
Before investing in any coin one should first research on what you are investing in.I really want to see the people responsible for this arrested.
People's greed took over to the point that just wanted to make money so bad that they
were too impatient to do research about the thing that they were investing into. They were playing all in,but they never had a look at their cards they had in their hand.
That is so sad
Hahahaha.... I told someone I know that it's a Ponzi scheme it's better she join the steemit community, she is now regretting why she didn't join earlier.lol. It wasn't a legit business... It's now bitdisconnect ..... Funny
Feels bad for the investors, but I mean it was too good to be true. They should have learned more about it.
Thanks for bitconnect update providing.... i appreciate this post...
I did not know about Ponzi before. There you talked a lot about it. You've got your personal experience, it was very good @acidyo
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good post sir my xp very low help me sir
Cryptocurrency is not different than most investments, the only major difference is the decentralization of it and it being a new market place and maybe the average age of investors in this space being 20-30 rather than experienced 30+. Many people need to understand that this is very much UNREGULATED and once your funds are stolen its nearly impossible to recover them!
Thank God I have made up my mind every to put myself into any ponzi scheme ever again. That stuff almost drew me into depression when I did it.
Given the number of people offering investment advice here on steemit perhaps we should come up with some sort of guidelines or a faq for people so they don't get themselves in trouble with the SEC
This is the really interesting part of this to watch, will the government step in to protect people whose cryptocurrencies are lost or stolen?
It was relief to see how bitconnect finally goes to 0. Such a scam could have simply ruined the reputation of blockchain.
Goot
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Thanks for warn us.. this information is helpful for us.. video is interesting. Keep sharing like this stuff.. thank you@acidyo
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well this is the minimum they can do.. hope shitconnect team will suffer a lot in jail.
after the post
I am watching video
have to laugh at the thumbnail picture with regards to bitdisconnect but i also feel sad for.those people invested huge amount of money in that crypto ;( felt sorry for.them
They had indicated a warning against it but if the participants are bold enough they could still venture into the scheme... i strongly doubt the victims would be able to win the case because they most have known that it isnt a win-win situation.
Bitconnete ones are sad. I do not know what the outcome will be, but I hope no one will be in a difficult situation. a nice review and writing. I liked it. also he next video! her very laugh.. eehehe dajhdkjahsdkahdkgdjh: DD: D:
thats like suing someone for hitting you after you tell them to hit you ! :-|
you win some you lose some when investing .. its that simple. suing them won't get anyone money back.