The Texas Securities Commissioner has issued an emergency cease and desist order on a very dodgy UK based ponzi scheme which has somehow, of course, managed to get a market cap of $4 billion before their planned ICO on 9 January.
Anyway, Texas may have put a halt to their exit scam.
The UK regulators obviously won't do anything about this sort of blatant scam but many prominent names in the bitcoin community have been warning folks away from Bitconnect. Hopefully nobody here on Steemit will have lost money but it's another important lesson here: do your own research. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
This company had no known principals. There are obviously some people behind it, we just don't know who. Should have been a red flag in this situation where investment returns were being promised.
As mentioned above, however, a $4 billion market cap suggests many didn't heed those warnings coming from the likes of Erik Voorhees only yesterday:
A question re: this order. If true, it seems to only apply in Texas. Why wouldn't it have been brought by SEC? It mentions that the ICO is happening on bitconnectx.co (don't want to provide full link) has anyone pre-registered with them? Was anyone here part of their 'lending program?' Here is the company listed in UK at Companies House. There is one director and owner mentioned but it could just be a nominee director as is easy to do in the UK.
That order would be as good as swatting a fart with a tennis racket.
If anyone is interested, go and read why actions like the Emergency Cease and Desist Order is a bad thing for anyone in the cryptocurrency space. https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@socky/texas-state-securities-cease-and-desist-order-against-bitconnect-is-an-effort-to-limit-access-to-only-the-elite
God bless the state of Texas!
Its about time this Ponzi scheem gets shut down!
@thejohalfiles, can i contact you? I am from Indonesia. hopefully you respond positively.
Amen ! Why have you any post sir ? I can not wait to comment your post :)) @thejohalfiles
@thejohalfiles I see you have a very powerful account on here and comment with good info but do not have a single post is there a reason for this? Also I notice in your wallet lots of people send SBD and a post URL do you upvote these or they just want you to see them? I am still learning and trying my best to use Steemit correctly any help is appreciated thank you
God bless you too.I'm very happy if I got upvote from you.Why don't you do like a booster?I'm sorry if you confuse becouse of me.
i pray for Texas!!!
May God bless the state of Texas!!
and give them peace of mind!!!!
Thank you very much sir!!!
Are BitConnect investors open to legal problems?
It's sad, but with all the mania around crypto these days, it's just damn near impossible to talk people out of throwing money away. I've got a few people into crypto, always telling them to make sure they check out every investment. It never fails they come back telling me about their new Ripple, or BCash or whatever scamcoin is out there.
I just sold a bunch of Ripple I only just realised I had! I think I got them as a joke. Anyway, what a shocking amount I got in exchange. It was like Christmas all over again; but I had family members contact me over Christmas asking if they should buy Ripple because somehow they had heard about it . . . on TV? Who is talking about it on tv? CNBC?
No idea. If I watched CNBC I probably wouldn't watch you!
🗅
dude, get out of Bitconnect now.
Or try to.
They'll give you something, and then promise you the rest.
Get whatever you can back from them.
take care man
Wow! Can't wait to see how that goes down!
Ehhhhhh it's the Ponz!
Wonder why company that is doing so well would launch an ICO, stealing some extra money for retirement...
scam is closing down soon
The clearest Ponzi I've ever seen. Completely ridiculous
That request would be in the same class as swatting a fart with a tennis racket.
Why do you copy the comment?:) I don't get that..
please follow me as I am brand new. Thank you!
Thats why diversity is key in crypto, you never know the lengths people will go to bring something down!
Hopefully this doesn’t muddy the waters!
interesting postings very good, I like
Way to go, Texas!
Thanks Stacy... Steem team player! A lot of people got suckered with this one... even Coin Market Cap!
Bitconnect has stood out to me in my Twitter timeline as the top names in crypto have been warning very loudly against getting scammed by it. Surprising how many seemed to pour into it anyway.
I believe they marketed it in an insidious way on youtube and social media where it was an open secret that it was a scam but you could still get in and out and make money before the game is up!
Can't reason with people blinded by a surrealistic vision of them wallowing in luxury for the rest of their lives, doing literally nothing. Try to convince them that they're being a part of ponzi scheme and they'll call you an uninformed hater.
Fools and their money soon go separate ways!
Is it unmoral to let a fool keep his money?
I'm not sure if this is a win or a loss for the crypto world. Can they now do the same thing to a legitimate ICO?
No. There have been many ICOs that have abided by all the regulations within the jurisdictions to which they sell. This has clearly been a scam from day one and I just wondered whether or not something would be done. Doubt they'll ever find the guys behind it. Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not.
Price is holding up on coin market cap... $425 now! Can we short it...
The emergency cease and desist only seems to apply in Texas? Don't think it's calling it a ponzi but just saying they're not allowed to sell securities to Texans. Wonder, if this is all true and it is a dot gov website, but, if true, then where is the SEC?
Its true here is from Texas Securities Board website:
https://www.ssb.texas.gov/news-publications/4-billion-crypto-promoter-ordered-halt-fraudulent-sales
LOL, yes, I know; it's just that "it's too good to be true!" haha.
Ha ha ha... where's the SEC... ha ha ha... when you need them!
Im just worried about the slippery slop fallacy i guess. I would prefer no regulation or oversight at all.
At what point do we put partial blame on the scammed for being stupid enough to not question something to good to be true?
IDK, i got a warped view on it all and also coming from a noob on crypto in the long run.
Cheers max, i gotta go as im getting a bit drunk tonight and have already prolly said alot of stupid shit.
To the moon!
I'm not a big believer in not regulating outright crimes. Free markets need trust. It's too expensive otherwise. That's why the trustless currency that is bitcoin was such an amazing gift to free markets. So you can't just steal because you disrupt the freedom of all participants in the market. I know that the slippery slope part of it is determining intent etc but the intent was/is quite clear with this one, I think.
I agree.
That is alot of the reason that i like bitcoin, you don't need trust in the party sending money just trust in the math that it will arrive.
:D
Its on the air...scond post from 2 author..within 30 min
Ponzi schemes are very tempting because of the huge returns on investments but I have learnt my lessons. I would never be part of a ponzi scheme.
So many people for and against bitconnect, those who talk most sense are normally against so I keep clear.
I had never actually seen anyone post anything positive about it. All I saw was warnings coming from very well respected names in bitcoin. I was surprised to learn that the market cap had somehow managed to hit $4 billion.
Mostly people on YouTube talking about how much they made, promoting a referral link. Ponzi !
Wow. Had no idea. There's only so much time in the day and I guess I've just focussed on the positive developments happening in crypto. Didn't know about the referral links.
If using referral links and paying affiliate bonuses is the argument for being a ponzi scheme, then most banks, amazon and google are ponzi aswell. Since I really like keiserreport on RT and I do think that you are an open minded person, I suggest you do some research instead of marking it as a ponzi without knowing anything about how it works!?
Wow,, amazing,,!! Good job and good luck.
"This company had no known principals". Also it had no known principles.
LOL, yes, true.
Everybody knew this was a PoS fraud and yet people still defended it.
How many times do the residents have to say, "Don't mess with Texas!"
I Googled this and I found NOTHING! If this is all made up then I wonder why so many people are going around trying to discredit the platform. Either way, the site is still up and the funds are still there. https://bitconnect.co/?ref=jade290
Yeah, the pumping this past year has been absurd. So many glassy eyed cult followers. Very unfortunate.
Hey @joshsigurdson! Yeah, I totally missed any pump tweet, comment, email etc. I only saw the likes of Erik Voorhees warning about it non-stop. So was surprised to see this story pass through my tweet stream after I had only just started paying attention to it as a possible scam.
By the way, BCC fell a bit over 4% on the news but is now back up. Who the heck are these people that buy this??? I don't get how some just seem to want to lose their money.
may we always be petrified and do not forget to pray to God for Texas to accompany us in living a life that is guided and motivated by texas friends. (best wishes for all friends ... !!!)
Buyer beware.
I wish the best for all of us....
It is interesting how Texas is the only ones to do this. Surely there are more to follow??
One can only hope because I'm tired of those BITCONNECT ads on youtube.
a very good post I really like it please vote my post too
So Bad ………
@keiserreport Being in crypto since 2011 and having tons of BTC makes it easy to sit back and relax, while earning millions... those who got into crypto last year, or even this year, most likely don't have the opportunity to buy that many BTC. I think it's obvious that these people are searching for ways, to get at least one BTC and earn themselves a decent income.
Max, you keep mentioning that governments can not regulate or "put a halt" to Bitcoin, because it is a decentralised cryptocurrency. Why do you think Texas can stop Bitconnect? That isn't even possible.
And even if it was.. why would you be glad about governments regulating cryptospace? Using cryptocurrencies gives us financial sovereignty, which implies that everyone has to make his own due diligence and research, to be well aware of the risks. Governments will fade away, you said it yourself..
The UK regulators are not able to do anything against Bitconnect limited, because the company doesn't even exist any more since Septembre '17.. And why should Bitconnect even have to register in the UK??
It is clear that you have no clue about Bitconnect, because you are concerned about people on steemit, who might have lost money on bitconnect. So far: nobody ever lost money on Bitconnect. Bitconnect earns money. If you don't understand how, than maybe you should watch some youtube videos before commenting on the topic.
USI-Tech had a similar issue: https://www.ssb.texas.gov/news-publications/bitcoin-promoter-usi-tech-hit-emergency-order
But nothing happened, because there is nothing they can do.
I really like the keiserreport and I do watch it almost every day. If this concerns you, then why don't you interview someone with good knowledge on Bitconnect in your show? I suggest Dr. Roy Murphy because he is an intelligent, eloquent guy from UK. I think he'll be able to explain this in detail. But before throwing around false information, go check his youtube channel: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DHaOZLr_a4M You might learn something.
Max, you are mocking people that don't understand crypto.. and you are right. They do look at a topic, that they don't understand. Closing their eyes, not seeing the opportunities. Have you ever considered, that you might be the one, who is being ignorant on Bitconnect? Maybe there is something that you don't understand. Maybe this is a revolution within a revolution.. and people are missing out.
Well, it seems no matter how much we warn people, they ignore our efforts.
Bitconnect was added to our badlist as a Ponzi in early 2016.
If you want to know which other Ponzi's people have bought into, we have 5000 more in our bitcoin Badlist.
badbitcoin.org/thebadlist/
Finally! Now I can give examples to people saying shit like this is real.. its not all sunshine and rainbows... all the people at the bottom probably lost ton of money :(
I moderate a community for Ethereum - must get a half dozen something-connect type scam posts a day. I've also been warning people specifically about the bit connect scam for months, saved a friend's relative from getting involved.
It's a shame that even one Google search will tell you it's a scam and yet people are still falling for it and it's many clones.