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389 points JumpCrisscross | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.544s | source
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ve55 ◴[] No.16164829[source]
For those unaware, Bitconnect was a Bitcoin-based ponzi-scheme that had operated 'successfully' for quite some time. I don't say 'ponzi' as an insult in the way some do for cryptocurrencies, it was quite literally just a bare-bones ponzi scheme, where you deposit your money (Bitcoin) on their website, buy their token, 'lock' your funds for some amount of time, and you are promised very high interest rates while encouraged to re-invest your returns.

What has happened today is Bitconnect has closed the exchange on their website, and so users flocked to some of the only other exchanges (of dubious reputation, since no reputable exchange wanted to list the BitConnect coin) in order to sell their now-worthless tokens, resulting in losses of around 90% today: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitconnect/

Many famous Youtubers and other individuals with influence convinced hundreds of people to put their money into BitConnect in order to profit off of referrals, leading to a lot of unfortunate losses and a lot of delusion and misinformation among devoted investors. The general sentiment towards those that lost money due to BitConnect has been a mocking attitude in the cryptocurrency investment communities, as BitConnect has been referred to by many as a blatant ponzi scheme for months.

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bhouston ◴[] No.16165009[source]
I noticed this other apparent BitConnect-like Ponzi scheme here: https://polynetwork.org

Funny thing, I noticed because it is using an old version of our 3D player on their home page (the 3D robot), and they are getting an incredible amount of traffic.

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allannienhuis ◴[] No.16165845[source]
It's almost shocking how transparently dishonest they are. And yet people put real money (well, I suppose real bitcoins) into a black hole like this...
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1. TeMPOraL ◴[] No.16166662[source]
Through my experience watching people in MLMs (and getting way too close to the event horizon once), I learned that scammers and greedy people tend to hang out together (the latter usually becoming either victims or overzealous lieutenants of the scammers).