The cryptocurrency market has been around for less than a decade, but it’s already yielded various projects and products. Some are successful and valuable, while others have proven to be scams or unworthy investments. For trading in cryptocurrency, you should only look at trusted software. Sign Up here to become a bitcoin trader. Whether you’re looking to invest in the next great ICO or want to avoid new coins that will fail miserably, this list can help you make better-informed decisions about your money.
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BitConnect
BitConnect is a cryptocurrency lending platform and trading bot. The company was founded in 2016 by Ken Fitzsimmons, Steve Patterson, and Trevon James. The company was known for its controversial business model, which offered investors high daily interest rates on their investments. In January 2018, BitConnect shut down amid allegations that the platform was a Ponzi scheme.
OneCoin
OneCoin is a cryptocurrency investment scheme launched by Ruja Ignatova in 2014. The UK and Bulgarian governments have described it as a pyramid scheme. It has also been banned in Norway, Finland, Canada, and Australia. The company has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme because it promotes its digital currency, OneCoin, even though no physical product exists for investors to purchase with their funds.
PlexCorps
PlexCorps is a cryptocurrency company that raised $15 million in a 2016 Initial Coin Offering (ICO). After the ICO, PlexCorps was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which charged the company with fraud. The SEC sued the company’s founder, Dominic Lacroix, and his partner Sabrina Paradis-Royer. They were fined $15 million each and ordered to pay back $50 million of what they raised through their fraudulent scheme.
Centra tech
Centra tech was a cryptocurrency mining scam that they exposed in 2018. It was a Ponzi scheme that used funds from investors to pay off early investors rather than invest in mining activities. Centra Tech sold cloud mining contracts and other related services to unsuspecting customers.
My Big Coin
My Big Coin (MBC) was a cryptocurrency scam that began in 2014, promoted by rapper Soulja Boy. The MBC team claimed that the coin was backed by gold, but it was a Ponzi scheme. In January 2015, the SEC issued an order to cease operations against the creators of My Big Coin and other related entities connected with them.
Zenner
Zenner is a blockchain-based marketplace for computing power. The company was founded in 2016, and it’s currently based in Singapore. In January 2019, Zennet raised $3 million in an ICO. Its market cap is just over $1.7 million at the time of writing.
Pluscoin
Pluscoin was a scam ICO from the beginning. Pluscoin was a scam coin that raised $3 million from investors worldwide, promising guaranteed returns on their money. The Pluscoin team claimed they could return 100% of invested funds in 2 months, but they never did. They lied to investors and disappeared after taking their money.
Minereum Token (MNE)
They asked investors to pay money and promised high returns on investment to incentivize them to invest more money into their platform. Investors would be able to withdraw their profits after reaching certain levels. The only problem is that there were no profits! They didn’t even have any product or service beyond vague plans about building something related to blockchain technology, this is why it’s called an “ICO” instead of an IPO (initial public offering). The founders took all the money from new investors. They ran off with it without delivering anything in return, leaving behind only unfulfilled promises and angry investors who lost their hard-earned money,
Conclusion
This is a small list of scams in the cryptocurrency space. It’s important to remember that scams happen in any industry, and more will come in the future. We tend to think that we are only vulnerable, but all investors can fall victim to them if they don’t do their research properly. The best thing you can do is keep yourself informed so that when a new project looks too good to be true, you know immediately that something isn’t right about it!