US Government Seizes $56 Million in Crypto from BitConnect's 'Number One Promoter' (theverge.com) 14
The US government has seized $56 million worth of cryptocurrency from an admitted participant in the BitConnect scam and intends to sell the coins and use the proceeds to reimburse victims. The Department of Justice says that it's the largest recovery of cryptocurrency to date -- and that it was willingly given up by Los Angeles resident Glenn Arcaro, who has called himself BitConnect's "number one promoter." From a report: According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BitConnect convinced people to invest a total of $2 billion by telling them that it had a bot capable of generating incredibly high rates of return from crypto trading. In other words, BitConnect sold itself as a way for people to easily invest in cryptocurrency and to make a lot of money doing so, at a time when people were hearing a lot about crypto but didn't know much about it (around 2016 through 2018). In reality, the DOJ says it was all a scam -- BitConnect used money from new investors to pay old ones (otherwise known as a Ponzi scheme), and its advocates built pyramid schemes where they would get a cut for convincing others to invest by promising them the same deal. In September, Arcaro pleaded guilty to participating in both parts of the scam while allegedly posting videos online to make fun of BitConnect doubters. He said that he had earned what was then valued at $24 million by his participation.
WAZZAWAZZAWAZZAWAZZZ BIT KOOOOONEEEEEEECT! (Score:2)
wazza goin to jail, I suppose.
Re:WAZZAWAZZAWAZZAWAZZZ BIT KOOOOONEEEEEEECT! (Score:4, Insightful)
Bitcoin & Ponzi Scheme (Score:5, Funny)
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Well it's Bitconnect (BCC) and not Bitcoin (BTC). But yes, we should stop referring to reports of cryptocurrency being used as a basis of a ponzi scheme as "news". It has become about as newsworthy as bicycle theft.
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USD has also been connected to many Ponzi schemes.
Nope. USD can be used as a generic component of a Ponzi scheme, but there is nothing in the UDS or any other real currency that makes it specifically suited as an element in a Ponzi scheme. Hence there is no connection other that a Ponzi scheme usually needs some kind of currency to work. But note that this is an element of convenience and scalability. Any object of value can be used in a Ponzi-scheme, be it tulips, Mars bars or grains of sand. In principle, you can build a Ponzi scheme even on intrinsicall
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Yo dawg, we herd you like Ponzi schemes, so we put a Ponzi scheme in yo Ponzi scheme, so you can get scsmmed, while u scammed!
ha (Score:4, Funny)
I thought bitcoin was the future for libertarian rebels and would make it impossible for the government to control?
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I thought bitcoin was the future for libertarian rebels and would make it impossible for the government to control?
If I have 1,000,000 Russian rubles and someone breaks into my home in California and steals them, the police will arrest them. That doesn't mean America controls Russia's currency. It just means that stealing is illegal.
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I thought bitcoin was the future for libertarian rebels and would make it impossible for the government to control?
If I have 1,000,000 Russian rubles and someone breaks into my home in California and steals them, the police will arrest them. That doesn't mean America controls Russia's currency. It just means that stealing is illegal.
Indeed. Good example.