The crypto world has experienced an increase in Ponzi schemes since 2016 when the market gained mainstream prominence. Many shady investment programs are designed to take advantage of the hype behind cryptocurrency booms to beguile impressionable investors. Ponzi schemes have become rampant in the sector primarily due to the decentralized nature of blockchain technology which enables scammers to sidestep centralized monetary authorities who would otherwise flag or freeze suspicious transactions. The immutable nature of blockchain systems that makes fund transfers irreversible also works in the scammers’ favor by making it harder for Ponzi victims to get their money back. Speaking …

The saga of BitConnect, a major cryptocurrency scam scheme, is taking another twist as one of the BitConnect co-founders is now wanted by the Indian state police. Satish Kumbhani, an Indian national and the alleged founder of the crypto Ponzi scheme BitConnect, reportedly became subject to a new police investigation in India, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. The Pune police, operating under the Indian state Maharashtra Police, launched a probe into Kumbhani after a Pune-based lawyer filed a complaint claiming that he lost about 220 Bitcoin (BTC), or $5.2 million, due to BitConnect. The complainant said his original investment …

The cryptocurrency market has had a rough go this year and the collapse of multiple projects and funds sparked a contagion effect that has affected just about everyone in the space. The dust has yet to settle, but a steady flow of details is allowing investors to piece together a picture that highlights the systemic risks of decentralized finance and poor risk management. Here’s a look at what several experts are saying about the reasons behind the DeFi crash and their perspectives on what needs to be done for the sector to make a comeback. Failure to generate sustainable revenue …

Amid the Chinese government continuing to celebrate the massive decline of cryptocurrency markets this year, one key local blockchain expert has referred to crypto as a Ponzi scheme. Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology — a major tech firm involved in the development of China’s major blockchain project called the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) — has penned a new article devoted to various kinds of cryptocurrencies and their supposed Ponzi-like nature. Published in the local newspaper The People’s Daily on Sunday, the piece refers to private cryptocurrencies as the “biggest Ponzi scheme in human history.” The author mentioned the …

Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten believes that the liquidity crisis involving Celsius Network may be just the beginning of a broader collapse in the crypto lending space. "It doesn't matter if you're an amazing CeFi lending platform, taking these retail deposits and lending them out the back end and giving them yield, or a terrible one, they're all going to get kind of dragged down," Klippsten said in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Celsius, a leading crypto lending platform, halted withdrawals earlier this month, citing “extreme market conditions.” Since then, other crypto firms, including Babel Finance and Three Arrow Capital, …

Two QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist influencers allegedly caused their followers millions of dollars in losses by running a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme. The pair reportedly persuaded their thousands of followers to invest in a crypto portfolio, presenting a misleading mix of conspiratorial and genuine content along with claims about institutions backing the tokens to generate hype and raise the price of the portfolio. The allegations are included in an investigation by Logically, a group of data scientists and developers. It reported the two influencers running the Telegram channels WhipLash347 and the Quantum Stellar Initiative (QSI) coordinated to promote lists of Stellar (XLM) …

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, expressed skepticism around the revival plan for the Terra ecosystem and the launch of the new LUNA token. “I try not to predict what the community will do. [...] Many are skeptical. I’m one of those guys,” said CZ in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Following the collapse of TerraUSD (USD), the Terra ecosystem’s stablecoin, CZ criticized its team for not handling the crisis properly and pointed at the project’s flaws that led to the crash. Still, Binance is now actively participating in Terra’s revival plan by hosting the airdrop of its …

A crypto trader who defrauded over 170 people was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Wednesday for operating a series of cryptocurrency funds claiming to make big returns but in reality, were losing money and instead operated as a Ponzi scheme. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said that 25-year-old Jeremy Spence had solicited millions through false representations, “including that Spence’s crypto trading had been extremely profitable when, in fact, Spence’s trading had been consistently unprofitable.” Spence, who operated the social media channels for a crypto investment scheme called Coin Signals, was handed the decision by United States …

Neutrino Dollar (USDN), a stablecoin issued through Waves-backed Neutrino protocol, lost its U.S. dollar-peg on April 4 amid speculations that it could become "insolvent" in the future. USDN plunges 15% despite WAVES backing USDN dropped to as low as $0.822 on Monday with its market capitalization also diving to $824.25 million, down 14% from its year-to-date high of $960.25 million. Interestingly, the stablecoin's plunge occurred despite Neutrino's claims of backing its $1-peg via what's called "over collateral," i.e., when the total value of Waves (WAVES) tokens locked inside its smart contract is higher than the total USDN minted, also called …

Indicted by the United States Department of Justice in a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme, BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani remains untraced following conviction. In a court filing on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the whereabouts of Kumbhani remains unknown. The SEC noted that Kumbhani’s last known location was in his native country India, but has remained untraced ever since the promoter for his BitConnect Ponzi scheme was charged by the SEC for defrauding American investors of over $2 billion. SEC in its filing noted that the convicted founder has most probably fled to a foreign country and “Kumbhani’s …

The founder of the infamous crypto exchange BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, has been charged for allegedly misleading investors globally and defrauding them of $2.4 billion in the process. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), a San Diego-based federal grand jury specifically charged Kumbhani for orchestrating the alleged Ponzi scheme via BitConnect’s “Lending Program”: “BitConnect operated as a Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors. In total, Kumbhani and his co-conspirators obtained approximately $2.4 billion from investors.” Back in 2017 amid the hype, BitConnect (BCC) recorded an all-time high of $463.31 in trading price, which according …

Charlie Munger, the ancient vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s right hand man, has no issue with providing his honest thoughts on cryptocurrency: He hates it. Speaking at a shareholder’s Q&A session at the annual meeting for LA-based newspaper company, Daily Journal Corp, the 98-year-old investing icon likened crypto to a sexually transmitted disease. "I certainly didn't invest in crypto. I'm proud of the fact that I avoided it. It's like some venereal disease." Munger continued to express his contempt for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, adding, “I wish it had been banned immediately… I admire the Chinese for …