A quick vlog I made upon finding out the news.
Being the only reporter to have attempted to confront Bitconnect in person (that story here) it only seems right I cover their final day. The company is in full collapse after announcing closing of their lending platform, their BCC coin value is in freefall - starting the day worth a little over $400, and at the time of writing this worth just $43.
This is a strange feeling.
Sure, feels good to be proven right - but I already knew I was. Whatever gratification I get from that is instantly lost when I think about everyone who just got screwed.
You see, a lot of good people were tricked by some very bad ones.
I'd guess the majority of people who participated in Bitconnect are actual "victims". People who heard of this amazing thing called 'cryptocurrency' and browsed around Facebook or YouTube, and ended up in the hands of someone trying to build their Bitconnect referrals, and promising the moon.
Innocent confused people. Bitconnect... Bitcoin... they sound similar enough, to someone who knows nothing about either.
That's why this isn't enjoyable.
I love the flood of new investors in the cryptocurrency world! I want everyone to do well, and there's no satisfaction gained when I read the stories being posted on social media today of people losing everything.
So here's how their exit strategy ended up working:
- Bitconnect announces they are closing their 'lending platform'.
- Now to divert blame, they blamed US state governments, and 'bad press'.
- Then they say - everyone is getting their investment back!
- But now here's the money grab: They pay back the investment in their BCC coin. Not in USD, not in Bitcoin - but in their own worthless coin.
- So if Bitconnect owed you $10,000, you received $10,000 worth of BCC coins.
- But just hours later, that $10,000 is only worth about $1000, as the BCC coin is in a sharp dive towards being completely worthless.
They keep the Bitcoin. They keep the USD. Their users got BCC.
Now we need to remove the trash from the cryptocurrency world.
So with all this in mind, it's time we unite to take out the scammers that pushed this thing. People like YouTuber Tevon James and everyone like them.
Anyone who pushed Bitconnect - you're canceled. Your recommendations, your opinions, your posts, your vids, your tweets should be ignored from this day on.
These people will be back, with the next "get rich quick" scam. Let's make sure nobody's listening when they do.
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San Francisco News Desk
