With the rising popularity of cryptocurrency and the fame and richness attached to it, it’s obvious that people would be cashing in on different ideas to make a dent on the cryptocurrency market and exploit some of the promised riches. One such example is a bitconnect coin.
However, as all Ponzi schemes come to an end, including this one, the owner announced a closing down its website in early 2018, with the owner Divyesh Darji, the Indian head of bitconnect having extorted $14.5 million by the end of it. He could not, however, escape the fate of getting caught and was arrested by the Gujrat Criminal Investigation Department (CID), after his flight from Ahmedabad to Dubai.
The mastermind and their fate:
According to bitconnect news, the alleged owner of Bitconnect was an Indian named DivyeshDarji, from Surat, Gujrat, India, and was arrested in early August 2018, In Dubai airport. The Indian owner was alleged bilking about 88 crores Indian currency ($12.7 Billion). The company was registered in the UK and had an office in Surat.
According to Divyesh Darji’s LinkedIn profile, he is a teacher of more than 25+ years of experience, with a degree in M.COM, LL.B, B.ED and N.D. (post-graduation in commerce). He’s the alleged CEO and managing director at EMPOWERMIND training institute and NAVIVAN FITNESS SOLUTION PVT.LTD., which are cryptocurrency training institutes and a fitness solution company, both organizations based and set in Gujrat.
During the time of arrest, 169 bitcoins and 8kg of gold were recovered from the accused. The company has duped millions of people with the promise of high returns, after operating an exit scam. Surely one must be warned from investing in BCC or any HYIP schemes, as all the promise of high returns only results in high scams.
What is Bitconnect?
Bitconnect was described as a high-yield investment program (as an open source crypto-currency). High-yield investment program usually promises unsustainable high investment on low investments, by paying previous investors from the money of new investors and is considered a Ponzi scheme.
It was an open source cryptocurrency, which was initially released on 15 February 2016, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the discontinuation of Indian 500 and 1000 Indian RS notes. The system had soon become a self-regulating financial system, using buzzword and celebrity hype to lure in people into the scheme. Investors would ‘lend’ funds, which were then converted to platform coins, BCC, where it showed generated increased interest.
On January 16, 2018, the company announced its shutdown (of its lending operation and cryptocurrency trade), after the US began regulation on bitconnect and bitcoins.
Bitconnect Coin Rate
According to the bitconnect news that had spread like wildfire on social media platforms, the program was giving a very alluring rate of returns. Below is a scale,
- Lending Amount (in $US) : a) 100 – 1000, b) 1010 – 5000, c) 5010 – 10000, d) 10010 – 100000
- Interest (Daily) : a) up to 40%, b) up to 40% + 0.1% daily, c) up to 40% + 0.2% daily, d) up to 40% + 0.25% daily
- Capital Back :a) 299 days, b) 239 days, c) 179 days, d) 120 days.
Although the lending amount is mentioned in $US, it had to be made in bitcoins in exchange for bitconnect coins, that can be converted back after the specified period.
Bitconnect Price History
The Bitconnect coin (BCC) price began increasing since January 2017. It increased from 0.00018147 to reaching 0.01010860 on April 16, 2017, and the BCC prices decrease till 0.00444429 till May 5, 2017, and showing a constant (with fluctuated) increase till November 2017 at 0.0386435. The value shows a decrease after that, going 0 after the collapse in January 2018.
The $US price began showing an increase since March 2017, moving at a constant and gradual increase (with minor fluctuations) till December 29, 2017, at $437, and going 0.67 immediately after the crash.
The scheme was originally released on 15 February 2016, taking launch in 2017 and finally being closed on early 2018, with a market cap of $6,695,757 USD.
Scam beware
Learning from one’s mistakes is no doubt smart but avoiding those mistakes, by doing your research, is undoubtedly the smarter thing to do. The eagerness of the masses to invest in cryptocurrency has given rise to a dedicated market whose only job is to scam you of your money by duping you fraudulent claims and statistic. Here is our list you should check before your digital currency investment.
