Ehud Barak, a former Israeli Prime Minister, has compared digital currencies to Ponzi schemes, Israeli media agency Arutz Sheva reported on Dec. 3. Barak had participated in the Camp David Accords in 2000 as part of an attempt to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and now serves as the chairman of medical marijuana producer InterCure. Speaking at an event hosted by Israeli financial outlet Globes in Tel-Aviv this Sunday, Barak fielded a question comparing the alleged marijuana investment “bubble” to crypto by underlining that “he would never invest” in cryptocurrencies as “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies [are] a Ponzi scheme.” Meanwhile, Barak underlined …

Tokyo police have arrested eight men that are suspected of collecting a total amount of 7.8 billion yen ($68.4 million) in cash and cryptocurrency using a pyramid scheme, Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports Wednesday, Nov. 14. The suspects claimed to run a U.S. investment company dubbed “Sener,” conducting seminars with foreign speakers. The police report that at least one of the meetings has been recorded, with video uploaded on YouTube. During the seminars, the group of suspects promised monthly returns from 3 to 20 percent for the investments. The suspects also asked the participants to pledge to invite other …

An American musical prelude Bitconnect, the now-defunct crypto lending and exchange platform that has been ousted as a ruinous Ponzi scheme, has memorably been compared by the Silver Miller law firm to the fleeting 2011 Broadway musical “Wonderland,” based on the dizzying impossibilities of Alice’s adventures in Lewis Carroll’s celebrated novel. Silver Miller’s first class action complaint was filed on behalf of six defrauded Bitconnect investors in late January, just weeks after the Texas Securities Commissioner issued an emergency cease-and-desist order against Bitconnect for the selling of unlicensed securities. The complaint unconventionally opened with the following lyrics: “Welcome to Wonderland …

Homero Joshua Garza, the CEO of the now-defunct U.S. crypto firm GAW Miners, has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for defrauding investors, local news agency Hartford Business reports Thursday, September 13. Garza received the verdict in the Hartford federal court, following his guilty plea to a wire fraud charge related to creating and selling a scamcoin dubbed PayCoin (XPY). Instead of serving the original 20 year sentence, Garza will report to prison on January 4, 2019 and be jailed until 2021, with an additional three years of supervised release, including six months in home detention. In addition to …

July 18 proved to be an important day for the crypto industry, as two separate U.S. Congress hearings centring the matter were held: one by the House Agriculture Committee, and the other one by the House Financial Services Committee. The two stroke completely different tones: while the latter echoed the most conservative sentiments regarding the realm of crypto (with the somewhat obligatory call for a blanket ban), the former seemed more positive, as the board of experts provided the regulators with collected considerations bothering the industry. Nevertheless it’s the House Agriculture Committee hearing we should focus our attention. Participants The …

According to court documents filed July 3, YouTube has been added as a defendant in a class action lawsuit against BitConnect. The lawsuit was initially filed on January, 24 by six individuals represent by law firm Silver Miller. The claimants state that crypto investment platform BitConnect issued crypto tokens that were unregistered securities, and obtained additional funds through a “wide-ranging Ponzi scheme.” The plaintiffs stated that their personal losses totalled $771,000. BitConnect allegedly used the funds received from new investors to meet the expectations of the existing ones. Per court documents acquired by Cointelegraph, BitConnect and its affiliated parties posted …

Raj Kundra, a British businessman and spouse of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, was questioned by Indian law enforcement (ED) in connection with Amit Bhardwaj’s alleged cryptocurrency ponzi scheme, Quartz India reports Wednesday, June 6. Amit Bhardwaj and his brother, Vivek Bhardwaj had been arrested in India on April 4 on the charges of scamming about 8,000 investors out of around $300 mln through their GainBitcoin investment scheme. The platform guaranteed 10 percent monthly returns, a claim not realized by investors, and issued its own MCAP token in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that is considered fraudulent due to the company’s …

South African Police are pursuing an alleged major cryptocurrency investment fraud, according to a police statement released yesterday, May 25. According to the statement, over 28,000 investors are said to have suffered losses exceeding 1 bln rand ($80.4 mln). The Hawks, an investigative unit of South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), have outlined the case, which they say involves “BitCaw Trading Company, commonly known as BTC Global”: “[Targeted members of the public are believed to have been] encouraged by BTC Global agents to invest with promises of 2% interest per day, 14% per week and ultimately 50% per …

The last four suspects in a two year case against alleged pyramid scheme OneCoin have been prosecuted in China’s Hunan Province, government-supported local news source the Justice Network reports Wednesday, May 23. The Zhuzhou Country Procuratorate of the Hunan Province examined 106 people, publicly prosecuted 98, and recovered around 1.7 bln yuan (around $266 mln) from over 20 provinces across China in the course of the case. Those prosecuted have received up to 10,000 - 5 mln yuan in fines (about $1,500 - $782,000) as well as four years or less of prison time. In 2016, Chinese authorities had already …

Digital currencies have seen a lot of opposition from traditional and entrenched players in the financial services sector. The latest to voice his opposition against Bitcoin is Howard Marks, Co-Founder of Oaktree Capital Management. Who is Howard Marks? Howard Marks is a billionaire investor and the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, which has ~$100 bln of assets under management. He is a Wall Street veteran, having worked at Citicorp and TCW before founding Oaktree Capital. Marks is famous for his memos to investors at Oaktree, giving insights about investment strategies. He attacks digital currencies in his latest memo. Strong views …

Bitcoin price analysts are struggling to identify the rationale behind the sudden price spike in the cryptocurrency’s value as it broke the US$400 mark on November 3, surpassing a market cap of more than US$6 billion. One thing for sure is that nobody can deny the effect China has had on the market in November 2013, the first time it surged past the US$500 mark. This time around, however, things might be a little different. According to research done by Finance Today’s Izabella Kaminska, this recent Bitcoin rally could be caused by a Pyramid Scheme named MMM, orchestrated by Sergei …

People who don’t fully understand what crypto-currencies are and see them more as some form of “imaginary money” are inclined to make unflattering comparisons between Bitcoin and ponzi schemes. Many countries and central banks have issued warnings on the crypto-currency and attacked it using this allegation with little substantiation. A few simple tests and closer examination will reveal whether there is any truth in such accusations. The interest towards Bitcoin became immense during the past year. As it is decentralized, promotes libertarian ideas and aims to help people, the virtual asset hardly matches traditional principles behind fiat currencies. It simply …