Honestly Bitconnect's reputation is currently down the drain. Regardless if this is a scam or not, it is going to be extremely difficult for this to take off given the consumer's rewritten image of the company. Based on what you've laid out in your post, it seems they are already edging towards the sketchier side. Of course, it is still very early on for this project and they are working to reorganize and come out with more fact-based updates, but I believe they are just trying too hard at the moment and rushed this news given the past week for them.