OneCoin Presentation - Beware!
A few days ago I was invited to go a meetup on digital currency. Upon arrival, I noticed many people in attendance. There was a sign in sheet on a desk and I signed in and noticed the OneCoin logo on the top of the sheet. A few days earlier I read about OneCoin. From this point on I was on alert. In my prior readings, I learned that OneCoin was an Multi Level Marketing (MLM) company.
The presenter started his talk with a slide deck. The guy was slick, funny, and charismatic. Simultaneously, he came across as fraudster and a con man. He talked about the history of money and introduced digital currency. He mixed in some truths about Bitcoin and made some gross assumptions about his beloved OneCoin. The more he talked the more uneasy I felt.
He kept mixing in truth and assumptions about OneCoin and its future price projections. He talked about how many OneCoin millionaires that were made in the last 2 years. He then spoke about the founder, Dr. Ruja Ignatov, her educational accomplishments and financial acumen. I had never heard of her in cryptocurrency circles. Throughout his presentation he made many references to naysayers; bloggers, media outlets, and financial professionals that called OneCoin a scam. He told the audience to ignore those outsiders. He said they were just uninformed.
As he continued on, I started to wonder what was he selling? Since OneCoin is an MLM, they have to be selling something, right? The presenter made it very clear that they are selling Cryptocurrency education. Really? I could not believe it. They have packages starting at €100 up to €5000. He made reference to recruiting others and building your team or downline. The details of the compensation were not discussed, but I imagine the overrides must be pretty substantial.
Oh, I forgot to mention that he described some murky process in which the coins were mined. He stated that when someone purchases a package they receive some tokens and then those tokens are magically mined and turned into OneCoins. A picture of a mining warehouse with racks full of computers was shown. He said the mine was in some remote location. I was looking up various details as he spoke. Particularly, I went to http://coinmarketcap.com to see how much OneCoin traded for. The coin was not listed there, but the presenter showed a slide with OneCoin on it along with Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. I searched for OneCoin and could not find any reputable crypto currency exchanges that traded OneCoin. However, I found several articles calling it a scam.
Maybe some people are making money with OneCoin, however the business model doesn't not seem legitimate to me. I would not be surprised to see this business shut down by the regulators at some point. I warn everyone to stay clear of OneCoin.
Huge scam (over 1.8MM sheep, were pulling an estimated $200MM a month at their peak), thankfully 19 months later, at the beginning of its end. I've been pretty heavily involved in the Cryptocurrency space for about 3 1/2 years. This company cannot open their mouth without a lie falling out, instantly. Many ignorant sheep , particularly in Scandanavian countries have mortgaged their homes and invested (wrong word) their life savings. They are deplorable human beings and career Ponzi criminals. Google my name, TimTayshun and onecoin and you will see all of mine (and others) most poignant arguments against it. They have a db that they have convinced their crypto-kindergartner followers is a Blockchain. I predict several suicides once it collapses, as at this size, that is just what happens.
Thanks Tim. After googling your name and OneCoin, I found this article. http://cointelegraph.com/news/one-coin-much-scam-onecoin-exposed-as-global-mlm-ponzi-scheme
This is so sad. I don't want people being taken advantage of. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Wow it's hard to believe that there are that many people that would even consider getting into OneCoin. Are those membership and revenue numbers made up too? Glad to see you do the research.
Yeah usually I reserve judgement because the word 'scam' is used too often with legitimate crypto projects, but OneCoin is a different story. I too wouldn't be surprised if they get shut down, but they're probably doing everything they can to be technically legal because they only sell 'education'. We'll see.
I have not and never will invest in OneCoin. That said, OneCoin has demonstrated the power of MLM. If legitimately married to a cryptocurrency with built-in utility from the outset, a new currency utilizing MLM could break away from the pack quickly.
A couple of weeks ago an old friend of one colleague approached him about onecoin and that they should meet to discuss and that he should invest in it and that it is a great opportunity etc..My colleague of course asked me about this and I advised him that this is a scam and that he should stay away. I told him that he should call me if he wants and to tell him that I am interested to hear what he has to say (I am not..I want to turn around the conversation and tell him about bitshares..)
The reason I am saying this, is because my colleague is a very serious, very clever economist, with connections in the finance world and this old friend of him, he is also a well educated economist with very good connections as well..So the Onecoins guys appear to be quite connected and not the usual crypto investment guys...So it appears that even if onecoin is a scam, marketting wise they must be doing something right..