Bitcoin.com (BC): Can you briefly tell our readers a little about yourself and how you discovered Bitcoin?
Tim Tayshun (TT): I remember very vividly, the exact day, in fact! On Feb. 28th, 2013 (BTC price $27) a friend excitedly described to me what Bitcoin is to him. On March 15th (price $37) I typed “what is bitcoin” into Google Search and thus began my first of two “journeys down the rabbit hole.” Watching the Cyprus drama and Bank runs unfold I bought some BTC on April 1st (BTC price $100). I followed it very closely for the next year and in March 2014 I sold some BTC and started ezCoinAccess, LLC. , with the goal of owning and placing a Bitcoin ATM locally. As the name implies, our focus was on making Bitcoin easier and more widespread, and we figured a (2-way) BTM would help accomplish this. My partner and I jokingly referred to the idea as the honey badger’s approach to increasing mining difficulty,” as anytime a transaction was made, we’d earn a few satoshi. On December 13, 2014, nine months later, we unveiled Orange County, CA’s first bitcoin ATM at Mission Market Express (inside OC’s busiest Train Station). It was the 117th 2-way machine, globally. (BTC price $350)
The philosophy of ezCoinAccess lead to simultaneously developing relationships with Bitcoiner friends here and across several African countries, forming an informal collective of “trusted participants,” which we called AUTONet (African Umbrella Trust Organization & Network). This grew our network and connections and led to fun opportunities, including being invited on an almost monthly basis to give presentations at Bitcoin Meetups across Africa (which I do over Skype or HangOuts). This development inspired the creation of the “Wheel of Bitcoin” in order to do LIVE giveaways of FREE BTC after every presentation for newbs who set up new wallets (and anyone else, really). It has since been spun in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale (Ghana), Gaborone (Botswana), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and Nairobi (Kenya). And more recently at CoinFest Events in the U.S., Canada, and even Seoul, Korea. I also host a Bitcoin and Blockchain Meet-Up Group here in Orange County, CA.
The philosophy of ezCoinAccess lead to simultaneously developing relationships with Bitcoiner friends here and across several African countries, forming an informal collective of “trusted participants,” which we called AUTONet (African Umbrella Trust Organization & Network). This grew our network and connections and led to fun opportunities, including being invited on an almost monthly basis to give presentations at Bitcoin Meetups across Africa (which I do over Skype or HangOuts). This development inspired the creation of the “Wheel of Bitcoin” in order to do LIVE giveaways of FREE BTC after every presentation for newbs who set up new wallets (and anyone else, really). It has since been spun in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale (Ghana), Gaborone (Botswana), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and Nairobi (Kenya). And more recently at CoinFest Events in the U.S., Canada, and even Seoul, Korea. I also host a Bitcoin and Blockchain Meet-Up Group here in Orange County, CA.
In relation to the Africa focus, despite some unexpected delays and dev issues, myself, David DeSantis and some partners are finally launching NewAfricaRadio(.)Net this summer, which is a syndicated and crowd-sourced ( 24-hour online) Bitcoin, Blockchain and crypto-centric program specifically for Africans; with a simple, free mobile app to follow by 2017. An interesting extension of this also ties into another project Team I am working with have created a separate platform for blockchain based ticketing, via an application we’re calling BiTiX (more on that TBA soon).
BC: When did you first hear about Onecoin?
TT: Let me preface the rest of this interview by stating that I am SOURCING nearly everything possible from their original sources, despite the language. The information IS mostly available in English, if you look, but Onecoin Kool-Aid drinkers are very easy to dismiss any negative report on their company and have been deeply indoctrinated into believing that bloggers are just “PCP’s” (“Penny-chasing-parasites” who thrive on collecting advertising pennies by getting people to click-through the links on their pages, and who seek out Top Companies to attack and sensationalize lies about them).
A “PPP” is a “Pictureless Profile Prick” who comments on blogs or stories without an actual photo of their face on their thumbnail image, and who is just “jealous,” a “hater” or having “fear” (as opposed to “faith” in Ruja and Onecoin). This cult-like indoctrination and brainwashing literally causes them to proceed within the scam with 100% blinders on, believing ONLY what they are told by the Leaders, and NONE off the facts, evidence and proof for which they are given from the “evil detractors.” Rather than following the dirty multi-million dollar money trail, which is lining the back pockets of the Top Leaders and co-conspirators in the scam, from themselves, the victims; their attention has been diverted to attack groups and people who are more likely to be considered Consumer Rights and Protections Advocates! It is true lunacy!
I realized that this was the first “cryptocurrency company” in the world, which did not even accept cryptocurrency!
I first heard about Onecoin shortly after closely following the infamous Paycoin (XPY), GAW, Josh “Homero” Garza,“$20 Floor,” Merchants “Coming Sooooon!™” debacle and watching that train-wreck unwind. I remember thinking how absolutely crazy it was seeing their PayBase Logo flashed across the Miami Beach Hotel after-party and pool-side Paycoin HD commercials looped on every TV at TNABC 2015 (Onecoin tried demonstrating credibility by pulling asimilarly expensive and 100% paid sponsorship stunt 9 months later by purchasing the 4th Annual EU – South East Europe Summit, held by The Economist)!
So, around March of last year someone hit me up asking me if I wanted to join Onecoin. Onecoin is purported to be the “most transparent” cryptocurrency company (their *blockchain is “audited” – **read ridiculousness). However, they are both Centralized and Closed Source. Their claim is that they have “fixed” all of Bitcoin’s “flaws” and are “better than Bitcoin!” Ummmm… “Odd” – I thought. And about ten sec. after pulling up their embarrassingly novice looking website (perhaps speaking to their technical abilities to even make an alt-coin) and catching glaring spelling and grammatical errors, I realized that this was the first “cryptocurrency company” in the world, which did not even accept cryptocurrency!
For entertainment purposes, I decided to watch one of their terrible videos HERE: (Ruja describes “switching on” the blockchain), and explains Onecoin “mining.” Here I learned something about cryptocurrency “value,” which contradicted all previously known laws of supply & demand, which simply was that “the higher the mining difficulty, the higher the value of the coin!“
BC: Do you think Onecoin is bigger than MMM Global?
BC: Do you think Onecoin is bigger than MMM Global?
TT: There are both differences and frightening similarities. MMM Globalat one point had from 5 to 40 million Members who lost up to $10 billion. MMM started in 1989, declared bankruptcy in 1997, and Sergei Mavrodi (the Founder) was on the run until his arrest in 2003. In 2007 he was convicted to serve 4 ½ years in Russian Prison. But, within a year of his release, he was at it again. Another year later he froze all pay outs, then started again some months later with similar results. This has been a “rinse and repeat” cycle from 1989 to present. This is the power, deception and replication model of the ponzi world. Juha Pariala, their Top Leader, whom Onecoin claims is making $4MM per month has a motto, “Duplication is Everything!”By comparison, Onecoin is only 22 months young, although it claims to have brought in $4.1 Billion Euro from an alleged Membership of over 2.1 million Independent Affiliates (IA’s) during this time. Affiliates purchase “Cryptocurrency (mis)Education Packages” (DETAILS) ranging from 110€ to 27,500€ (and more recently a 100 000€ “ELITE” package!!!) which all come with (ponzi-) tokens for “mining” (ponzi-) coins; however, there is NO “mining,” as you could have guessed, as the function of this system is based directly on exchanging “X” amount of tokens for “X” amount of coins, under the false premise that all members are “mining” a coin.”
ONECOIN NEWS REPORTS ON FINLAND TV (subtitled)
BC: How does Onecoin work?
TT: IA’s earn 10% commission on anyone they sign up, but with the caveat that only 6% goes into their “cash account” while 4% goes into what is called a “mandatory account.” So, the cash account is semi-liquid but expensive to withdraw from (I believe 15€); and the mandatory account, as the name implies, only allows you to either buy more tokens (or coins) or to use towards upgrading your packages towards the Infinity Package.
Note: there are IA’s who have multiple or even dozens of accounts!)
Additionally, the more expensive or multiple packages you buy (or “credits” you “roll” from your Mandatory Account into), the more tokens you get for mining, but ALSO, the more “SPLITS” you get with, the higher package. “Splits” are a common scam in the ponzi world because they double the amount of your tokens (which are really only ponzi points), but unlike any stock, commodity or asset, do not affect the price of that asset (or in this case “cryptocurrency”). There is a “Split Barometer” (which seems to be tied to any slow-downs to Onecoin’s Alexa Ratings Rankings) to notify IA’s when their money will next double, and therefore how hard they need to work to hussle in new victims.
Onecoin even offers something called “CoinSafe” (more like “CoinUNsafe”) which promises to earn additional interest of 12%+ (“like a bank”) on any coins you keep “locked” in an account for 12, 18 or more months. How this interest is accrued remains a mystery (are coins from the alleged blockchain somehow “reserved” for later allocation!?).
Onecoin has falsely promoted a “KYC” policy, which they claim will be placed directly into their “New Blockchain” in October. October 1st is when they “switch on” the “new blockchain” and presumably “transfer coins” from the old one to the new one (cause you know, that’s possible), as well as “Double” all members current coins and tokens (some new feature in blockhcain tech they invented, apparently?). Anyone else see the ridiculousness of these claims?!
Despite Ruja Ignatova claiming that “Onecoin will ‘bank the unbanked” (where have we heard this before?), anyone familiar with KYC knows that this claim is impossible and will have to be abandoned. Onecoin’s current KYC policy took an unheard of 30-60 days to apply for and does NOT apply whatsoever when signing up for the scheme, but only when attempting (and with a >95% fail rate according to the inundation of quickly deleted FB posts not their official pages) to sell coins. To inadvertently prove how ridiculous their bogus “KYC” Policy is, Onecoin Ponzi Pimp, Ken Labine, signed up his cat! I am not joking! Labine’s cat, Milo, is a “Onecoin Miner,” HERE.
Onecoin has falsely promoted a “KYC” policy, which they claim will be placed directly into their “New Blockchain” in October. October 1st is when they “switch on” the “new blockchain” and presumably “transfer coins” from the old one to the new one (cause you know, that’s possible), as well as “Double” all members current coins and tokens (some new feature in blockhcain tech they invented, apparently?). Anyone else see the ridiculousness of these claims?!
Despite Ruja Ignatova claiming that “Onecoin will ‘bank the unbanked” (where have we heard this before?), anyone familiar with KYC knows that this claim is impossible and will have to be abandoned. Onecoin’s current KYC policy took an unheard of 30-60 days to apply for and does NOT apply whatsoever when signing up for the scheme, but only when attempting (and with a >95% fail rate according to the inundation of quickly deleted FB posts not their official pages) to sell coins. To inadvertently prove how ridiculous their bogus “KYC” Policy is, Onecoin Ponzi Pimp, Ken Labine, signed up his cat! I am not joking! Labine’s cat, Milo, is a “Onecoin Miner,” HERE.
It is important to note: almost everything and every delay which Onecoin does is solely for the purpose of trying to keep money in the game longer. This is necessary in order for new funds coming in being available to pay off existing investors.
FOR A MUCH MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEME AND HOW THE PONZI/ PYRAMID HYBRID IS STRUCTURED, SEE HERE HERE.
Interestingly, about half of Onecoin’s entire network comes from their acquisitions of other failed ponzi scams, their contact information and, of course, their once broken dreams, which Onecoin promises “will make up for it this time (and finally make them rich, of course – after they “buy in” again).” These former failed ponzi scams, now part of Onecoin are well documented, and include: Conligus (10,000’s of members est. – the Steinkeller brothers), Univer Team (120,000 members est. – Alexandre Arenales), Unaico/ SiteTalk, OPN (Opportunity Network), ( over 400,000 members est. – Sebastian Greenwood , Frank Rickets, Christian Goebel, others), Bonofa (60,000 members –Christian Goebel), BNG International (10,000’s members – John Mercucci). Every single one of these people listed, and a great deal of other Top Leaders in Onecoin have been involved in other scams, several in many cases, and for some, scamming is literally their career!
Onecoin will CERTAINLY cause greater financial devastation than Mt. Gox, several times over, and will be the direct cause of several suicides, guaranteed.
While many have no idea that this is a scam, having zero backgrounds in cryptocurrency OR MLM (in some cases), I have contacted and spoken with dozens of Team Leaders who DO know, but simply don’t care! The money is too good and they have already built their downlines and are making money! For this reason, Onecoin will CERTAINLY cause greater financial devastation than Mt. Gox, several times over, and will be the direct cause of several suicides, guaranteed. I am guessing at least a dozen. Maybe more! This is the perfect storm for massive financial loss and suicides, as well as deep shame and embarrassment for those who have established a downline, which includes any friends and family. This will be like their worse hangover imaginable, and it will stay with many of them for years to come, as these types of enormous scams are devastating relationship destroyers. They say hindsight is 20/20.
BC: Can you tell our readers about the leaders of Onecoin? Such as Ruja Ignatova?
TT: “Dr.” Ruja Ignatova has a fairly barren LinkedIn Profile and very little verifiable evidence for such an allegedly accomplished woman (dubious claims include: “200+ IQ/ MENSA Member,” “Business Woman of the Year, Bulgaria in both 2012 and 2014 [note: there is no such official award or Title],” “‘Expert’ in Cryptocurrency,” “Consulted cryptocurrency companies,” “has written a book on cryptocurrency,” and much more unverified claims). She is the Cult Leader, and there is some evidence suggesting that she and Sebastian Greenwood are really only the puppets to a far more sinister and nefarious criminal underbelly. But, let’s focus more on what we know and can prove.
So, here’s what we think we know:
- She was an Associate Principal at the management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company (possibly from 2004 – 2009). She claims to have studied “Law and Economics” at Oxford in 2004. She claims to have received a Doctor of Law (JD), Law, magna cum laude from University of Konstanz (1999 – 2002). Somewhere in between, she studied International Law. This would prove helpful for later setting up various shell companies to funnel around laundered money into real estate and other assets. She recently purchased over $20 million dollars worth of property in Bulgaria according to THIS investigative journalism in her local Newspaper in Sofia, Bulgaria. The article details much of how this money trail works, who the players are, and the insane amount of financial tributaries, which Prosecutors will eventually need to follow in order to recover any losses from this scam when it implodes.
- We also know that her and her father, Plamen Ignatov, purchased and almost immediately bankrupted a company called Walthofener Gusswerk. The Workers Union, IG-Metal, filed criminal charges. Ruja was placed on probation and investigation for fraud in Bulgaria for stealing $1M euro and bankrupting the company, much of this is documented HERE and HERE.
- One of the most important things we know is that Ruja founded a company called Crypto Real Investment Trust. Despite claims that she has (QUOTE) “never been involved in any MLM before Onecoin,” a damning and recently leaked video, proves she was clearly linked to another MLM ponzi scam called “BigCoin.” This damning video features Ruja Ignatova speaking before an audience at the Kowloon, Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong in mid-2014, just 3 months before launching Onecoin. “BigCoin” was claimed to be “better than bitcoin/ the new bitcoin.” Its slogan was “The Future of Money.” Interestingly, Onecoin’s slogan is, “The Future of Payments.” (COMPARE). Ruja’s company, CRIT, as detailed in the video, managed funds for both BigCoin and “Prosper Club.” These two scams were responsible for bilking investors out of over $50MM!!
- The “Crypto Queen,” as she calls herself, an “EXPERT” in cryptocurrency claims Bitcoin started “before terrorist attacks and before September 11 (2001)” – EVERYONE knows that Bitcoin began in January 2009 (certainly, an “expert” would. Right?): TITLE: “Dr. Ruja “OneCoin” Ignatova in London 06. Feb. 2016:” See here starting at exactly 5:15 mark.
HERE is, I believe her first (and LAST) interview EVER with a cryptocurrency advocate group out of Estonia (where they are also under investigation).
Sebastian Greenwood is the Master Distributor at Onecoin. He was heavily involved in BigCoin (Onecoin’s immediate predecessor) and Prosper Club (AKA: Prosper Inc.) with partner/ scammers: Jarle Thorson and John Ng, which defrauded investors out of over $50MM. Ruja Ignatova appears to have essentially functioned as a Treasurer for this scam. Prior to this, He was also involved (as Global Product Mgr) in the SiteTalk/ Unaico scam, which followed the typical ponzi playbook, and also cost investors tons, and which later merged a percentage of affiliates into what is now Onecoin. Additionally, he was CEO and Co-Founder of Loopium.
Nigel Allan was the first President and face of Onecoin, early on, coming freshly out of several scams which stole everyone’s money, including Crypto888 and Brilliant Carbon (which sold fake “carbon credits” to investors). He is a career criminal but had a falling out with Ruja in January of last year (probably too much dirt to wipe clean). Watchthis short video for his and more of Sebastian’s history.
BC: Can you explain the recent conference they had and what that was all about? They had a sign there calling “Bitcoin dead” right?
TT: They had a three story tall image behind the stage claiming,“Onecoin: The Bitcoin Killer!”. This occurred at Onecoin’s biggest event of the year, “CoinRush, London,” on June 11th. Leading up to this event, Top Leaders in Onecoin had been claiming for over a year that as soon as they hit 630.000.000 coins mined (30%), that they had between 50,000, 150,000 and “500,000 Merchants already lined up” to be on-boarded. Ken Labine even recorded a video of himself, completely ecstatic about being able to buy “whatever you could think of, cars, Ferrari’s, etc.,” as soon as the 30% “mined” happened (HERE is that crazy video HERE is that crazy video).
Mind you, they do not have a wallet and the coins ONLY trade internally, and their value is created based on one of two factors: 1.) it can either remain constant (i.e., horizontal), or 2.) it can go up. Nevertheless, 30% “mined” came and went mid-April and there was not a single word from the Company. Due to this, Ken Labine and others had egg on their face for promising their downline what their upline had promised them: Merchants! But, ALL reps determined that this announcement would come at the massively hyped London Event, CoinRush! What happened instead, was Ruja announced the following:
- A new name: Onecoin will now become OneLife (obviously due to the name “Onecoin” now being high up on Google’s scam radar/ SEO)
- A new website! (okay, change names = change website)
- A new Mobile App (similar to what TelexFree and others pitched as “new products and services” before buckling in upon themselves) and Merchant App to help get the first of 1,000,000 planned merchants within the next 18 months (remind you of anything? HERE)
- AND THE BIG NEWS!!!
Their FORMERLY “Fixed and Finite” number of coins at 2.1 Billion has now been inflated to a brand new cap of 120 BILLION coins (because Ruja said they don’t have enough for the merchants and that they want to be “bigger than Ripple, also”)! Now, despite increasing their supply by 5,700x (57,000x more coins than bitcoin will ever have), the coins, of course, did not lose any value, whatsoever. So, again, much magic is taking place here. - AND BTW: NOT A SINGLE MERCHANT IN THE WORLD CAN USE ONECOIN YET!
- But Finally, I almost forgot, they announced their OneLife Tablet, a cheap, circa 2009 style $70 Tablet (SPECS) which they have placed very expensive Onecoin stickers onto, apparently, and are listing at a cost of 550€. The funny thing is that this is the FIRST product that you can actually buy with your Onecoins!! Unfortunately, according to Onecoin’s “privately owned site,” http://www.xcoinx.com/ the current (invented) value of Onecoin is $7.05 (but rising shortly, as the “Split Barometer” mentioned earlier is today at 99%), however, Ruja’s price on the tablet, if you choose to pay in Onecoin is 1,160 Onecoins, bringing the cost to well over $7,000 (7,236€) !! SEE HERE! And HERE!
LET’S GO THROUGH THIS STEP-BY-STEP:
1.) Ruja Ignatova and company set the invented price of their closed system pseudo-cryptocurrency at approx $7.05, despite 90% of “sell orders” timing out or not being executed.
2.) She then dispels all myths that she is anything different from a bank or the Federal Reserve system by increasing the “money supply” by 5,700x (from 2.1B to 120Bcoins).
3.) She then claims that this will not affect the price (despite common market economics suggesting a 96.5% decrease to approximate $0.12 each (a loss of $6.93 per coin), or thereabouts, if not more, due to the already difficult time selling).
4.) She then says she is “DOUBLING” everyone coins and tokens until October 1st when they “switch on” the new blockchain.
5.) She then offers a retail product which costs 550€ for 7,236€ in Onecoin, essentially ADMITTING that even she does not give the ponzi coin 10% of the value she is telling you it is worth!
CONCLUSION: IA’s are responsible for signing up ONE MILLION merchants, in 18 months, on a pseudo-alt-coin, which is not traded, which you cannot convert into fiat anytime soon, and which the COMPANY issuing it demonstrates themselves that they are only accepting it at 8/100ths on the dollar.
For more analysis of the June 11th CoinRush Event in London, check out this blog (and some of the other detailed Onecoin coverage) HERE.
BC: You are planning on having a moderated debate with Ken Labine. Can you tell us about this?
TT: Sure. Labine has agreed to join into a “Moderated Debate” this Wednesday, at 12:00 NOON Pacific Standard Time. He told me he doesn’t want to speak until 24 hrs before the event. I just hope he shows! Stay tuned! I will post the link or follow up here or in the comments
Labine and I have a bit of history. A year ago we had a “friendly” on-air discussion about Onecoin. We initially agreed on many of the ideologies for supporting a cryptocurrency, but of course disagreed 100% that Onecoin was a real one. Like any indoctrinated Onecoiner, Labine has trouble following logic and is dismissive or avoiding of any of the real issues.
Fast-Forward to April 9th, 2016, CoinFest. Labine agreed to debate me at 4:00 PM PST, which I planned on incorporating into the itinerary of the Event. We had some cool speakers already, Amy Elizabeth from the Decentralized Library of Alexandria (FB Page) and M.K. Lords of AirBitz. So the debate was going to be a fun diversion, but rather than letting me speak a single word he carried on his “Opening Statement” for literally 4 hrs. 20 min. Besides slightly disrupting the day’s schedule, this cowardice and avoidance was the turning point in which I felt it was really time to go against this giant scam and expose the lies and corruption of Onecoin, as widely as possible. Without naming names, there are many have contributed to documenting the fraud and ponzi nature of Ruja and her scam, and they are the ones who paved the way for what we know today.
Labine and I have a bit of history. A year ago we had a “friendly” on-air discussion about Onecoin. We initially agreed on many of the ideologies for supporting a cryptocurrency, but of course disagreed 100% that Onecoin was a real one. Like any indoctrinated Onecoiner, Labine has trouble following logic and is dismissive or avoiding of any of the real issues.
Fast-Forward to April 9th, 2016, CoinFest. Labine agreed to debate me at 4:00 PM PST, which I planned on incorporating into the itinerary of the Event. We had some cool speakers already, Amy Elizabeth from the Decentralized Library of Alexandria (FB Page) and M.K. Lords of AirBitz. So the debate was going to be a fun diversion, but rather than letting me speak a single word he carried on his “Opening Statement” for literally 4 hrs. 20 min. Besides slightly disrupting the day’s schedule, this cowardice and avoidance was the turning point in which I felt it was really time to go against this giant scam and expose the lies and corruption of Onecoin, as widely as possible. Without naming names, there are many have contributed to documenting the fraud and ponzi nature of Ruja and her scam, and they are the ones who paved the way for what we know today.
Onecoin is a particularly terrible and devious, hybrid ponzi/ pyramid/ cryptocurrency scam! It is a particularly dangerous one, as its members are not only financially tied to their belief in it, but people are also INCREDIBLY emotionally tied to it, more so than anything else I have ever seen, and in a similar way we enthusiasts support and believe in the future of REAL cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, etc!
- HERE is what ANY commodity or currency chart looks like in real life: EXAMPLE
- HERE is the first chart in the entire world which magically looks like this:ONECOIN CHART
It is no exaggeration at all to label this a “cult,” and I am not joking! Albeit in German, this News Report talks about Onecoin using unauthorized MasterCard, being a ponzi/ pyramid scheme, being looked at by financial regulators, AS WELL AS an Agency dealing specifically with sects (like Scientology) HERE!
In fact, Germany is only one of nearly a dozen countries who have recently opened investigations into Onecoin. Video from a major News Network reports on the actual arrest of several Onecoin Leaders in China, this past March and about Onecoin being an illegal ponzi scheme, and interviews a Police Officer from Ghuang Zhong who is working with Top Authorities via “Project Hurricane,” which was initiated to fight cyber crime and these types of scams. $45.7 million dollars was seized from the Onecoin investors during the raid (VIDEO HERE).
Germany is only one of nearly a dozen countries who have recently opened investigations into Onecoin.
The Swedish Gaming Board declared OneCoin to be “a chain letter game or similar,” after Police launched a preliminary investigation (SEE HERE) NOTE: You should be aware that under Swedish Law, a chain letter is the same thing as an illegal pyramid scheme. The Norwegian DSA call OneCoin out for being an “ugly” pyramid scheme (SEE HERE). The Norwegian DSA went on to say that “OneCoin is marketed in Norway as an investment scheme. An “enormous” ROI of about 18,000% is cited in OneCoin promotional material, along with claims OneCoin can be used like a bank account that pays 13% interest.”
NOTE: While claiming to be the new Bitcoin, they instead concentrated on selling so-called “Tokens”… which multiply themselves with express speed when they frequently split, which means that the number of tokens doubles (company-wide) without a drop in value. This, the Norwegian DSA claim, is evidence of pyramid scheme fraud.”
Austria has issued a warning to its citizens that OneCoin was an illegal pyramid scheme (SEE HERE). Latvia has also declared OneCoin to be an illegal pyramid scheme and Ponzi (SEE HERE). It should be noted that none of this or anything else is enough to convince Labine or others what’s really going on. They are simply “smarter” than all of these Federal authorities and other Agencies who “do not understand Onecoin.”
Austria has issued a warning to its citizens that OneCoin was an illegal pyramid scheme (SEE HERE). Latvia has also declared OneCoin to be an illegal pyramid scheme and Ponzi (SEE HERE). It should be noted that none of this or anything else is enough to convince Labine or others what’s really going on. They are simply “smarter” than all of these Federal authorities and other Agencies who “do not understand Onecoin.”
The Founders of one of the biggest Ponzi scams in recent history, Zeek Rewards, will be going to court next month, July 7th, to face Trial on a Federal Indictment. One of the many facts that the Department of Justice will be trying to prove is that: “The co-conspirators used this money, in Ponzi-like fashion, to pay other victim-investors in the scheme and to personally enrich themselves.” “…and that the true revenue of the scheme …came from victim-investors.”
It is easy to see how this would also be the crux of the case if and when Onecoin or any of their Top Ponzi Pimp Affiliates are indicted by Prosecutors here in the U.S.
As the Ponzi scheme grew in size and scope, banks and other financial institutions began to question the co-conspirators about the fraudulent appearance of the scheme, and many shut down or refused to open Zeek bank accounts. – And this is exactly what has been happening within Onecoin, as something like 15 bank, so far, have forced them to close their accounts on compliance and suspicious activity concerns, such as Money Laundering. More coverage on what the similar ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards, is facing HERE.
In regards to the bank changes, it appears that the IMS Account set up with Deutsche Bank is owned by Frank Rickets, former CEO of OPN/ SiteTalk, a known ponzi which lost everyone’s money. This would seem to be the very definition of Money Laundering, since it is not even in one of Onecoin’s many Shell Companies (great article covering the shell companies and Real Estate investments from a recent Bulgarian Newspaper. links and so much more can be found in this Finnish Blog, which has well over 8,000 comments on the scam: MuROBBS). It was new friends from this blog who contacted me, claiming to know family and friends there and in neighboring countries who have literally mortgaged their homes or sunken their entire 40 years worth of Life Savings into this “get-rich-quick scam, which will replace Bitcoin as the #1 cryptocurrency.
BC: Onecoin says it is second largest cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin in market cap. But it doesn’t show it on coinmarketcap.com or anywhere else. Why is that?
TT: Onecoin is not traded on the open market. If it were, it would crash. No exchange will list an unfungible alt-coin, particularly one with no known developers, technology, security or benefit. So, Onecoin quietly created their own. However, like in many of their scammy efforts, Onecoin has shown themselves extremely lazy in even making their pseudo coin pass any real scrutiny, whatsoever. They created what they called a “cryptocurrency exchange,” xcoinx. But xcoinx does not function at al, even though it has been over a year since its May 2015 launch. 100% of their FAQ’s are plagiarized, verbatim, from BitStamp, as well as plagiarizing the UI mostly from CoinMarketCap (and placing Onecoin as the #2 in market capitalization, directly below bitcoin and above Ethereum), as evidenced and can be compared below:
- xcoinx FAQ’s: http://www.xcoinx.com/faq
- BitStamp FAQ’s: https://www.bitstamp.net/article/relaunch-faq/
- xcoinx UI: http://www.xcoinx.com/
- CoinMarketCap UI: http://coinmarketcap.com/
Onecoin has advertised this as an independent 3rd party site, which is just another lie. One of their Top Team Leaders in the UK, Joby Boughey (formerly a Team Leader with another giant ponzi scam called “U-Fun/ U-Token”), accidently revealed the truth in his blog, that xcoinx is, in fact, Onecoin’s privately owned site SEE HERE. (He later contradicted himself, but the cat is already out of the bag). In a short, but hilarious excerpt from the 4 ½ hour debate I was filibustered on, on April 9th, Ken Labine is caught arguing against Onecoin CEO and Founder, Ruja Ignatova about whether or not it is even an “Exchange” HERE.
Onecoin is obsessed with Bitcoin. A Onecoin Press Release recently claim that people were leaving Bitcoin due to “the price plummeting” and due to its “recent rapid decline.” NOTE: Bitcoin is up nearly 30% since the day that came out.HERE IS THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE. Compare this to a 12-month bitcoin chart from the day the Press Release came out HERE.
BC: Is Onecoin a cryptocurrency at all?
TT: Well, a former onecoin member says THIS. Onecoin CLAIMS to show Onecoin’s blockchain in their back office, but let’s analyze this. I will walk you through the proof that the blockchain showing in the back office is bogus, step-by-step! Take a look at this.
You all recognize this screen.
So, let’s all follow along now.
1.) Bottom Right TITLE: “Current Block is Mining From” Here is you fake “blockchain” as seen in your back office. This is simply a looped counter (banner) VIDEO pasted over a looped video source.
So, the above-looped video with the counter inserted over of it for “blocks mined” that flashes every ten minutes, which you all see, only gives the “appearance” of something technical happening, but of course, it’s all just smoke and mirrors.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
2.) TOP LEFT, COLUMN ONE “Block Height” – nothing wrong here. This is simply the block count since the alleged Genesis block.
3.) COLUMN TWO: AGE – There is little deviation from 10 minute block times.
This doesn’t make sense FOR TWO REASONS: a. There is zero “difficulty” within a closed loop system – REASON: a closed system does not “compete” with others. It is a self-satisfying reward EVERY TIME. b. If it were not a closed system than there WOULD be competition. As such, while the block times should AVERAGE 10 minutes, it is only an average. You would definitely see 3 minutes, as well as 15-20 minute block times occasionally because computers are literally “guessing” solutions, and USUALLY the amount of peta-hashes looking for such solutions would be similar to the amount of coin flips it would take to land on heads 10x in a row. After about ten minutes, one of the consecutive flips might do it. However, it is unlikely, but possible it could take 20 minutes or one minute. So, such little deviation is definitely “faked” and I have looked at MANY examples in the back office of block times and have never personally seen more than a minute of difference.
4.) COLUMN THREE: TRANSACTIONS – Just Lol for numerous reasons: a.) I have never seen more than one transaction posted here.
WHAT DOES THAT IMPLY? Well, as you know, there are an alleged 1.85MM people who have traded tokens for mining. The distribution of those tokens would come from the blockchain (unless they have created in Excel Spreadsheets [which they seem to be]). So, there should be NUMEROUS, MAYBE HUNDREDS of transactions per block!
b.) S-Systems (Onecoin’s fake auditor [similar to your fake exchange, xcoinx, and operated by Onecoin themselves] who has not published an audit for this “transparent” company since January) stated in their joke of an Audit (which has ZERO TECHNICAL DATA (- WHICH IS WHAT AN “AUDIT” IS!), which reads more like a Letter of Reccomendation to oneself, “There are no transactions not included in the Blockchain.” – well, as I just demonstrated, this is a lie AGAIN, FOR TWO REASONS:
#1 This is a “logical fallacy” because if a transaction occurred outside the blockchain, HOW WOULD THEY KNOW!?! ANSWER: THEY WOULDN’T.
and #2 if it were true, which it obviously is NOT, than transactions from each block solved would be registered in the blockchain as moving into your back office. Every time someone gets coins from mining they would be able to see the coin distribution from each block.
5.) COLUMN FOUR: TOTAL SENT – this is only “coins created” and it is called hyper-inflation. Other than that, nothing to point out here.
6.) COLUMN FIVE: SIZE (KB) – this is hilarious, also AGAIN, FOR A FEW REASONS! All sizes are shown as 188KB (although recently they show as 189KB).
#1 this indicates that there is only a single transaction as shown in column 3. However, the size of a single bitcoin transaction is about 1-2KB, so this makes no sense.
Furthermore, #2 if there were any “difficulty” in the mining process and if computers were batching transactions for coins created and distributed, than every single block would vary in KB greatly.
7.) BOTTOM LEFT: LATEST TRANSACTIONS – The PURPOSE of a “block explorer/ blockchain” is to be able to “FIND” transactions and transactional history. This is nothing “proprietary” that would need to be hidden. It simply does not exist with Onecon. You CANNOT “click” a transaction and find the history of it. Neither can you view any blocks or transactions over an hour and some change old.
THIS, AGAIN, PROVES THAT THIS IS NOT A BLOCKCHAIN. JUST NUMBERS ON A SCREEN TIED TO A “COUNTER” USED TO DECEIVE.
Furthermore, (technical) the alphanumeric hashes shown as “transactions” make no cryptographic sense! They are NOT math based in a cryptographic fashion, which could link any inputs and outputs together algorithmically. It is a complete farce!
BC: Do you think Onecoin will fail and will hurt investors?
TT: Of course it will. The company was Founded by an array of professional and career con-artists who make their money tricking and defrauding people. I was recently invited to participate in a small panel discussion between another MLM Professional and Onecoin “Defector” and a moderator of the discussion, to recap Onecoin’s history. I was excited to see the entire podcast picked up by “Internet Crime Fighters Organization (ICFO)”, in its entirety, which you can see here: http://internetcrimefightersorg.com/onecoin-review/ in just one month, despite its poor audio at times, its seemingly obscure subject matter (Onecoin), and its length of just over 2 hours, it already has nearly 5,000 views!
- HERE is the link to the review of the video by a recently defected Onecoiner:
Even though Ponzi schemes sometimes begin as a legitimate business, Onecoin is not even close! It’s Founders have ALL been involved in previous scandals, financial crimes, and ponzi/ pyramid schemes; most are career fraudsters, others convicted felons. Followers will say that “the past is the past,” but fail to acknowledge that there has been absolutely no change in these “leaders” behavior! Look: Onecoin and Ruja Ignatova have lied about. “Business Opportunity,” which solicits investment on the basis of advertised ROI’s and is using newly invested funds to pay off existing investors, cannot succeed.
The centralized nature of Onecoin creates a single Point-of-Failure, which Ruja has already exploited multiple times: As evidenced HERE, Onecoin has already defrauded one of its members, Chris Stone, of $200,000 worth of “ponzi points” by direct theft! Ruja has REPEATED this theft recently with Onecoiners who are recently defecting due to these types of revelations which are coming out. Another Top Team Leader, who made a video complaining about their own recent theft. HERE: Message to Dr. Ruja Ignatova Onecoin from X Onecoin Top Leader & host Imi Shah.
There is further proof that Onecoin’s “non-profit charity,” One World Foundation (CEO: Ruja Ignatova) is just another fake shell company used to lanuder money, and to give the appearance of a real organization set up to legitimize Onecoin, itself HERE.
FORBES MAGAZINE COVER AND EDITORIAL LIE:
Onecoin paid at least $300,000 to advertise in a marketing arm of Forbes, Bulgaria, called Brand Voice. However, two separate Onecoin Team Leaders here in the U.S. claimed they had paid $1MM (of investor/ ponzi earnings, of course).
- SEE: 20 seconds into this video from one of their top reps (Joby Boughey)
- HERE is a video from Ben Zmith revealing the deception
Onecoin promoted the fraud on their official website as an actual Forbes “cover” (and article) in order to lure in new investor-victims money HERE, but this was merely a paid advertisement. See Brand Voice Media Kit: HERE
FINANCIAL IT COVER DECEPTION:
The Financial IT Feb. The issue with Ruja on the cover is AN EXACT REPRINT of January. Onecoin PAID to simply reprint January and add a new cover and insert one article. Otherwise, both issues are identical.
Ruja and affiliates have claimed to have bought several banks, including Hermes Bank (SEE DISCUSSION HERE) Sal Leto, Onecoin Ponzi Pimp and Team Leader in USA claimed, “(OneCoin) has acquired a hundred and eighty banking licenses, to legally own their own banks, their own branch and their own office, inside all one hundred and eighty countries that we operate in.”
She and the Top Conspirators have LIED about nearly everything there is to LIE about, including that in 2012 and 2014 she was awarded Business Woman of the Year in Bulgaria (Category International Business). But this too was simply a paid publicity stunt perpetrated by a Professional Image Consultancy firm in her country. The Title “Business Woman of the Year, Bulgaria,” does not formally exist!
CONCLUSION: This is ALL smoke and mirrors designed to deceive people and take their money! Onecoin has no intention of doing otherwise, and it is not now, nor will it ever be an actual and traded cryptocurrency (with a 120 BILLION coin cap), let alone with ONE MILLION Merchants!
BC: What is the goal of your mission here by challenging Onecoin?
TT: Not everyone involved in Onecoin are scammers, of course. But I have personally spoken with MANY IA’s and Team Leaders who have ADMITTED that they are completely aware of it being a fraud ….but they don’t care “as long as we’re making money!”
Part of my Goal is to prove once and for all that Onecoin is founded by bad players and con-artists who know nothing whatsoever about cryptocurrency. It is based on a perpetual pattern of new and convincing lies in this hybrid scheme, which is only meant to deceive and bring in new investors to pay off the old. It is to prove that the company’s founders have established a pattern of fraud and that the end goal of this is no different: to enrich themselves at the expense of others. It is to demonstrate that you cannot trust these people, as they do not have anyone but their own best interests in mind, and that they will do or say anything to keep the money rolling in as long as possible. It is to preach that Due Diligence is important whenever you are considering entrusting your money with startups or so-called “Business Opportunities.”
My MISSION for challenging them is for widespread disclosure, exposing their countless incidents of lies and deception, so that they collapse sooner, rather than later. This reason is twofold: #1.) fewer people hurt and financially destroyed, #2.) to mitigate the legal and global legislative and regulatory ramifications of a second (or now third with the DAO) Mt. Gox.
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology can and WILL change the world! I am hoping that Onecoiners will eventually come to their senses now, rather than before it is too late, but either way will come to understand the great industry, market, opportunities, and freedom which an honest and transparent cryptocurrency can be
Final note: There are plenty of things I was not even able to cover, despite the length of this. However, the hyperlinks herein will assist anyone (or Authorities) investigating the subject to delve much more deeply into this sinister world of pseudo-cryptocurrency/ ponzi/ pyramid fraud. Good luck!
Bitcoin.com would like to thank Tim Tayshun for allowing our readers to view his research.
Original Post at https://news.bitcoin.com/beware-definitive-onecoin-ponzi/
Original Post at https://news.bitcoin.com/beware-definitive-onecoin-ponzi/
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