A Look Into Bitconnect & the BCC coin

To Good To Be True

The crypto-currency landscape is changing at light speed. Everyday, it seems, a new ICO is being proposed or some new business is delving into Blockchain technology. Having seen many Bitcoin lost or scammed from their owners, I tend to be very cautious and/or pessimistic when it comes to investing Bitcoin in "the next best thing." I tend to stick to the proverbial "if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is to good to be true" frame of thinking, and it has served me well in the cryptocurrency world.

So of course upon hearing about Bitconnect, I too dismissed it as another scheme to have me part with my Bitcoin, only to never see it return again. I dismissed it without much thought, only to hear of it again, and again. Several months passed and I happened to watch one of Hive account@craig-grant 's videos where he discusses his Bitconnect endeavors. I was blown away at some of the numbers he was talking about. I started to pay attention and read many of the comments that followed his videos. There were many detractors, and Craig doesn't usually engage them. His responses usually make more sense to him than to those its answering, cranking up the naysayers' frustrations regarding what Bitconnect is or isn't. With many calling it a pyramid or ponzi scheme, and some actually responding with posts and videos of their own calling Bitconnect a scam and/or a ponzi scheme.

Bitcoin is often called a Ponzi scheme

One side, usually Craig Grant, sagaciously responding with one or two intriguing words while the accusing side against Bitconnect rants and raves in posts and videos about Bitconnect and its faults and perils. Neither side really providing much concrete evidence as to what Bitconnect is or isn't. Craig will usually post a video showing his account on Bitconnect, which shows that the site is working for him at least, while the other side complains that Bitconnect is a scam without providing irrefutable proof other than supposition. I have decided to look into Bitconnect with the intent of finding concrete evidence and presenting here to the Steemit community.

Bitconnect Ltd.

The Bitconnect.co website was created last year, on Tue Feb 09 07:08:17 GMT 2016 according to a Godaddy.com Whois query. Some see this as an immediate red flag indicating that Bitconnect is a Ponzi scheme or scam. All this points to is that Bitconnect.co is a new website, and possibly a new company. As a side note, Steemit.com was actually created on Creation Date: 2016-02-21T22:44:33Z, making it just as new of a website as Bitconnect.

Unfortunately, the Bitconnect Domain name was registered using a third party company that essentially keeps the true ownership of the domain name, Bitconnect.co, hidden. Unlike Bitconnect, Steemit.com did not go the same route. Steemit actually names its CEO, Ned Scott Hive account@ned , and lists a company address.

I was able to find a press release from March 21, 2016, announcing Bitconnect's new lending platform for the Bitcoin community. In that release, it appears that the premise was simply building a peer-to-peer lending community built around Bitcoin. It does have an email contact for a 'Vindee" listed as the CFO with an email address of bitconnect@tutanota.com, phone number +12015881679 and an address of Balboa, San francisco, 94118, but no unit number. A few other press releases list the company address in Ashford, England but no phone number or address.

I tried calling the phone numbers that I did find for Bitconnect, but none seem to work. I have emailed bitconnect@tutanota.com, but have not received a reply yet. I also was able to locate a Mr. Ken Fitzsimmons as being the lone share holder of Bitconnect LTD, a recently incorporated British company. The address that is provided in England is a virtual office address. Several internet searches for Ken Fitzsimmons did not turn up any information other than he is a British citizen. So just like Bitcoin, it is anybody's guess as to who actually owns and/or operates Bitconnect.

Doppleganger?
satoshi vs satao.jpg
satoshi vs satao??

One thing I did learn is that just like Bitcoin has Satoshi Nakamoto as its supposed architect, Bitconnect, oddly enough, has Satao Nakamoto as its Head of Development. Doing a search for the real Satoshi Nakamoto is about the same as doing a search as to who actually is Satao Nakamoto. Not knowing who either person is doesn't make either one a scam, but I know it doesn't add confidence to the average investor. The biggest problem is that you can't complain to Satoshi or have any recourse should the Bitcoin software fail and your investment is lost, and the same goes for Bitconnect. I have created a support request ticket within Bitconnect in regards to a referral. I have not received a reply yet.

How does it work?

According to early 2016 press releases from Bitconnect, they originally started as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin lending site. Then in November of 2016, Bitconnect announced that they would be offering an ICO for their Bitconnect Coin. Now you would be able download a wallet, mine for the Bitconnect Coin as well as trade it on exchanges like Bittrex. Strangely, in this press release, Vindee is listed as a Marketing Manager and not the CFO as in an earlier release. There is a Github link where you can download the code for the Bitconnectcoin.

Bitconnect is actually one of the early ICO's before this recent boom with ICO's garnering millions and millions of investment money within a matter of hours. Bitconnect appears to have been early with its ICO, but maybe that is why it is ahead of the curve when it comes to its recent pricing. The price early this year was under 0.25 US Dollars and then around April of this year it climbed over $10 Dollars, trading within this range until recently. In early June 2017, the price of the BitconnectCoin jumped to $55 per coin, and has been trading within the $50 range for the past month, trending with the crypto-market for the most part.

The BitconnectCoin is similar to Bitcoin in that there will be a finite amount of BitconnectCoin produced or "mined." According to Bitconnect, there will only ever be 28 Million BitconnectCoins in existence. I believe there are some 6 Million+ coins left to mine. Initially, around 10 million coin were sold to early investor before going live on their own BitconnectCoin Exchange as well as Bittrex. I don't believe they trade on Bittrex anymore if they ever did. Coinmarketcap currently lists BitconnectCoin at around $52 US Dollars per coin with a market cap of around $355 Million US Dollars. According to Coinmarketcap, the BitconnectCoin trades on 4 exchanges, with over 80% of the action taking place directly on the BitconnectCoin exchange. Some will argue that this is a sign of a ponzi scheme, or at the least a self-perpetuating scam that will eventually run out of new "suckers" to keep the scheme going. It does not bode well to have 80%+ of the trading taking place on 1 exchange, but then again, there are no fees for trading within the Bitconnect exchange, and also it is less than a year old which could explain low trading volume elsewhere. So they don't have fees for trading, so how do "They" make money and How can they pay such a high return rate?

Stay Tuned for Part II of A Look Into Bitconnect

Please note: This is not an endorsement of Bitconnect, nor is it financial advise. Also, I am a recent investor/lendor in Bitconnect, Bitconnect Coin and other crypto.

Full Steem Ahead!
07/03/2017
Hive account@streetstyle

So You Want To Mine Bitcoin?