Many people believe that the digital currency such as – bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are the trendiest investment and opportunity currently accessible. Certainly, there are so many stories of individuals becoming millionaires through Bitcoin investments, for example Mr. Smith from the article “Meet The Man Traveling The World on $25 Million of Bitcoin Profits” (Bishop, J. 2017) . Starting with an investment of only $3,000.00, paying just over $0.15 per Bitcoin to an appreciating price hit of $800 sometime later. Successfully, owning 1,000.00 BTC, worth $2.6 million with plans to continue to invest in the currency. Though Bitcoin is the most valued and fast digital currency to date, cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can make it easier to transact illegal activities, but there are other ethical questions that can arise when considering bitcoin as a possible investment.
This digital or virtual currency is not like other assets. They’re not always easy to protect and Bitcoin thefts are not uncommon. Unfortunately, these exchanges can potentially get hacked and a lot of fraudsters are enjoying the cryptocurrency market. With the currency being decentralized and can be most likely used anonymously, it can be used to in money laundering, tax evasion schemes, illegal goods, and services. In a decentralized network like Bitcoin, every single participant needs to do this job. This is done via the Blockchain – a public ledger of all transaction that ever happened within the network, available to everyone. Therefore, everyone in the network can see every account’s balance. The reason the market can be so attractive to fraudsters, it’s because transaction are irreversible. Which have lead many to believe that the Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are just fraudulent investments.
According to financial advisors, the Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency is risky. “If somebody actually hacks in and takes your money, there’s nobody to complain to”. Also, these investments are still in their early ages of development, so it is not recommended to have too much of your investments in cryptocurrencies. Participants that have been in the cryptocurrency market for some time, don’t have to look very far back to see what can happen when an exchange fails. It is very difficult to know who or what to trust based on its reputation. There are many scamming strategies in the field, but this passage will focus on the investment schemes in the field as well as preventative measures.
Many fraudsters would utilize business models that resemble the Ponzi schemes. Ponzi schemes are known for being an investing scam promising high return rates with little to no risk to its investors. In order for it to work, a fraudster will utilize all their time to attract new clients/new investments to their original/older investors their return. Which is what Trendon Shavers, also known as the “Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme Operator” managed to operate, by raising money in Bitcoins by promising high returns (ROI) and guarantees, a while paying back old investors. Also, another Ponzi Scheme occured in 2015, called the CryptoDouble, terminated operations after encouraging users that it would double deposits, but resulted in leaving thousands left out dry. Once you invest there is “no layer of protection to your earnings and no law enforcement agency to catch cryptocurrency thieves. Government agencies have only just begun to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges” Poremba, S. 2017).