They took the money and ran - Bitconnect

I was on the fence about what type of ponzi bitconnect was. Whether it was the kind that could keep its doors open for a while... or if it was the kind that would run with the money. It appears, this ponzi was the smart kind and when they were doing their best, they took the money and ran. They did this right after a big conference in Indonesia where they probably lured a whole new round of huge capital investments.

https://bitconnect.co/system-news/72/bitconnect-accessibility-update-glitch-in-the-websites-service/

"The issue has been that many members have withdrawn more BTC and BCC than they held in their wallet. " What a surprise. Login is disabled for most all users now.

Now come the people who were promoting it who are going to make excuses for promoting it, some of their followers dumping 10k up to 100k in this thing. One person was sitting on 100,000 in commissions. This is well over 1 million invested in the platform just under that person alone.

If I went around promoting a ponzi scheme and getting paid for it, the FBI would likely be knocking on my door one day. Some people promoting such activities have commented on their channel they refuse to pay the IRS taxes.

I point all this out because I can understand personal limitations in terms of doing things the right way. US citizens who have had low income for much of their lives, they can develop a mentality where the government will not go after them. This is because they are small fries with no income. As soon as you have income for the government to sink its teeth into, along with felony behavior, they are far less likely to turn a blind eye to the things low income people get away with, such as minor tax dodging.

For anyone engaging in illegal activity in the US concerning cryptocurrency choices, I think it is probable a person can get away with it if they keep a low profile. Yet, if you release YouTube videos promoting illegal activities and stating you do not pay tax on your cryptocurrency earnings, very likely, someone is going to report you to the IRS or FBI. The investigation will be as simple as pointing them to a YouTube link.

Even though I do not engage in illegal activities, I have considered shutting down my media content to prevent future IRS audits. Also, the regulatory environment in the US is unclear concerning some cryptocurrency situations.

I just cannot imagine taking advantage of my viewers this badly on an investment situation, profiting from it, and then facing them again. I have chewed on my fingernails considerably in the past when I would make a bad call on something. I catch a lot of flack for my good calls even, which YouTubers complain about because they do not like some of them. This baffled me because I saw many people gleefully swallowing up the scams they were fed but they would complain over decent investing perspectives. I think my channel and content would have been more popular if I was ripping off my viewers on a more regular basis. At least now, there is maybe a minor vindication for being anti-bitconnect.