BitConnect Cryptocurrency Collapse Leaves Investors in Pool of Tears

BitConnect described itself as an open source community cryptocurrency whose main aim was to allow people to store and invest their wealth in a non-government controlled currency, and even earn a substantial interest on investment. The community emerged on the scene back in January 2017 with the BitConnect Coin (BCC) worth $0.16 but one year later, the coin was trading at around $400.

How did BitConnect work? Investors would deposit Bitcoins on the platform and buy BitConnect Coins (BCC). Investors would then either store the BCC on their wallets and earn interest from it, like how banks work, or the investors could trade the coin and try to profit by selling them at a higher price and buying them back at a lower price, like how the stock markets work.

On the 16th of January 2018, BitConnect announced that it was shutting its lending and exchange platform which was a big deal since investors of BCC were to make money from lending out the currency (BCC) on the platform. After 24 hours, the price of BCC had fallen by 90% to roughly $17.25 but the price of the coin later rose and at the time of publishing it was trading at $82.43, an improvement but still a far cry from where it was 48 hours ago.

BitConnect claims that bad press and legal issues were among the reasons for the shutdown but people believe that it was all a Ponzi Scheme that has left thousands of people in debt even as investors cry foul on the Cryptocurrency’s subreddit (pardon the crude language used, we just embedded the reactions as they appear on Reddit):