Though crypto-currency has achieved a few milestones over the years, it has also seen a lot of people lose a lot of money after a few scam artists pulled a fast one on them. Such is the case of defunct Bitconnect. On January the 17th last year, millions watched “the modern day oracle” Carlos Matos get onto a Thai stage and yell at them about crypto-currency. The 60-year-old who now sells intermittent water fasting products for Herbalife exuded confidence and excitement as he yelled borderline religious utterances on crypto. His outbursts though gave away the demeanor of a man who had been very well paid. He went to yell praises of Bitconnect and stressed his love of Bitconnect, almost like a delirious man yelling his love for his wife.
The antics by Carlos no doubt gave some shine to Bitconnect, but what made its popularity to skyrocket is the preceding gain in value of Bitcoin in mid-2017. The value of the coin went from 9000 dollars a coin to nearly 20,000 dollars. This led to a lot of people replaying Carlos’ antics in their minds, leading them to embrace Bitconnect even more. Bitcoin became more popular with investors putting in big money, broke young people putting in a few coins as well as savvy types who looked like they had it all figured out financially.
Other coins A.K.A alt-coins began sprouting leading to people splitting their attention for a while. Suddenly crypto was cool and everyone saw it like an opportunity to build wealth overnight. Unlike Bitcoins, these other coins were much cheaper and their profit outlook seemed to be much better. The value of these alt-coins went up so quickly due to the rise in demand for them. Crypto had become a panacea for all the world’s financial problems, with more people joining the trend. It is hard to fault a lot the people that jumped in late. One time the price of litecoin stood at 30 dollars per coin only for it to shoot to 213 dollars per coin a week later! The margins were that crazy.
As the popularity of crypto continued to rise and rise, so did the popularity of Bitconnect. The rise of Bitconnect was thanks to its unscrupulous creators as well as various YouTube figures that helped popularize the scam. After they minted a healthy sum of money from Americans, the Bitconnect website one day just closed down. The website disappeared into thin air along with all of the people’s money.
