UPDATE 10/03/2021: Now the withdrawal limit has been reduced to $100 a day if you or someone you know wants to complain a guide has been made available here
Qoin is the latest in a long list of “blockchain” startups that sound great in the 2 stage sales pitch but in my opinion deliver pain and suffering to many struggling Australian families (https://youtu.be/thMP0ZpGlDw).
I would classify them as an rigged exchange scam and given they plan on listing on BTX exchange on November 30 (which “exclusively trading Qoin and no digital currencies” btw) let’s look under the hood of this in my opinion scam and break down all the red flags.
1. Blockchain is found 58 times in their whitepaper so why can’t I see it for myself?
Good question right? They claim in their whitepaper that they have a ticker… they are the only ones who can see it tick because its a private blockchain unlike probably every other blockchain you have ever heard of.
This is VERY suspicious as for any “ticker” you can go over to etherscan.io and look up how many transactions, what percentage is owned by the top holders, etc. But when you look up QOIN on etherscan you find nothing that has 200 million tokens in circulation and considering the popularity some transactions. Give it a try yourself https://etherscan.io/tokens?q=qoin
This is vital information and it should be easily found from their website but it is not.
2. Fake reviews on the app stores
A common tactic for scammers is to participate in fake review schemes but they are easily spotted because the most recent reviews are either all 5* or all terrible. This unlike their “blockchain” is easy to find but there are some concerns, of the 1.1k reviews only 16 left comments and they are either 5* or 1* so it reminds me of a cult, you are either in or out:
Many are likely real too but if you know anything about the greater fool theory or MLM this will make sense as we found evidence they were offering $500 signup bonus and $300 referal bonus denominated in QOIN of course lol. Plus the software is not broken so some 5*’s are to be expected too, just not that many without comments in my opinion.
3. Heavy censorship on all channels
Do a youtube or facebook or twitter search and see if you can find ONE negative comment. Qoin have invested heavily in removing them all, why? because a scam my opinion only works if you have confidence in their scheme. I suspect they are weaponizing brand24.com to manage their “online reputation”
4. BTX exchange is owned by them
I am writing this on Nov 27th and they are supposed to list on BTX exchange on the 30th of Nov so let me make some predictions (only my opinion).
UPDATE: this was before we got the Qoin Source Code Leak thinking it was going to be a fair market exchange not “The ‘algorithm’ that determines the price appears to just be the qoin association promising to act as a reserve to maintain some price.” if true illegal under Corporations Act 2001. In hindsight basically nothing changed, im my opinion because it’s all just a facade like a movie set, a con if you will.
The price will pump (go up) so those who already have some QOIN fear missing out and buy more! Giving this in my opinion ponzi scheme some cash to pay the smart guys who see the writing on the wall or think up to 2,400%+ is good enough and are casually strolling off this sinking ship.
The opposite scenerio in my opinion would be for it to dump causing all those who have been watching the price go up for almost a year freak out and sell causing a crash so that simply won’t happen. My advice is simple, get out as the price is pumping and screenshot all proof that your intention was to sell. There are too many famous example of “things going wrong” like MtGox or The DAO hack so get in the life boats the second you can.
5. Price Appreciation/Controlled Valuation
Conclusion
Bartercard Australia in my opinion was failing as stated in the the IncentiaPay (ASX:INP) documents (https://www.incentiapay.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IncentiaPay-Annual-Report-2018-2.pdf search “continued decline”), does not take a rocket scientist to work that out so they are running what I can only describe in my opinion as a ponzi scheme where they take cash money AUD in exchange for “QOIN” which they use as a reserve to artificially maintain an increasing price, then it uses the cash money to buy advertising/marketing/sponsorships on rugby games, supercars, fortnight tournaments wherever they think they can find the next batch of suckers so they can keep justifying that verified merchants are worth the ~AU$80,000 they inflate the market cap every time someone joins or gets paid to join (in Qoin of course). This is not the first time someone has tried it, check out this documentary about one of the first and most successful merchant scams:
Maybe you got an access to your super bonus, saved a bunch by social distancing like a champion or unfortunately found your business in tatters and you are desperately looking for opportunity. Please I beg you, don’t fall victim to this crap. Invest in something worthwhile like educating yourself, improving your relationships or buying assets like a home.
UPDATE: This story has come a long way since this was originally written. There have been abusive intimidation, source code leaks, a mountain of evidence to sift through. I would start https://bitcash.io/review/qoin-source-code-leak-billion-dollar-algorithm-exposed/ and subscribe for updates.
