I have been interested
to learn more about BitClub Network (BCN) ever since I started seeing the
endless posts on Facebook. The adverts promise daily earnings in Bitcoin and a
number of other altcoins. So I was excited when I heard about a meeting that
was going to be held in Lusaka. I made my way to the venue of the meeting in
Avondale where I arrived one hour late but fortunately the starting time had
been pushed by an hour so that more latecomers like me did not miss the event.
I must say, the event
was well attended. Speaking from personal experience of organizing similar
events. I counted roughly 80 people in attendance. I was impressed.
The guest speaker, a ‘master
builder’ (according to the rank structure of BCN), from South Africa, took us
through a well-prepared presentation. I agreed pretty much with a lot of what
he had to say about Bitcoin. I could tell he was well researched on the topic.
However, the issues came in when he started explaining the business opportunity
presented by BCN within the context of Bitcoin. The business model and some
bits of information about the company did not sit well with me.
When I started out
writing this article I intended to talk more about why I believe that BitClub
Network is a scam but as I continued writing I realized that I should probably
talk more about why it does not make sound business decision to invest in it.
Nevertheless, I will touch a little on why I believe that it is a scam.
1.
Ownership
of the company cannot be established. Unlike actual mining sites like Genesis
Mining (please distinguish between miners and pool miners), the BCN website
does not state who the owners or people behind the operations are. In fact, the
website states vaguely that “BitClub is not owned by any single person or
entity, we are a team of experts, entrepreneurs, professionals, network
marketers, and programming geeks who have all come to together to launch a very
simple business around a very complex industry”
However, recently an individual by the name of
Russ Midler has been identified as the person behind BitClub Network. This
individual is of questionable and actually has a criminal record in America.
2.
Location
of the company is unknown. Again where other sites will state clearly what
their location is. The physical address of the BCN offices and/or mining farms
is conspicuously missing on their website. They claim that they are situated in
Reykjavik, Iceland, but this is another vague claim because we know that there
are hundreds of mining farms in Reykjavik. It is like claiming to own a casino
in Las Vegas. In an attempt to hoodwink people into believing the lies, on
their website they show pictures of a mining farm branded with an over used
banner and one, ONE! Pop up banner.
3.
BCN claims
that they are the only company that allows the ordinary general public to buy
mining contracts. NOT TRUE. Feel free to take a look at genesis mining,
hashflare, hashnet, etc.
Now, lest I am accused
of merely being out to call the BitClub Network a scam, let us take a look at
the investment side of things. Say BCN was not a scam. Say all the above
mentioned red flags did not exist. Would it make business sense to buy into it?
1.
$100
registration fee. Why must one pay a registration fee of $100 to join a mining
pool when they can join many others for free and actually use the $100 as part
of initial investment? Apparently this gives you access to a back-end where a
user can view the transactions on their portfolio. Sounds like something I
would get for free elsewhere. The speaker at the meeting that I attended said
that you pay a registration fee because “There is so much money to be made.”
What!?!?
2.
10 or 30
days waiting period. So once you pay $100 for registration you have to wait for
a few days before you can start earning. Some people have had to wait as much
as 30 days while the lucky ones only 10 days. The business question here is,
what happens to my earnings for that period? Do they get added back to the
earnings once they start coming in? Or the days added back to the 1000 days
contract period? From my research the answer is, NONE OF THE ABOVE. The
investor loses out on the earnings for that period. Does that make business
sense? Meanwhile, when you buy a contract elsewhere, you start earning within
24 hours.
3.
Return On
Investment (ROI) is unknown. No one from within the BCN seems to know when the ROI will
happen. Maybe they do not even know what ROI is. I should probably use the
other term, BREAKEVEN POINT. When will the investor get their initial
investment back? According to my research, an investment of $500 will ROI
between 850 to 860 days. That is almost 2 years and 7 months. Might I add that
at this point you are remaining with 140 days to your 1000 days. But wait, you
already lost about 10 to 30 days so knock that out too. And remember, we are
not considering the $100 registration fee. In short, if you are going to buy
only one contract then you are basically putting money into a black hole. It
seems the only way to make money is by recruiting more and more victims into
the bottomless pit.
Conclusion
Why did I write this
article? My answer is two-fold. Firstly, going by the hype around BCN, I was
amazed to see the number of people getting into it. This could be seen by the
number of people posting about it on social media, facebook especially. I was
therefore shocked that the business model presented was so uninspiring. I
wondered why people were getting into it at such speed. I realized that people
were more fascinated about the opportunities presented by crypto currencies, so
much that they couldn’t see beyond the current selling price of Bitcoin.
Secondly, as a
Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency enthusiast, I am concerned that the
perception being created around Bitcoin and crypto currencies as far BCN is
concerned would do more harm to the adoption of crypto, than good. Let us
imagine that at the end of the 1,000 days the investor is not able to withdraw
or indeed BCN is altogether shutdown like bitconnect was. I fear that this
would perpetuate the notion that everything around cryptocurrency is ridden
with scam. Such was the death of legit network marketing and MLM concepts. The
legitimate business that do honest MLM are all bundled up together with the
hundreds and hundreds of scams that guise behind network marketing.
I truly hope that this
article will serve as a warning for would be investors to take a very close
look at the business model of BCN before making a decision to get in. Do not be
wowed by the promises of earning thousands of kwacha. Do not let the promise of
making ZMW800,000 in one year if you recruit one member a month for twelve
months. Be very careful.
For more reading
please go to https://www.cnyakundi.com/the-making-of-bitclub-network-scam/
Disclaimer: I am not
an investment professional (Yet) and therefore the information contained in this
article is my personal opinion and should not taken as investment advice. For investment advice
please speak to a qualified investment professional.
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