A local prosecutor’s office in China recently prosecuted 98 people. They recovered the amount equivalent to $ 267.5 million. This was in connection to a pyramid scheme which involved investing in cryptocurrency by the name of OneCoin. Last time we had also seen a teacher who was forcing his students to invest in OneCoin.
The total amount which is involved in the scheme is around $ 2.4 billion. As a result, the investigation has been on since July 2016. OneCoin was founded by Ruja Ignatova. The investigations are also on in other countries like US, UK, Ireland, Canada as well as Ukraine.
In China, the scam is actually spread across 20 different provinces. As a result, it is taking a significantly longer period of time for the authorities to actually discover the entire details of the scam.
China cracking down on cryptocurrencies:
Last year, China actually decided to crack down on cryptocurrencies. As a result, it banned ICOs right away. ICOs still remains banned in the country. Also, it is looking into the cryptocurrency related investment options with great scrutiny. There are quite a few scams which are happening in this field. This is the reason why it is looking at the cryptocurrency investment options in greater detail. Moreover, it is also placing heavy restrictions on the cryptocurrency exchanges as well. As a result, most of the Chinese citizens are actually not able to avail the facilities of the cryptocurrency exchange.
The Chinese citizens are also not able to invest in ICO’s. Moreover, with the increased scrutiny, the cryptocurrency exchanges are also becoming more and more strict. As a result, the level of security which is provided to the Chinese account holders is on the higher side. However, that does not mean that individuals will be able to easily buy or sell the cryptocurrency.
It remains to be seen whether, in the future, ICO’s are allowed once again in China. If indeed, ICO’s are allowed once again in China, it will become easier for the Chinese investors to consistently invest in the ICO’s.
For now, however, seems like this inquiry will actually last for a long period of time. If that is the case, there might be more arrests in the future as well. Already, with the prosecution of 98 people, the scam is actually much bigger as compared to some of the other cryptocurrency scams which are happening all over the world. The good news is that a significant amount of money has been recovered. As a result, the investors might be able to get back some of their investments.
