Under the structure of the project, the company used seven out of every 10 fire tokens from each nest to pay rewards to other investors and two in 10 to invest in new crypto projects, while one in 10 went into a “liquidity pool”. It insisted this approach was sustainable but the investment projects did not appear to have produced returns when the company’s website went offline.
Isn’t that great? It said upfront that it was largely a Ponzi with some small amount of speculative investment as well.
Now there seems to be surprise that it’s a Ponzi.
I’m not the slightest bit surprised that another crypto scheme has turned out to be a scam, it’s the idiot politicians getting involved that irritates. Maybe we should start having entrance examinations for would be politicians, to filter out the gullible, the stupid, the innumerate and those who are totally away with the fairies.
Some of the firm’s assets and its name appear to have been sold to a new company run by an individual called “Dan”, who has told investors it has no obligation towards them, but that it would still try to make them some returns.
[…]
Asked what had happened to the company and its investments, Sullivan said he would respond if the Guardian flew to the Philippines to discuss it further
How are these people not in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet?
I’m always surprised to see footballers in the lists of victims. You’ve earned millions, you’ve got a trophy wife & house; yet you still find time to push 10k-100k into some dodgy outfit which promises outlandish returns.
Whatever happened to the two investment mantras I was raised on:
If it sounds too good to be true and caveat emptor?
I suppose bailing out the banks in 2008 put Antje final nail in the coffin of that personal responsibility.
Andrew M: The key word there is ‘footballers’. Young lads who spend all their time playing and neglecting their studies on the off chance a talent spotter from a club bigger than Rochdale will spot them. The really good ones at bunking off might make it.
So here are guys who are totally one-track (actually two – footie & chicks) and earning shedloads of moolah. What an easy target for the unscrupulous, especially those with a new buzzword – crypto.
For a Premier League footballer, 100 grand into anything is about a week’s wages.
@Andrew – Consider also that a career sportsman should invest with wealth preservation in mind. So, 90% or more defensive allocation in bonds etc and 5% or 10% gambled on potential ten-baggers.
The cyclist Lance Armstrong used this strategy and attributes his financial survival to an early investment in Uber.
Setting aside Lance Armstrong’s particular circumstances, when a sportsman is obliged to retire their earning power retires at the same time. Consequently, mistakes and losses are very difficult to bounce back from.
Footballers live in a world of easy money. Persuading them that nett of 2% is good is massively hard.
For a kid used to spending £100,000 on a good weekend away, the concept of that being your yearly earning is anathema.
Those from stable middle class backgrounds might have some good advice. The other 90% are going to blow almost all of it.
For footballers bunging 100k into something a bit dodgy is a better way to cheat the taxman then using a legitimate account in your dog’s name.