Over the past decade the cryptocurrency industry has witnessed some of the most audacious frauds in financial history. What begins as cutting‑edge promise all too often ends in classic schemes. One of the largest was the OneCoin “cryptocurrency” Ponzi scheme, which claimed to be a revolutionary token but in fact had no real blockchain behind it. It defrauded investors of about $4 billion worldwide. (Wikipedia) Led by Ruja Ignatova, still wanted by authorities, OneCoin leveraged multi‑level marketing (MLM) tactics and fake mining packages. (Wikipedia)
Another infamous scam was the BitConnect platform, promoted as a “lending/interest” crypto initiative that promised unrealistic daily returns (up to ~1 % / day). When regulators stepped in, BitConnect collapsed causing losses upwards of $3.5 billion. (GNcrypto)
More recently, the collapse of the exchange FTX in 2022 showed how even major platforms can become scams when customer funds are misused. According to a crypto crime summary, the FTX collapse destroyed around $8 billion+ in investor value. (CoinLedger)
These schemes share common red flags: promises of guaranteed returns, opaque business models, heavy use of influencers or social‑media hype, and little evidence of real underlying blockchain technology or trading activity. For example, the “crypto” in OneCoin lacked a valid decentralized ledger entirely. (Cryptoknowledgehub.com)
The consequences are dire: lost savings, shattered trust in crypto, and increasing regulatory intervention. As one analysis puts it, despite tougher enforcement “less than 30% of stolen funds are ever recovered”. (CoinBlockLab)
Lessons for investors: Treat any claim of “guaranteed returns” with extreme scepticism; verify that a token has a real public blockchain and independent auditors; avoid platforms you don’t fully understand; and keep funds in exchanges or wallets you control rather than trusting promises of “managed investing”.
Understanding history helps protect against future scams — the playbook keeps evolving, but the fundamentals of fraud remain the same.
