“So Yin Yang, are you going be a moral and upstanding individual and pull this HYIP off IOST’s blockchain?” I typed this furiously after discovering that the IOST ROI (http://iostroi.club) dApp was your typical HYIP Ponzi scheme. You can withdraw your money, they claim, until you can’t.
Because of scams like these we may see the adoption of blockchain technology curbed before it can truly gain traction. Japan recently required Tron to block dApps from their country, so will IOST’s dApps be next?
We don’t want this for IOST.
I’m sure you are asking, what is a HYIP? Acronym for High Yield Investment Program, or Ponzi scheme. Those who run the scheme take investors’ money and pay it out to new investors. When investors stop signing up, the fund runs dry and many are left with little to no money. In most countries, Ponzi schemes are illegal. Many are left with no money, but not those who run the scheme — they often take 5%, 10% or even 15% as fees before any money is returned at all. Learn more by reading this article and this research project.
Seriously, listen up. The blockchain is permission-less, which is fantastic. Think of all the people who can’t get access to traditional banking or finance systems or money transfer services because they need permission including a drivers’ license, social security number, government-issued id or some other barrier. Often these individuals resort to predatory finance systems and pay high interest rates in the triple digits.
Finally, we have a system that requires no permission whatsoever, so those trapped in predatory financial systems can lift themselves up and access a finance system with no barriers at all.
Then a couple scammers like IOST ROI come along and, with them, bring the potential to ruin permission-less blockchain for everyone. We may be forced to move to a Hyperledger-styled “permissioned” blockchain to keep the scammers away while inadvertently excluding those who need access to these systems the most. Do you believe the Chinese government or Apple will allow their name and brand to be associated with IOST ROI? No serious dApp developer wants their name on a list next to a scam HYIP dApp. They will move to a more legitimate blockchain.
We are asking nicely, please be a moral and upstanding member of the IOST community and take your HYIP Ponzi scams elsewhere.
And, as community members, we must organize, be persistent, very vocal, and loud while warning those inside and outside the IOST community when one of these scammers arrive on our blockchain. We cannot allow them to curb adoption and delegitimize the very ecosystem we spent so much time and energy developing.
Thanks,
Jim O’Quinn
Co-Founder
IOST Watch
+1 512 337 9773