A news story recently came out concerning Bitconnect (BCC), which has lost over 2,000 Bitcoins (and likely more once the dust settles), leaving cryptocurrency investors and promoters with essentially nothing after a January 2018 exit point earlier this year. Bitconnect was bitcoin's biggest scam to date in the crypto ecosystem operating as a ponzi scheme that was never built to last offering 365% yearly gains on your bitcoin (BTC) investments.

The probe is against Surat-based realtor Shailesh Bhatt and according to the investigating agency, they’ve began questioning Nukunj Bhatt, Bhatt’s nephew, as well. Such questioning has revealed the functioning of the cryptocurrency exchange.

It seems that the Bitconnect registered an office in the United Kingdom and the address was a front to hide the company’s additional transactions.

The firm’s promoters were active in the sale and purchase of cryptocurrency and they also aggressively pushed Bitcoin as a positive investment option. Thereafter, the firm began operating a Ponzi scheme where the top-tier individuals saw a high return on investment.

According to an official,

“The promoters used to mention a special software that used to decide on how low and high points of Bitcoin for purchase and sale respectively. The difference used to be earning and the firm had promised 365% annual return on 1% daily.”

Similar to other Ponzi schemes, the new members’ funds were used to pay earlier investor and such a cycle maintained until the start of 2018 when the company came under fire. The good news is that some investors sensed trouble in December 2017, which is when the company began losing a great deal of investment.

According to one investor,

“Shailesh Bhatt was one such investor who dreamed of good returns after investing in 0.1% scheme. However, when the company showed inability to pay his money back, he along with eight others extored the cryptocurrency from Mavani in the farmhouse. Bhatt was picked up by a team of Amreli police a month later from near Gandhinager.”

This statement displays an investment effort gone wrong and explains Bhatt’s reasoning for going forward with extorting money from the business.

This is not the first Poniz scheme that the Indian agency has scrutinized. To reduce instances of fraud, the Indian government is working on a regulatory framework for digital currencies. Further, the finance ministry has established a committee to release guidelines concerning digital currencies. This step, among others, may be just what the country needs to reduce instances of fraud and schemes in the crypto industry.