Blockchain is not equal to virtual currency, and there are also security risks. Behind the popularity is the exaggeration of "ulterior motives". Only by removing glitz can the blockchain return to its true application value.
Invest 80 thousand, and it will become 800 thousand in three months? Shenzhen police cracked a large fund-raising fraud case. Under the guise of blockchain concept and 10 times of income, thousands of investors are deeply involved, involving a total amount of 307 million yuan. Under the "mysterious veil" of blockchain, criminals have racked their brains and strategized, and blockchain has become the "signboard" of economic crimes such as fraud and pyramid schemes.
Why is the blockchain repeatedly "misused" by illegal activities such as pyramid schemes and fraud? Apart from "unclear", what is the "function" of blockchain technology itself? Since the beginning of this year, with the strengthening of supervision, the cooling of speculative currency has brought new opportunities to the development of blockchain. What is the "application" of blockchain business now? The reporter of Outlook Newsweek recently conducted an investigation on this.
When the three-month "fund release period" promised by the trading platform expired and the staff began to "kick people" in the QQ group, Tang Haiyan, who lives in Baoan District, Shenzhen, realized that he might have been cheated.
Previously, under the introduction of classmates, Tang Haiyan invested 80,000 yuan to buy a virtual currency called "Universal Silver Coin". "The other party said that this coin is the most advanced blockchain technology at present, with Tibetan tea as collateral, and also showed me the' technical white paper'. I didn't understand the blockchain, so I didn't look carefully. "
Although I don't know about blockchain and virtual currency, Tang Haiyan is full of expectations due to the high return on investment. She told reporters that companies that issue "ordinary silver coins" will regularly split the virtual currency according to the ratio of 1 to 10, which means that each split will increase the value of "ordinary silver coins" in investors' hands by 10 times. As long as it is divided, her investment of 80,000 yuan is equivalent to buying a "general silver coin" worth 800,000 yuan, and selling it on the trading platform will make huge profits.
According to the rules of the trading platform, the newly purchased "ordinary silver coins" cannot be traded immediately, and must be frozen on the platform for three months before the "release period" can be ushered in. However, three months later, Tang Haiyan not only failed to wait for the doubled assets, but also the 80,000 yuan frozen on the platform could not be used for trading.
"Other investors began to question the authenticity of this investment in the QQ group. As a result, the company staff actually kicked out these investors one by one, and I was very uncomfortable. " She said.
The facts also proved Tang Haiyan's intuition. 2065438+At the end of March, 2008, Shenzhen police cracked a large fund-raising fraud case, and the defrauded funds amounted to 307 million yuan. In this case, Shenzhen Puyin Blockchain Group Co., Ltd. involved in the case issued virtual currency in the mode of "blockchain+Tibetan tea" to collect public deposits. Tang Haiyan is one of thousands of victims.
Shenzhen police investigation found that the company claimed that investors could buy and sell "ordinary silver coins" on the virtual trading platform "Coin Gathering Network" to earn the difference.
. In fact, the change of its bid price is the company's behind-the-scenes operation with investors' investment funds. At one time, the price of "Universal Silver Coin" was raised from 0.5 yuan to 10 yuan, which made investors taste some sweetness. When a large number of investors entered the market, the company kept cashing in by maliciously manipulating the price trend of "ordinary silver coins", which eventually led to the "ordinary silver coins" being worthless in the hands of investors.
Since 20 18, engaging in fraudulent pyramid schemes under the banner of blockchain has become a common "routine" in new criminal means. 2065438+April 2008, Jinan police busted a pyramid scheme gang under the guise of "western development", "national poverty alleviation", "primitive stock", "blockchain" and "e-commerce", arrested more than 10 of the main suspects, frozen more than 100 of the accounts involved and detained them.
According to the police in Jinan, Huileyi E-commerce Company designed fake virtual disks on the Internet and released so-called "precious coins" and "expensive coins" on the grounds that the country is vigorously developing the big data industry.
First of all, under the guise of giving away, they distributed a certain amount of virtual currency to the newly joined MLM personnel, each worth tens of yuan. Then through artificial manipulation, the virtual currency has appreciated all the way to 100 or even several hundred yuan, attracting people who don't know the truth to join. Finally, through the periodic fluctuation of the so-called virtual currency "depreciation", they "cut leeks" and repeated them, and finally achieved the purpose of obtaining illegal benefits.
In Xi 'an, the local police also successfully cracked a mega-network pyramid scheme under the banner of blockchain. According to the police, nine well-paid network platform administrators, including Zhang and Li, have been selling virtual "Datang coins" at the price of each 3 yuan on the "consumption era" network platform since March 28, 20 18, manipulating the appreciation range;
At the same time, promotion conferences were held in many cities at home and abroad to attract members. According to the offline development of members, 28 levels of agents have been set up. In just 18 days, the gang has more than 13000 registered members. At present, it has been found that the case involves 3/kloc-0 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, and the funds involved are as high as 86 million yuan.
The "Tencent 20 17 MLM Situation Awareness White Paper" issued by Tencent Security Joint Laboratory said that in recent years, various overseas fund disks, virtual coins and ICO (blockchain plan initial public offering token financing) projects have emerged one after another, among which many risks such as illegal issuance, false projects, cross-border money laundering, fraud and pyramid schemes have been hidden, resulting in a large amount of funds flowing overseas. Once you collapse, run away or lose contact, such as baichuan coin, mark coin, beta coin, black coin and so on.
Interviews with reporters from Outlook News Weekly in Guangdong, Shandong and Shanghai found that most people know that the concept of blockchain is very popular, but there are different opinions on the specific functions of blockchain: some people think that it is used for "investment and wealth management" and "buying and selling money", while others think that it is "a major invention of the same magnitude as a steam engine", and some entrepreneurs are gearing up to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Many people in the industry said that it is precisely because people have many misunderstandings about the blockchain that criminals have the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and mislead investors.
First of all, blockchain is not equal to virtual currency. By the end of last year, the number of ICO participants and total transaction volume in China doubled, and a large number of digital currency exchanges fled overseas. The mode of agency investment allows more ordinary people to participate in high-risk investment.
Many industries have formed interest alliances with publishers, digital exchanges and well-known brands from the media, and endorsed the "Air Coin" project platform. June 5438+February last year, nine departments including the People's Bank of China defined ICO as "suspected illegal fund-raising, financial fraud, pyramid selling and other criminal activities".
During the interview, many people told this reporter that the existence of tokens has built a set of rights and interests mechanism for the development of blockchain technology, which is indispensable for stimulating the prosperity of blockchain applications. "The market practice in the past five years has proved that the application of blockchain without equity mechanism is like a computer without Internet connection, a market economy without money, and the application scenarios and development speed are greatly reduced." An investor in Shanghai said.
In fact, the token represented by Bitcoin is only the first product to verify the blockchain technology, and the two cannot be equated. The existence of tokens has had an obvious negative effect on the development of blockchain.
Xiao Wei, chief engineer of Baidu blockchain, told this reporter that ICO's myth of getting rich shook the R&D strength of blockchain technical talents, and the myth of speculating hundreds of returns tested the patience of blockchain technical R&D talents. "Many of the' comrades-in-arms' who used to do blockchain technology research and development together in the previous circle have turned to coin, and now there are very few people who can adhere to technology research and development and application."
Xu, secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Internet Finance Industry Association, said that under the background that ICO is banned in China, many domestic start-ups promoting blockchain applications are "selling dog meat" and financing worthless tokens through concept packaging. "ICO polluted the good atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship and created a speculative product. Many young people are not thinking about starting a business, but thinking about making money, which gives everyone the illusion of getting rich overnight. "
At present, more and more people in the industry are beginning to think about whether the development of blockchain must rely on issuing tokens to achieve incentives. Guo Dagang, secretary-general of Beijing Internet Finance Industry Association, told this reporter that the so-called incentive mechanism is only the theoretical basis for the project party to find tokens for itself. Huo, director of the Beijing Financial Work Bureau, also believes that if we don't get rid of the dilemma of issuing money, we will never find a legal landing mechanism.
Second, the blockchain is not omnipotent, and security is risky. Blockchain is generally considered to achieve three functions:
First, the data stored in the blockchain cannot be tampered with or forged, and the credibility and credibility of the data are high; Second, the whole transaction process can be traced back to the source, which can realize accurate tracking of responsibility; Third, the smart contract embedded in the blockchain can be automatically executed based on the contract, thus improving work efficiency and reducing the risk of default. It is generally believed in the industry that blockchain has broad application prospects in the fields of finance, logistics and trade.
In fact, the blockchain is not omnipotent, and its functions also have many limitations. It is generally believed that according to its cryptographic characteristics, it is theoretically necessary to control more than 5 1% of nodes to tamper with or forge in the blockchain. When there are enough nodes in the blockchain, this trust creation mechanism with extensive public participation is difficult to be tampered with.
However, in reality, digital currency Stock Exchange is frequently attacked and even stolen. 2065438+On June 20th, 2008, Bithumb Exchange of South Korea announced that it was attacked by hackers, and the encrypted currency worth 35 billion won (about 32 million US dollars) was stolen.
Benjurry Ben, known as the first generation of "hackers" in China, said that the blockchain will continue to face attacks, and information leakage will easily occur in the process of uploading data to external chains. Some insiders worry that once the supercomputing power of quantum computing is realized, it will also have a direct impact on the blockchain.
Zhao Yao, a special researcher at the Institute of Finance of China Academy of Social Sciences, told this reporter that as early as 20 13, the academic circles confirmed that the blockchain was not perfect and there were many "cheating" strategies. As long as there is enough economic incentive, the attack of controlling more than 5 1% nodes is not only theoretical.
Ceng Guang, secretary general of Shenzhen Internet Finance Association, said that blockchain technology itself is not irreplaceable or subversive. "Some lawless elements exaggerate the role of blockchain to show that blockchain has great investment value and deserves investors' vigilance."
Third, the popularity of blockchain is not completely true. The data shows that from the end of 20 17 to the beginning of 20 18, more than 300 ICO projects appeared in the media, which became an abnormal phenomenon worthy of attention.
"Most of these media have received financial support from the head of the exchange and investors in the currency circle. It is difficult to guarantee the objective independence of their reports. Most of them advocate ICO and speculation, excessively boosting digital currency's prospects and creating illegal fund-raising for problematic projects. The convenience of public opinion dissemination. " Xu said that some investors themselves are ICO project investors, and their profit model is to collect soft-text fees and project promotion fees, and become public opinion helpers for token issuance, and some media have developed into investment institutions to profit from them.
Extended data:
On August 24th, 20 18, the website of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China issued a risk warning to remind the general public to guard against illegal fund-raising in the name of "virtual currency" and "blockchain".
The original text is as follows:
Risk tips for preventing illegal fund-raising in the name of "virtual currency" and "blockchain"
The CBRC, the Central Network Information Office, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China and the General Administration of Market Supervision suggest that:
Recently, under the banner of "financial innovation" and "blockchain", some lawless elements have absorbed funds by issuing so-called "virtual currency", "virtual assets" and "digital assets", infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of the public. This kind of activity is not really based on blockchain technology, but on the reality of illegal fund-raising, pyramid selling and fraud based on the concept of hype blockchain, which mainly has the following characteristics:
First, networking and cross-border are obvious. Relying on the Internet and chat tools to conduct transactions, and using online payment tools to receive and pay funds, the risks spread widely and spread quickly. Some lawless elements set up websites by renting overseas servers, which are actually aimed at domestic residents to carry out activities and remotely control and implement illegal acts.
Some individuals claim in the chat tool group that they have obtained the investment quota of overseas high-quality blockchain projects, which can be invested on their behalf, most likely fraudulent activities. Most of the funds for these illegal activities flow abroad, and it is very difficult to supervise and track them.
The second is deceptive, seductive and concealed. Make use of popular concepts to speculate and fabricate various theories of "standing high". Some people also use the celebrity big V "platform" for publicity, and airdrop "candy" as a temptation, claiming that "money only goes up but not down" and "short investment cycle, high income and low risk" are extremely confusing.
In practice, criminals illegally seek huge profits by manipulating the price trend of so-called virtual currency behind the scenes, setting the threshold of profit and cash withdrawal. In addition, some criminals also issue tokens in the names of ICO, IFO and IEO. Or IMO's speculation of virtual currency under the banner of * * * enjoying the economy is very concealed and confusing.
Third, there are many illegal risks. Through public publicity, criminals use "static income" (profit from speculative currency appreciation) and "dynamic income" (profit from off-line development) as bait to attract public investment, lure investors and developers to join, and constantly expand the pool of funds, which is characterized by illegal fund-raising, pyramid selling, fraud and other illegal acts.
This kind of activity takes "financial innovation" as the gimmick, which is essentially a Ponzi scheme of "borrowing the new and returning the old", and it is difficult to maintain the capital operation for a long time. Please treat the blockchain rationally, don't blindly believe in the promise of speculation, establish a correct concept of money and investment, and effectively raise risk awareness; Found clues to illegal crimes can be actively reported to the relevant departments.
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