Thank you for all your responses - this discussion in and of itself is extremely helpful!

@Ryzaadit: I can very much imagine it works like that! What confuses me is that even well-renowned media (actually reporting about OneCoin being a Ponzi-Scheme) pick up the "2nd biggest cryptocurrency by market cap"-narrative - how do they back this up if their so-called "market cap" is fictitious one, and even OneCoins alleged figures are not documented anywhere?

@PrivacyG: Great input! I actually started looking into this right away. So far I only found allegation that they might still be active in Bulgaria in some shape or form - curious to see where that path is gonna lead me!

@DefiDOG91: True that. I actually read a research article dissecting the different types of "Ponzi Schemes" in crypto, and the category of those who seem to have had a legitimate purpose and just "went south" at some point was substantial.

To sum it up, it seems like I'm gonna be searching in vain trying to find any actual "scientifically useful" figures about this scam - but I gather this is due to the nature of their "business case", as you guys have mentioned. It just feels weird trying to put together a scientific thesis dealing with this case, and mostly having to refer to their own bogus data.

I have 2 case studies to analyze and trying to figure out how these Ponzi Schemes could work, despite numerous warning signs. With OneCoin, I can somehow see that at least they did a good job when it comes to their marketing - it seems like they took the Bitcoin success story, then addressed all the "negative" (or potentially worrying) facts concerning crypto (such as risky investment, high volatility, prone to be used in the Darkweb back then, "anonymous" and "dezentralized" which they've been selling as disadvantages, etc.) and sold their "Coin" as a Non-Plus-Ultra having all the revolutionary advantages of Bitcoin while eliminating the bad aspects at the same time. Although I still feel like the red flags were numerous, I can somehow understand how one could've fallen for this very professionally-looking scam.

And then... My second case study is... Bitconnect!! Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to denounce anyone, and I feel so much for all these poor victims having lost their precious savings on this scam... But I did some initial research on this one as well and crawled back in their web archive - their storyline incl. return schemes have been absolutely out of this world, and, combined with a webpage scattered with grammar and spelling mistakes, I ask myself - HOW am I gonna explain why people fell for this???

Long story short - if anyone knows anything about this, or knows someone I could talk to - please let me know :-)

Thanks a lot for your valuable inputs, guys.

What you say makes a lot of sense - it just feels so ridiculous that third-party sources keep on mentioning the OneCoin Ponzi-Scheme quoting it to have been the "2nd largest cryptocurrency by market cap", when in fact this claim cannot be backed up without referring to their own made-up coin amount and value figures (I  mean, they had people buying this "coin", and their "coin" had a stated (albeit fake) "value" - does that constitute market cap per definition???). I get the feeling there's literally so much bulls*** out there that the company itself has spread, and almost nothing with substance (even the stated amount investors have lost in this scam ranges from somewhere around EUR 4bn to 19bn). Not the best base for a scientific thesis I guess... At least it doesn't sit quite right to use their information in any sort of context.

It would be absolutely great to speak to someone who somehow was involved in this whole disaster. I'll dig deeper into that thought (although I imagine it would be pretty hard to get to these people).

Thanks a lot for your help, you definitely saved me another week of fruitless research!

Hi folks,

I'm currently writing my Master thesis about Crypto and Ponzi Schemes - namely, why cryptocurrencies are predestined for the use in such schemes.
One of my case studies is the wonderful OneCoin story. Now, I'd really like to include some facts-based angle to this, besides all the bogus, and am looking for historical data of the coin "value" or market cap...
However, I simply cannot find anything - other than their own figures they published, which I naturally don't trust.

Does any of you crypto experts in here have some useful tips? I'm quite new to the topic, so I might just not have checked the right sources...

Thanks in advance, all!