Chain Games - A scam to watch out for

[Mikeologist]

OK, so I've been doing this for a little while and have learned a few lessons.
One big one is to AVOID CHAIN GAMES!
There is a site called bitpotato.
On this site, you can grab a hot potato, if someone else grabs it then you make a profit. If not, you loose about 98% of your investment. They promise a consolation but only pay scraps.
It is not technically a scam as you are gambling, but trust me when I tell you that YOU WILL LOSE!

Unregulated currency is great, but unregulated gambling is a dance with a train.

[laissez]

Yeah, sounds like a pyramid scheme. But where is the "profit" supposed to come from? Can't be from the guy who grabs your potato assuming he pays the same as you to get into the game. Or maybe that's why it doesn't work.

[Mikeologist]

Yeah, sounds like a pyramid scheme. But where is the "profit" supposed to come from? Can't be from the guy who grabs your potato assuming he pays the same as you to get into the game. Or maybe that's why it doesn't work.

You buy the potato for 1.3btc with the understanding that you will get 0.325btc profit.
Then the price goes up for 1.78 for the next doofus to buy, get it? the website guy makes tons and show you his *ss when it comes to compensation payments.

[Petr1fied]

It's a ponzi scheme, the next person pays for the previous person until the price gets too high at which point the last person loses the majority of their money. BitPotato is all but dead now, if you buy a potato there you have a pretty much zero chance of anyone buying it from you.

[Mikeologist]

It's a ponzi scheme, the next person pays for the previous person until the price gets too high at which point the last person loses the majority of their money. BitPotato is all but dead now, if you buy a potato there you have a pretty much zero chance of anyone buying it from you.

Is there another site that should be avoided, that you'd care to share?

[Petr1fied]

It's a ponzi scheme, the next person pays for the previous person until the price gets too high at which point the last person loses the majority of their money. BitPotato is all but dead now, if you buy a potato there you have a pretty much zero chance of anyone buying it from you.

Is there another site that should be avoided, that you'd care to share?

BitGrenade is the most well known clone of BitPotato and works in pretty much the same way with lots of alt currencies. I think most people are cured of these hot potato style sites now as there seems to be very few takers now. At one point potatoes/grenades were going for thousands of coins.

In general if the potential returns are clearly unsustainable then you should definitely avoid it, something that pays out double and as a result the price increases by 2.5 times it's previous price for the next person. It isn't going to be sustainable for long as it gets too expensive extremely fast.

[wardsmith]

Thanks for this, definitely won't be using hot potato

[zhangxiaoh]

Support, very good.