I say it hinges on your definition of "scam"
Most users in the Altcoin world refuse to discuss this though.
They won't put it out there in the fear they will be called out a hypocrite later.
Problem is many of the "usual suspects" here get trapped by accident (supporting shit coins)
First couple that came to mind for me were Steem + Ethereum
I also would say the fact they are an ICO is far more than enough to deem them "scammy"
I consider scam and scammy to be a little different.
A scam is more of a confirmed thing and scammy is harder to pin down (lacks concrete proof etc)
So take those two examples i just mentioned.
When we dig deeper on both ICO coins we see more red-flags.
For starters they were both NOT designed to be a "Currency"
But rather a scheme with a digital block-chain token tacked onto them.
One is "Blogging" and the other is "App's"
So you have to ask yourselves people were some coders and friends watching all this and thinking
hmm i need an idea / gimmick for a "coin" ?
Who wants to bet they were not brain storming idea frantically for a long LONG time ?
They NEEDED to come up with a scheme to tack a coin on.
Which in both cases simply ended up as always traded on Poloniex for PROFITS.
Coincidence ?
Nope.
How would you know ?
You look at their behavior early on.
And their coins design.
Steem was rigged from day one.. an unfair game that made the early adopters rich.
Ethereum was caught doing the same thing on ICO launch day on 2014 also !
And think about it people ..this does NOT happen by accident.
Nor is it likely these guys have made ONE coin.
These guys know damn well they have to launch a coin with a personal advantage to make them rich.
Unlike many of you who got here late..
I have been here every day watching the so called "Dev's" evolve their methods of getting a launch advantage.
There always seems to be a hidden secretive grey area where there is suspected guys in the shadows.
Take
Max Coin for example..
It was speculated a lot the dev's / friends etc had a GPU miner.
Or think about
BlockNET and his million dollar cash grab.
Or
URO (the piss coin)
It seems to me the entire scene is willing to forgo "defining" what a "scam" is..
in order to profit some chump change while the leaders get filthy rich from it.
Ethereum's "Butters' managed to get himself many MILLIONS of dollars in Coins.
And no one really said fuck all when he publicly admitted to dumping a quarter of his "holdings"
Nor did that affect the price at all.. no one cared !
No one cared to ask *
WHY* the guy had Millions on coins !
No one cared about the ultra hype and spam and blatant pump activity by a mysterious unknown group.
Who was buying
ETH ICO coins in 100 BTC blocks non stop in 2014
I don't suppose it was the same guys pumping it in early 2016 huh ?
With
Coindesk's close cooperation all along since 2014 LOL
..Butters was not the only one with SHIT LOADS of coins to dump.
Do we even NEED to dig deeper ?
Was this idea / gimmick a good idea ? "Smart Contracts"
Oh yeah ? who is using them ?
Nobody.
Was the
DAO an inside job for more profits ?
Apparently it just doesn't matter or
ETH would not be the no.1 coin hitting over $20 each.
You all knew what i said above and still made them 20 bucks a coin !
This tells all criminals and their dev friends around the world they are untouchable and can get away with anything.
They know they can rip you off and lie and cheat and steal and fuck with you all blatantly.
..then simply ignore the "
FUD"
Just so long as you all can line up to get your tiny slice of the pie.
All users hang out here chanting Free market and defending
GREED.
Then they have the nerve to say they support Blogging or APP's or Smart Contracts.
Which is a lie !
They support GREED as they said in a previous comment LOL
When the motivation of 98% of the users in crypto is profits then what do we see ?
A lawless Free (
for all) Market scammy coin scene.
Pretend to be a support for profit and cry FUD for bucks $$$
What changes ?almost a year ago now i counted 6,000+ ANN topics here.
Nothing changes.What will be popular next ?
Who knows but it's not what the idiots say they are supporting.. it will be the next heap of scammy ICO bullshit for profit.
Because kids get bored..
Their "investment" has to keep moving or they get antsy with ADD.
These kidiots here are not usually going to sit on coins for 3 years as the next
Ethereum comes along.
Which means coin #6,001 is coming and so on..
The corruption is masked in a shady grey area manufactured to exist on purpose.
This scammy ass ICO Altcoin scene is made the way it its for a reason.
"Free Market" is by design to be a cloak of darkness for thieves to operate.
A lack of a definition for scam is great for those that want to Shill coins and not be called a scam supporter LOL
Most times it should be blatant.
Unless you *
NEED* to work..
Then you will show up here and say you were paid for some part of a project.
You will defend XYZ coin because you
NEED to get paid making graphics or a miner etc for them.
Is the project legit ?
Who gives a fuck.. you
need to get paid !
It's legit.. didn't you read the "White Paper" ?
..and i NEED to find something to "invest" in ..you all say.
Believe it or not guys i have done nothing but try and get you all THINKING for years.
It's not about me forcing my views on you all but getting you all to to think about your own perspectives.
AND what is going to be productive, healthy and constructive (in many ways)
Short term profit at a steep negative cost is not worth it.