But I think the real reason why Bitconnect finally cracked is because people were trying to get out of the market for the downturn, and attempting to withdraw their BTCs from Bitconnect.
Their exit strategy was already in play for days/weeks:
1. The fake DDoS started before the market crash.
2. The second part of their scam (BitConnectX) was announced earlier this month.
3. BCC was pumped from $220 to $420 on December 26th.
Why is the pump significant? It cut in half the amount of BCC needed to "pay out" the dollar denominated loans. Didn't they already have a huge amount of premined BCC? Yes, but apparently not enough to cover all the loans at the lower price. You might notice on CMC that the circulating supply of BCC has jumped up to close to the total supply. It is now in the 9 millions when previously CMC reported something in the 6 millions. Why would they care about distributing BCC - couldn't they just leave "dollars" locked in lending accounts? Circulating BCC is needed for the second part of their scam.