It is necessary to intervene early to rectify virtual currency pyramid schemes

Author: Yuan Yuncai

Recently, the Yiyang Municipal Industry and Commerce Department received a report that someone in the local area was operating a "virtual currency network platform". The reporter said that he needed to pay money continuously to keep his account activated. He felt that he was "trapped" and was worried that he would not be able to get his principal back in the end. After multiple investigations, the reporter found that the reported network platform changed its name to compound interest financial management platform, digital asset platform, network points mall, etc., mainly hyping concepts such as virtual currency, claiming "zero risk, high returns", and even "one virtual currency can buy a house in the future", which posed a considerable investment risk. (Changsha Evening News, April 10)

One virtual currency can buy a house? People who don't know the truth may think that this can only come from fairy tales. However, if someone drags you to a class, and after a very inflammatory indoctrination and brainwashing, and then says this sentence, you may really accept it with half belief and half doubt. You may think that at least in theory, this is possible, and then buy virtual currency at a "low price" and wait for appreciation to become rich.

Anyone with a bit of rationality will find that this is actually an unrealistic and extremely idealized state. Just like an old story goes, a lazy man picked up an egg on the side of the road and fantasized that he could become a billionaire. His "theory" is: hatch a hen from this egg, the hen will lay eggs and hatch a hundred chicks, a hundred chickens will lay eggs and hatch ten thousand chickens... In this way, within a few years, he will own tens of millions of chickens, run a large farm, hire thousands of people to work, and build villas and high-rise buildings.

Those who want to get rich overnight by speculating in virtual currencies, or even fantasize about "buying a house with one virtual currency", have a similar mindset to this lazy man. Under the dizzying effect of the dream of getting rich quickly, they are overly superstitious about the role of opportunities and turn a blind eye to the risks behind them. In fact, their rationality is hollowed out, and speculation and luck are filling their minds.

Once people are obsessed with money and lose their rationality, they are easily deceived. According to media reports, the police in Xiqing District, Tianjin City, cracked a virtual currency fraud case. The suspect Chen and his girlfriend lied on WeChat about selling virtual currency, committed more than 20 crimes, and the amount of fraud was as high as more than 1 million yuan. Imagine that this pair of scammers can still succeed repeatedly without paying virtual currency after receiving money. Those virtual currency platforms that have transformed from pyramid schemes have a hierarchical organization and rich brainwashing experience. They have painted a huge "get rich" cake, so wouldn't it be easier to fool people?

There is an old saying that "there is no such thing as a free lunch", but in today's Internet age, many people have forgotten this saying. The reason is that some scams use the banner of "Internet +" to create some specious new concepts to disguise themselves, such as online gambling, 3M games, etc. Take virtual currency for example. It originated from online games. Only because of the popularity of Bitcoin in the past few years, many types of copycat coins were born, and gradually extended beyond online games, becoming a tool for pyramid schemes and hype. Pyramid schemes are good at replacing concepts. With the help of the Internet, they are covered with the cloak of "virtual economy", which is undoubtedly more confusing.

However, no matter what kind of cloak pyramid schemes are wearing, they are always the same. As long as the public thinks carefully, it is not difficult to see through their true colors. As for regulatory authorities, before a new pyramid scheme is rolled out, they should intervene early to uncover its painted skin, rather than wait until many people have been deceived before belatedly drawing conclusions and issuing reminders. In fact, as early as 2009, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued a relevant notice stipulating that "virtual currency in online games can only be used to purchase products and services issued by game companies, cannot be used for products and services of other companies, and cannot be used to purchase physical objects." However, many virtual currencies that have emerged in recent years have already crossed this "red line", and their business operations are clearly suspected of being illegal. Based on this point alone, it should be vigorously rectified and standardized. As for the use of virtual currency for gambling and pyramid schemes, it should be dealt with early to avoid causing losses to more people. (Yuan Yuncai)