BTC Investments Review – A Bitcoin Gifting Pyramid Scheme

BTC Investments, founded in late 2016 and based in South Africa, touts as an online charitable organization in which members are able to gain a certain amount of bitcoins for a chosen cause through the gifting of bitcoins themselves. Aka the more you give, the more you receive. The questions on everyone’s mind, for example; Is it safe, Is it a scam or a legitimate investment opportunity and is this legal will be answered in this detailed and unbiased BTC Investments review.

What is BTC Investments?

BTC Investments claims to be an online platform that helps people gain funds in order to support their cause. This is done via an MLM model using a 2 x 5 Matrix structure. At the top of the structure is Kingdom Ministries. The concept is that the more you give the more you are able to receive. Once you decide the cause you would like to contribute to, and then commit to contributing to it, you are then put in a position to receive contributions from others who choose to fund your cause.

The contributions via the BTC Investments platform are done solely in the form of bitcoin. With the minimum amount being 0.002 BTC. The system works on a 6-month or 180 days cycle. The maximum amount you can give during each cycle is 0.565 BTC and the maximum you can receive is 16.896 BTC.

BTC Investments are supposedly a group of like-minded people who come together as a community and teach each other to invest in the smallest denominations, with the focus on educating and helping each other, as well new ways to invest and grow both wealth and knowledge.

How Does It Work?

BTC Investments uses an MLM 2×5 Matrix system. All transactions and payments are handled through this system. To get started in the program, you will need to pay or fund your referrer (the person that recruited you into the program) an amount of 0.002 BTC. Once the payment has been received, you are then eligible to receive 0.002 BTC from two other members who join after you. Either by means of you referring them or by new members randomly allocated to you if they joined without being referred. This process continues for 5 levels, with level five bearing the highest payout amount.

On their website btcinvestments.co.za, they give an example of a strategy that members can use to reach the desired goals in the shortest timeframe. The strategy is laid out below.

Level 1 – Starter

• Pay Your Referrer 0.002 BTC, Receive 2 x 0.002 BTC = 0.004 BTC, Subtract 0.002 BTC (By Moving to level 2) Profit = 0.002 BTC

Level 2 – Runner

• Pay your Upline 0.003 BTC, Receive 4 x 0.003 BTC = 0.012 BTC, Subtract 0.003 BTC (By Moving to level 3) Profit = 0.009 BTC

Level 3 – Pacer

• Pay Your Upline 0.01 BTC, Receive 8 x 0.01 BTC = 0.08 BTC, Subtract 0.01 BTC (By Moving to level 4) Profit = 0.07 BTC

Level 4 – Finisher

• Pay Your Upline 0.05 BTC, Receive 16 x 0.05 BTC = 0.8 BTC, Subtract 0.05 BTC (By Moving to level 5) Profit = 0.75 BTC

Level 5 – Winner

• Pay Your Upline 0.5 BTC, Receive 32 x 0.5 BTC = 16 BTC, No More Levels/Upgrades, Total Profit = 16.331 BTC

A new cycle starts every 180 days. BTC Investments encourages you to keep doubling up and take two new positions every 4^th level from your previous positions’ profits. They also encourage you to take out more than one account. In fact, they recommend you take out two or more accounts under different legs as one leg may grow faster than the other. Additionally, you are encouraged to take out a further two or more accounts every 5^th level. By doing this you will essentially turn your 180 day accounts into more of a monthly pay out after a while.  However, you will require a new user name, email address and wallet address for each new account that you open.

Is This a Pyramid Scheme?

In principal, yes it is. In the form of a Cash Gifting scheme, which is just a certain type of pyramid scheme. Although trying to hide it by claiming to be a charitable program, there are a few things in the BTC Investments program, which indicate a pyramid scheme. For example, having no product line. Without a product line for members to sell, the only form of income is for members to recruit other members into the program, thus earning referral commissions or profit. In the case of a pyramid scheme, it usually only the members at the top of the chain who actually make any profit.

Additionally, any business or organization set up using this model is one that can never last long. With the only income stemming from recruiting new members, once that dies down and there are no new recruits, the service will collapse entirely with many people losing all their investments and the ones at the top walk away with everything. This happens with all pyramid schemes eventually.

BTC Investments Warning Signs

While doing some research for our BTC Investments review, we came across a couple of warning signs we feel you should be made aware of. To begin with the website BTCInvestments.co.za was registered on the 2^nd of December 2016 under BTC Invetments. The problem here is with the address that was used to register the domain with. The address is listed as 67 Wessels Street, Johannesburg, Western Cape, 2128, ZA. There are two issues with this address. The first being that the address is listed incorrectly and does not make sense. This is because Johannesburg and the Western Cape are two different places very far away from each other. In South Africa, Johannesburg falls under the Gauteng province, while the Western Cape is another province on its own.

The second issue we discovered is that this same address has been linked too and used by other scam sites operating in South Africa. Just one example is that it was used for a fake online retailer selling Apple watches, which of course the consumers never received, and a few other sites. This information should immediately sound alarm bells in your head and be enough to keep you from getting involved in any way with BTC Investments. This is a serious indication of a scam site.

Apart from the website being registered under the name of the organization rather than an individual, so we cannot know who registered the site, there is also no information on the site itself in regards to who is behind the operation. There are no pictures, names or biographies to go on. Under the ‘Kingdom Ministries’ tab of their site, they mention the first names of five men who supposedly started the organization. Without surnames attached, these names could have been randomly picked out of a hat for all we know. Besides the fact that the so-called Kingdom Ministries is not even a registered charity or non-profit organisation in South Africa. At least the one they are talking about on their page with the logo of a zebra isn’t registered. There are countless other churches and organizations with the same name who are registered in SA. Therefore, whoever chose the name was very clever in terms of being difficult to track down and pinpoint who exactly they are.

Is This Legal?

The short answer is no, it is not! Any type of pyramid scheme is considered illegal. The fact that BTC Investments does it in the form of cash gifting or donating is even worse. As some may already know, Cash Gifting is actually legal; however, there are certain forms that are considered illegal in many countries. For example, the SEC and the IRS consider cash gifting as illegal pyramid schemes due to the way the programs are structured, with the creators receiving most of the incoming cash.

Other aspects can render a cash gifting or donating program illegal. For instance, if, like BTC Investments, they operate like a company or organization and solicit individuals to send them money in order to join, and they use terms like “investments,” “Business Opportunity,” “Make,” “Earn” or “Profit.” All of this can render a program as illegal and unfortunately, BTC Investments does almost all of the above. Furthermore, investments fall under the securities act, which require them to adhere to strict rules and regulations. All of this should be enough to keep you from joining such a program.

BTC Investments Review Conclusion

After having carefully examined all aspects of the BTC Investments program, we are left with no choice but to warn others about the dangers of joining. Plenty of scams have used the tactic of claiming to be religious or charity organizations that help the needy, when in reality they are simply lining their own pockets. BTC Investments claims to be both, which is shocking, but nothing new

There are way too many warning signs and dangers present in this online service. Just reading their terms of service was enough to send us running. Nothing you do on that site is governed, regulated or protected in any way. They’ve set up disclaimers to such an extent, that should anything go wrong, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. For a supposed investment program, it truly is scary. We sincerely advise our readers to avoid BTC Investments for their own protection.

BTC Investments is a Scam!

Blacklisted Website: BTCInvestments.co.za

Have you fallen victim to BTCInvestments? Please share your experience by leaving a comment below!

For legitimate alternatives, feel free to visit our Cryptocurrencies Day Trading Center or our Cryptocurrency Investment Guide.

Join our members list by subscribing to ScamBitcoin.com! Members receive intuitive reviews and scam warnings directly to their inbox free of charge!n