4

I was recently invited to join InitiativeQ via a friend on Facebook. The underlying idea makes rough sense to me (as a non finance expert). However their 'hook' seems to be that early adopters will get free money later down the line when the currency launches (the earlier you adopt, the more currency you will receive). Looking at the website, there is a big button with the text Reserve $128,957 (I assume that's their idea of what the dollar value of my reservation will be if it launches).

The website's production quality suggests it is not a scam, however the language suggests strongly that it is. Is this a scam, a get rich quick scheme? Or am I being overly paranoid?

Improve this question
4
  • 3
    There's some interesting analysis here by a respected cynic here: davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/06/24/… (includes a response by an insider in the comments).
    – timday
    Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 23:39
  • 1
    google 'ponzi schema'...
    – Aganju
    Commented Oct 23, 2018 at 23:59
  • 6
    When you expect to scam people for a few hundred thousands, maybe a couple millions if you get lucky, hiring a professional website designer for a couple grands sounds like the sensible approach.
    – spectras
    Commented Oct 24, 2018 at 1:19
  • "They require only name, email, and an invite from an existing user." This sound exactly like "They require only credit card number, expiration date and three numbers from back"
    – SZCZERZO KŁY
    Commented Nov 8, 2018 at 10:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Is this a scam, a get rich quick scheme? Or am I being overly paranoid?

As Aganju has pointed out in comments; this looks more like "Pyramid Scheme". Even if initially no money is being asked; it would be a gold mine of information being gathered. This could then be used for other scams.

The entire concept of giving an email ID and Name with limited invites to build trust and know people is misplaced. Every individual has quite a few emailID's that he normally uses. There is no limitation on the number of new emailID's an individual can create. There is nothing stopping from creating ID's and getting more Q tokens.

Will this eventually act as currency and build enough trust amongst community is hard to predict. In my view unlikely. This is not Crypto Currency that is limited. There is nothing stopping the owners from creating more currencies. One is trying to buy goods using some tokens that don't have established value.

Most currencies today are fiat; they are there because an authority says so. That kind of trust with a large open community is difficult to get. Think of holding quite a few currencies [papers] issued by various psudo authorities during times of war.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .