India: Crypto cash are like 'Ponzi schemes'

India warned Friday against investing in cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, likening them to "Ponzi schemes", as it became the latest country to urge caution.

Despite a boom in trade that has seen prices soar, cryptocurrencies "don't have intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind of assets," the Indian finance ministry said in a statement.

"There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi schemes which can result in sudden and prolonged crash," it said.

Bitcoin prices plunged by almost 40 percent from its record high of $19,500 this month as investors cashed out following the wildly volatile currency's stratospheric rise.

Analysts and governments have repeatedly warned about a bubble that could burst at any moment as investors, many inexperienced, piled into the currency.

India's government said consumers needed to be "extremely cautious as to avoid getting trapped in such Ponzi schemes".

Its warning came a day after South Korea, a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, said it would ban anonymous trading of virtual currencies.

On Tuesday Israel announced a move to ban trading in cryptocurrency-based companies on the Tel Aviv market until it can regulate transactions involving digital coins.

The vice-president of the European Central Bank has also expressed concern about the relentless rise in the value of bitcoin.

US Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen has said bitcoin is not money and called on banks to be certain their digital currency transactions adhere to anti-money laundering statutes

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pinay 'Ponzi schemer' sentenced to jail in US

NEW YORK CITY - Dubbed by victims as the “Bernie Madoff of the Filipino Community” – Ponzi schemer Razel Canedo was sentenced to 24 months in jail and 3 years supervised release thereafter.

The plea bargain states that Canedo pleaded guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Judge Loretta Preska also ordered restitution of $949,200 to be paid to the known victims of the 44-year-old con artist.

While some victims wanted a longer sentence, some were happy with the victory. “We’ll take it, for us it’s not enough but we’ll take it,” said Jheett Tolentino, the group’s whistleblower who lost $25,000.

Canedo admitted in court that between January 2003 and July 2008, she was trying to set up and run a supposed “nanny service and nursing agency business” that would help bring Filipino nurses from the Philippines to work in the US.

Canedo recruited a number professionals who invested their hard-earned money in her business that turned out to be a scam.

For Charles Doolan, a $100,000 invested and lost is an expensive lesson to learn.

“It’s not only the money, it’s the stress involved, of course the money is substantial in my case, six figures and that’s a lot of money,” Doolan said.

Her victims say Canedo didn’t just steal their money, she stole part of their lives.

Canedo’s get-rich-quick scheme promised investors a return of up to 50%.

In her statement during the sentencing, Canedo apologized to the victims and told the court that they will never see her in court ever again as she is determined to better her life.

In her final statement Judge Loretta Preska said that it’s one thing to steal people’s money, but it’s another thing to destroy people’s lives as a consequence of her criminal act.

Canedo now has 60 days to turn herself in at the Danbury correctional center for women in Connecticut.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com