🔺 Ponzi

Ponzi Schemes are criminal scams that are designed to look like legitimate investment opportunities on the outside. They are named for the infamous swindler Charles Ponzi due to a scheme he ran in the early 1920s. In a classic Ponzi Scheme, unfortunate investors are convinced to invest in some new, secret, wildly lucrative investment opportunity. The one running the scheme may send regular balance sheets to their clients showing how their money is growing over time, and will even allow early investors to withdraw as to not arouse suspicion. In reality, this money is not coming from some magic font of money, but from the other hopeful investors. As long as the number of investors keeps increasing, and the investors don't all try to withdraw at the same time, this scheme could go on for DECADES. Unfortunately for the investors, all the gains they see on paper are not actually backed by any money in the bank, so once people start withdrawing, it all comes crumbling down.

There are many variations of this in modern times, using pre-orders, gift cards, or even legitimate investment vehicles that suddenly take a turn for the worst, but the operator doesn't want to admit it to their clients.

Recognizing a Ponzi scheme.

Beware of investment opportunities above the "Madoff Threshold", that is, anything that promises to return more than 12% annually. Returns of 5-8% are pretty normal for conservative investment opportunities, but any larger than that likely is either highly variable (some years you may be up 12%, others you might be -2%) or relying on some unsustainable structures that are likely to collapse as more people try to take advantage of them (something like a pyramid scheme, for example).

Many securities will give regular returns higher than 12%, or even 20%, but those increased rewards are *ALWAYS* bundled with increased risk. If any investment opportunities are promoting unbelievable upside while downplaying their risk that is a massive red flag which you should be suspicious of immediately.

Ponzi Protocol is a fun new game that teaches the mechanics of how Ponzi Schemes operate in an extraordinarily transparent way. Players *CAN* walk away with more than they put in, as long as they act conservatively, and understand when the right time is to exit.

Step 1: DEPOSIT. Send some amount of Ethereum (that you are willing to lose) to the listed ETH address.

Step 2: WAIT. Interest is compounded hourly. Yearly returns are 666% growth.

Step 3: WITHDRAW. When the time is right (don't be greedy!) withdraw your ETH and enjoy your gains.

WARNINGS:

Any address may only have one claim open at a time.

If you try to withdraw your claim, and the money isn't there, your claim will be forfeited.

Deposits and withdrawals can not come from other smart contracts, as that would make it too easy to avoid negative outcomes.

If you are trying to make a large withdrawal, other players may detect that and "frontrun" your transaction, which could cause you to lose your claim.

If a withdrawal is successful, an additional education fee will be withdrawn and gifted to me, the creator of this site, which may be used for further development or boats.

Contract code available HERE.

What, you think you can make a prettier website than me?

Please send pull requests to https://github.com/pierce403/ponzi.finance