GOT INTO MY FIRST PONZI SCHEME
The first time i heard about Ponzi or pyramid schemes was in uni during the MMM (Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox) era. It was a sensational time on campus. Almost everyone i knew was engaged in some Ponzi scheme, well except me because i was broke. One thing about not having enough money is that you become too rational. I would say scarcity is the mother of common sense. I could easily poke holes in those schemes: they were either too good to be true, or sustainable in the long run.
Occasionally i would have people invite me to seminars on campus on pyramid schemes. A lot of people then took it as a business of some sort. Many of our then motivational speakers or aspire-to-perspire people like we called were into Ponzi, it was the rave then like i mentioned. So they were everywhere trying to convince and confuse you to join their schemes
knowledge is power! How long would you keep collecting pocket-money from your parents while your mates are making millions? you can be a student and make real money. I made five hundred thousand naira from the comfort of my home Come to my seminar and i will show you how?
I never went for such seminars. I watched everyone cashout around me until the bubble bursted. My cousin lost around 1.4 million naira to Ponzi, that was around $6000 then. I heard stories about people who sold their properties to join these schemes and lost everything. Sad and unfortunate. However, there were people who smiled to the bank for months. As much as we would like to highlight the bad stories, there was some success stories. It is the dynamics of life i believe especially when it comes to money and finance.
I told someone i won roughly $1000 from uniswap airdrop and they where trying to wrap their head around it.
where did the money come from?
Honestly i do not know or even care at this point. I am certain a lot of people do not know where the value of their paper notes(fiat) come from, they just use, and work for it. As long as it is a recognised medium of exchange it is fine (for most people). For those who do their research, they have little or no confidence in fiat. I personally do not hold much fiat. My bank account is usually empty until i need liquidity.
There was an incident recently here in NIgerian where funds donated for the #endsars protest were held by the Central Bank of Nigeria. They even went as far as tagging the facilitators as terrorists. Cases like this goes to support the pro-crypto argument. Fortunately they were able to use crypto to facilitate some of the transactions they needed to make. Crypto does have it's uses but like some critics would say, it is an advance ponzi.
For the most part people still see crypto as a form of investment and not a means of exchange. There is a lot of speculation in this industry and with anything that has to do with speculation there are gainers and losers; we have people entering and leaving the market with gains and loses. The market thrives and sustains through this mechanism as long as a large people still trust and have confidence in the market. The same applies to most ponzi schemes. What most ponzi schemes lack is innovation. They come up with one product and it dies within months. However, with other financial assests or instruments, there is a constant rebranding and innovation. Take cryptocurrency for example, the conversation has moved from decentralisation to computing power, scalability, DeFi, NFT etc There is enough excitement and innovation to keep people going.
So speaking about the said ponzi i got into. I am being offered 100% return of my investment in 14days. And this said scheme hides under the disguise of cryptocurrency. In retrospect, i understand why cryptocurrency has such a bad reputation. Alot of money doubling schemes use crypto as a front. I actually do not consider some of them as scams. Most do deliver on their promises until the whole scheme turns on its head (or maybe i am just trying to rationalise this thing). The fact that you lose money doesn't necessarily make it a scam. If you do your home work you will know the pros and cons. I know this is a high risk investment (ponzi! call it for what it is) and there is a high chance i never get to see my money again. I know over ten persons who have had success stories but mine might not be the same. What i do with this information is left to me. Fortunately, i am not greedy enough to put more than i am willing to lose, but such schemes do not thrive on such narrative. It is facilitated by greed. I know a friend who has put all he has in this scheme. It might turn out well this time(maybe not), but the thing is: he would take such risk again--even a bigger one and that could hurt him financially.
So i am hoping to get my interest in 14days. I will keep you guys updated.
Even smart people make foolish financial decisions.
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