Be alert! Some people are wearing the cloak of ＂blockchain＂ to speculate and cheat.

　　From behind the scenes to the stage, behind the fiery blockchain technology, another "feast" is surging. Speculation about digital currency’s "cutting leeks", issuing worthless "air coins", pyramid schemes and fraud under the banner of blockchain … Swindling in the name of blockchain is on the rise.

　　Putting on a "blockchain" coat to speculate on digital currency

　　Liu Peng, a citizen of Tianjin, began to contact and buy Bitcoin in 2014. After several rounds of market hype, he attracted retail investors to chase after high prices and "cut leeks". He said that buying digital currency is not so much an investment, but more often it is just a game of speculation and risk. "No matter whether you lose or win, there is only a chicken feather left in the end, and very few people really make money."

　　On October 25, each bitcoin that hovered around $8,000 for a long time suddenly exerted its strength, and broke through the $10,000 mark in one fell swoop on the 26th, with the highest increase exceeding 30%.

　　As of 12: 00 on November 18th, the total market value of Bitcoin exceeded US$ 154.5 billion, which is completely comparable to that of a well-known listed company. However, it is questioned that, except for the speculation caused by the skyrocketing and plunging, the practical application has not been seen for a long time.

　　Once again, there are coin issuing companies and coin circles from the media. Recently, some illegal coin issuing institutions are overseas and use social software to promote tokens. "They declared that’ digital currency is a blockchain’, which is actually a deliberate misinterpretation of blockchain technology." Experts said.

　　In view of the fact that the People’s Bank of China has issued legal digital currency, on November 13th, the central bank specifically denied rumors in official website. The People’s Bank of China has not issued legal digital currency, nor has it authorized any asset trading platform to trade. The People’s Bank of China began to study the legal digital currency in 2014, and it is still in the process of research and testing.

　　Blockchain has become a "signboard" for pyramid schemes.

　　The fiery blockchain technology has also revived some evil deeds in the name of blockchain and fraudulent pyramid schemes.

　　Guo Yuhang, chairman of China Blockchain Application Research Center, said that during his recent investigation in a central province, officials from the financial department of the province revealed that the local authorities had investigated and dealt with more than 40 illegal fund-raising cases under the banner of blockchain, and the most serious case involved more than 2 billion yuan.

　　Not long ago, a sports App that claimed to be "based on blockchain technology development" was investigated by the relevant departments of Changsha City, Hunan Province. The software is referred to as a "typical pyramid marketing model", which is the result of combining traditional marketing methods with new concepts such as "blockchain" and "great health".

　　Similar cases have been on the rise this year. Suzhou City, Yancheng City and other places in Jiangsu Province have cracked fraud cases in the name of blockchain. The police in Hengyang City, Hunan Province cracked a fraud case in May this year. The criminal gang used the blockchain as a gimmick to issue worthless "air coins" and raised Ethereum worth nearly 350 million yuan.

　　In the exposed cases of pyramid schemes and fund-raising fraud under the guise of blockchain, the characteristics of "pulling the head" are very obvious. They often take advantage of the psychology that the public is not familiar with the blockchain but has heard of Bitcoin’s "myth of making wealth", and put on a "fashionable" coat for illegal activities, promising low investment and high income, and the return on offline development is higher. Those who don’t know the truth are easily deceived.

　　Industry experts said that although the "air coin" may really use blockchain technology, its distribution purpose is too grand, such as "human health" and "reconstructing business model", which is almost impossible to achieve. Once the investors get involved and the funds accumulate to a considerable amount, the project issuer has a high probability of running away, and the investors lose all their money.

　　At present, many listed companies are interested in catching the blockchain express. According to statistics, among more than 3,000 A-share listed companies, more than 500 claim to be related to the blockchain, but less than 40 actually disclose the specific blockchain business content and it is true. The phenomenon of "rubbing hot spots" is very prominent.

　　Penetrating the fog and recognizing the essence

　　"Blockchain and Bitcoin can’t draw an equal sign, and obviously it is not the same as’ getting rich’." Many people in the industry emphasized to reporters that blockchain is an underlying technology, relying on which many digital currency such as Bitcoin were born, but it should not be confused.

　　Finding the truth needs to penetrate the fog. In addition to increasing the popularity of blockchain knowledge, so that the public can understand and identify MLM fraud in the cloak of "blockchain", it is more important that supervision should also keep pace with the times.

　　Experts pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the application of supervision technology. Most MLM projects in the name of blockchain will spread and leave traces on the Internet frequently. With the help of existing financial technology supervision means, it is possible to find and investigate them in time.

　　Ma Tianyuan, a senior researcher at Huobi Group Research Institute, believes that blockchain is being widely integrated with the real economy and plays an active role in various fields such as the Internet of Things, intelligent manufacturing, and user credit reporting. Only by making good use of it can the potential be truly brought into play.

　　Xiao Lei, a financial analyst, warned that when the business model of blockchain application is not yet mature, it is necessary to prevent the development of blockchain technology from becoming a new capital "black hole" with policy support, and to prevent blind and follow-up investment.