Allegedly the bitcoin exchange mybitcoin.hk cheated investors out of 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, which corresponds to 342 million euros. The case once again shakes trust in the media.
Hach, following the news of her birth can be exhilarating at times. As a rule, someone who appears to be trustworthy for whatever reason makes a statement, which is then used by a press agency to make a report that is unchecked and mostly reprinted in the wording of almost all “quality media”.
{{{ 1}} In the most recent case, the trustworthy person is the politician Leung Yiu-chung from Hong Kong, the press agency the AFP and the quality media include the Huffington Post, the world, the Handelsblatt, the RP, the Standard, the Focus, the Kurier and many more. The AFP text begins with the fact that investors “again” feared high losses in connection with the virtual currency Bitcoin. After the MyCoin exchange from Hong Kong closed, around 342 million euros were lost, the politician said. Dozens of cheated investors have contacted him, and one of them has even invested 1.3 million Hong Kong dollars (about 100,000 euros). He estimates a total of 3,000 investors lost a total of HKD 3 billion. Some of the media also mention that MyCoin had promised investors that they would make 200 to 300 percent profit within a year, the German business news at least say that MyCoin has probably set up a pyramid scheme.
This message leaves three questions unanswered:
- How did the Hong Kong politician come from dozens of complaints and a single example of a woman who, according to her own statement, 1, Has lost 3 million Hong Kong dollars to the figure of 3 billion HKD?
- Isn’t $ 342 million fraud for an eco-system that has a total market capitalization of just $ 3 billion, a bit too much? In Bitcoin that would be a good 1.7 million Bitcoin.
- Why haven’t you heard of MyCoin.hk? I can list the ten most important Bitcoin exchanges in my sleep and, with a little thought, the next twenty, but like most Bitcoiners, I have never read anything about MyCoin.hk. How is it possible that such an unknown exchange can withhold so much money?
That the media consistently headlines in the face of these gaping questions in the indicative that a Bitcoin exchange with 342 million euros is disappearing can only prove one thing: that Subscribing to a press agency is far too often understood as permission to stop thinking. The suggestion that a Bitcoin trading platform like Bitcoin.de or Bitstamp embezzled 342 million euros is completely wrong. More deeply from the world of crypto, you can study for yourself on https://bitcoindata.org/the-world-of-crypto/, mainly for those who have recently become interested in this topic or want to expand their overview.
According to a forum post by a Chinese / Hong Kong Bitcoiner, the following happened: MyBitcoin.hk was a small exchange with a trading volume of less than 500 bitcoins a day. The exchange has been delaying the withdrawal of bitcoins for some time, setting daily limits of first 0.5 bitcoin, then 0.1 and finally 0.01 bitcoin.As a result, the price of bitcoins on MyBitcoin.hk dropped to as little as ten Hong Kong dollars (around 1 euro). It should go without saying that the bitcoins that some customers have bought there don’t really exist. According to the forum, the figure of 3 billion Hong Kong dollars arose from the fact that the allegedly purchased Bitcoins were offset against the Bitcoin market price.
Imagine, I promise you 1,000 euros in one year, if you send me 3 euros now. If I then threw off your 3 euros, did I cheat you out of 1,000 euros? Obviously yes – if a press agency claims it.
