GEC, the "longest-lived" fund in the bottom currency circle: under the banner of environmental protection, defrauded 2 million people in three years
Editor's Note: This article comes fromA blockchain (ID: yibenqkl)Editor's Note: This article comes from
A blockchain (ID: yibenqkl)
A blockchain (ID: yibenqkl)
, Author: Ratchet Pizza, reprinted with authorization by Odaily.
In 2017, the "Environmental Protection Entrepreneurship Coin" GEC came out.
Up to 200% annualized income, 7,000-fold increase since its establishment, and head-turning dividends starting at 5%...GEC has swept the country, engulfing more than 2 million investors.
And even in the circle, GEC is notorious - tampering with the rules, banning accounts without reason, and clearing user assets are common tactics.
Today, the "longevity" funds in this currency circle are finally coming to an end.
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Funds
In March 2017, a digital currency called GEC was quietly launched.
Its full name in English is Green Entrepreneurship Coin, and its Chinese name is "Environmental Entrepreneurship Coin". The project claims to be initiated by the World Environmental Protection Entrepreneurship Foundation and is a P2P digital currency.
"But GEC is an out-and-out fund market." A veteran fund player A Dong told Yiben Blockchain, "It has been online for almost three years and has attracted at least 2 million investors."
To judge whether a project is funded or not, only two criteria are needed - first, whether there is a super high return on investment; second, whether it is using a marketing method that pulls people's heads.
And GEC has both.
"As long as you register, the platform will give you a free cloud mining machine. If you want to continue investing, you have to pay for the mining machine yourself." Wang Yu, the "mentor" of a GEC guild, told Yiben Blockchain.
Another major benefit of GEC comes from the rise in currency prices. "When GEC was first issued, it was only US$0.01, but now it costs 500 RMB." Wang Yu said.
As an upline, Wang Yu can get a dividend of 5% of the investment amount of the downline. Develop more offline, and you can get more "cloud mining machines" and privileges when you go online.
The large amount of rewards brought by pulling people's heads makes GEC players flock to them. As early as 2017, Yunnan media reported that a teacher at Yunnan Agricultural University promoted GEC in class and asked students to buy it collectively.
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Yunnan university teachers promote GEC in student WeChat groups
What exactly is the "cloud mining machine" subscribed by GEC investors?
GEC official information shows that GEC coins imitate Bitcoin, and all coins are produced by mining. Cloud mining machines are GEC's mining tools.
The subscription interface shows that these cloud mining machines look like servers, and the price ranges from 2 GEC to 2000 GEC.
But when a block chain asked for photos of the mining machine and the mine farm, Wang Yu was extremely impatient: "This is a cloud mining machine. Do you understand the cloud mining machine? It is different from Bitcoin, which consumes more electricity. , we don’t have physical mining machines, so it’s green and environmentally friendly.”
In other words, GEC's so-called cloud mining machine is just a cloud of air - GEC coins are completely generated by the system out of thin air and have nothing to do with mining.
The scam doesn't stop there. According to official data, the circulation of GEC is as high as 8 billion, and the currency price is around 500 yuan.
Based on this calculation, the market value of GEC is as high as 4 trillion yuan, far exceeding Bitcoin. Compared with listed companies, the market value of GEC is equivalent to 0.5 Apple, 1.5 Tencent, and 3 Moutai.
"Buying and selling coins are all done on the official website." Wang Yu explained, "The transactions on the official website are guaranteed, and GEC is not listed on the exchange to protect everyone and prevent everyone from being cheated."
In other words, the issuance, transaction, and transfer of GEC are all under official control. GEC, which claims to be a P2P digital currency, is nothing more than a string of numbers on the trader's server.
Search for the full English name of GEC on Google and other English search engines, and most of the search results are in Chinese.
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When the coin circle project self-packages, there will be some high-sounding rhetoric. According to GEC, its vision is to fund environmental protection entrepreneurial projects and support the development of the world's environmental protection industry.
The same is true for its sponsor, the World Environmental Entrepreneurship Foundation. According to official information, the World Environmental Entrepreneurship Foundation was established in Hong Kong in 2015 and has launched a series of environmental protection public welfare activities around the world.
However, in June this year, the Civil Affairs Department of Zhejiang Province included the World Environmental Entrepreneurship Foundation in the list of illegal social organizations.
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The list of illegal social organizations announced by the Civil Affairs Department of Zhejiang Province
In reality, beautiful words such as environmental protection and entrepreneurship can indeed confuse many people.
"The purpose of the GEC environmental protection currency is to allow everyone to pay attention to and participate in the protection and construction of the environment." GEC investor Chen Jialiang said, "GEC's continuous value-added is also to allow environmental protection volunteers to have a sufficient economic foundation. Contribute to the cause of global environmental protection."
"We are doing public welfare, not pyramid schemes or fundraising." Chen Jialiang said, "It has been reported by TV stations, and GEC is completely in line with the national development trend."
His evidence is a report from Shanxi Satellite TV in April 2018. It filmed an afforestation public welfare activity called "'4·29' Green Moving the Earth" in Yuquan Mountain, Taiyuan. The logo of GEC is printed on the caps of the volunteers.
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Screenshot of Shanxi Satellite TV program
“Shanxi TV station was used by the local GEC organizers.” A Dong said, “Reporters obviously don’t know what GEC is, and the program only reported the event without mentioning GEC.”
In fact, GEC has organized similar activities all over the country, and they have all become GEC's promotion means.
According to the clues provided by GEC participants, a blockchain found that GEC members are located in almost every city in the country.
Among them, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and the three northeastern provinces are the hardest-hit areas of GEC flooding, especially in the third- and fourth-tier cities in these places.
GEC official information shows that on February 20, 2018, the number of registered members of the GEC system has exceeded 2 million. From the perspective of the number of participants, the scale of GEC has surpassed PlusToken, which has previously swept across the country.
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"GEC is not the most well-known among the funds in the currency circle, but it is definitely the most durable among all the projects that are still alive." A Dong told Yiben Blockchain.
Since its launch in March 2017, GEC has been in operation for nearly three years. In the currency circle, such a "longevity" fund is extremely rare.
The reason for GEC's longevity is not complicated, though.
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Longevity Mystery
Capital trading is a zero-sum game between traders and investors. Traders tend to give up profits first, and finally run away to complete the harvest.
GEC's routine is exactly that.
Although it is a capital market, the registration threshold of GEC is extremely high. Most wool parties, as well as investors who want to do short-term, will be turned away.
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Materials required for GEC real-name authentication
What's even more outrageous is that if investors want to sell coins, they need to complete advanced certification and upload a recent bank statement or utility bill that includes their name and address.
To complete the advanced certification, you need to upload the bank statement or utility bill containing the address
The magical operation of GEC is yet to come—the platform often bans users’ accounts for various reasons:
Users who use the same IP to register and log in to different accounts will be blocked; if they do not log in for a long time, they will be blocked; if they sell coins frequently, they will be blocked;
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An investor's account was blocked due to long-term non-login
"There is a joke in the currency circle that someone bought Bitcoin and only remembered it a few years later, and became a multi-millionaire by accident." He said, "But in GEC, as long as a multi-millionaire does not log in for a month, he will become a pauper." .”
After being blocked, you can also apply for unblocking.
However, GEC’s unblocking rules are extremely complicated: investors need to contact the upline, write a letter of commitment, take a photo with their ID card and letter of commitment, and finally wait for the platform’s lengthy review.
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"Inadequate learning" is also one of the reasons for the title of GEC
Once the off-line violates the regulations again, the on-line will also be blocked. Therefore, the upline may not necessarily pass the unblocking application of the downline.
Under a series of strict rules, GEC not only cleaned up the wool party in the platform, but also selected a group of loyal users.
Because of this, Adong called GEC an "atypical" fund.
"The platform is so domineering and contradictory, and those who remain are all brainwashed leeks." A Dong said, "Many people really believe that GEC is an environmental protection project that benefits the country and the people, and they are willing to hoard coins."
Recently, the GEC platform has experienced frequent access anomalies, and the banning rules have become more stringent. "It's going to crash," he said.
But the "mentor" of GEC is still fooling around.
"The platform is testing whether everyone is really doing environmental protection. Environmental protection is not just a joke. It takes hard work and sweat. If you have no love, please leave as soon as possible." In response to the increasing number of bans, Wang Yu said.
Many leeks still believe in GEC.
"Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has asked major operators to promote number portability. Unstable network access is normal." An investor said.
While vigorously advocating blockchain technology, the country is also cracking down on various blockchain scams.
* Some interviewees in this article are pseudonyms.
