The central banking system is one giant pyramid scheme hellloooo

Agreed and this is one problem that cryptos seek out to resolve. Probably why Satoshi Nakomoto is anonymous. He would probably be dead by now. If he isnt already.

Because it isnt a pyramid scheme.. I've been studying an investing in cryptos for over a year. Also any decentralized (most) cryptos arnt owned by anybody. It is owned by each user. So let's say there is 1 total BTC. I own .25, you own .50, and bob owns .25. You own 50% of that coin. It is publically owned and there is no 3rd party. Some ICOs are a scam and they are called scam coins. We need more regulation to solve this problem but it will be solved. That is why before you invest look at the dev team, read the whitepapers, and look at the community behind it.

Yeah, they will Pump and Dump. One of these to look at would be Ethereum Dark.

I guess I don't really understand the question. What do you mean by pull the plug?

Most investors stay away from ICOs but if you hop in the right one you can make quite a bit of money. ICOs are pretty much the best of both worlds of IPOs and crowd funding. They just need more regulation to avoid P&Ds and scam coins. The market is still so adolescent.

Scam "coins" are typically a token (ethereum ERC-20 tokens) and not a proof of work blockchain like bitcoin is.

It's super easy for anyone to make an ERC-20 token.

Many shady companies were starting ICOs to get around doing a formal IPO. The FTC is cracking down on ICOs really HARD. John McAfee was warned by the FTC and he himself said any one operating an ICO is going to get destroyed by the FTC very soon.

Cryptocurrencies are fantastic and have a very bright future. Unfortunately the market is saturated with shit coins, only a small percentage of the current 1600+ cryptos will survive. Be wary of tokens in general, proof of work and proof of stake coins etc are not immune.

As with any other investment you really need to do your due diligence and do your homework.

Can one invest in the nodes?

No, but you can set up your own node.

Can you explain what is in it for the nodes guy? I get the architect framework but looking at cost versus reward. Do you see the demand for nodes growing and being more lucrative?

For big investors and miners it makes sense to have your own node. This is because each node has a copy of the ledger so it is slightly more secure. That's pretty basic explination.

I read Amazon (innovation) was taking bids from companies to provide nodes for a new cryto currency. Only 20+ companies would be selected. The selection is going on as we speak. Sounds like the role of nodes will be different in this system or I am a total idiot and misunderstood the whole thing? I do know of a company the submitted. Maybe they rule or govern the nodes farm.

That makes total sense. I am no expert or financial adviser but I would look into how the blockchain works, nodes, full nodes, and master nodes.

You studied it for a year. You are considered an expert in my book. Thanks for the tip.

No problem I'm always happy to help as much as I can!

Bitconnect was a straight up pyramid scheme. Be careful and do your research aside from that just buy the gold standard. Bitcoin.

I would be able to send you some notes. But yeah bitconnect was a straight scam. By definition not a pyramid scheme though, but yes still a scam. Nobody recruits anybody. The question that should be asked is how is legal shield not a pyramid scheme.

I think you'd have to give a specific example if you want a real answer. Bitcoin, for instance, is not a pyramid scheme any more than any other digital product. It has a use and a market value and there is no transfer of funds between anyone by any third party. Bitcoins exist just like any other digital item. You buy them. You sell them. That's pretty much the extent of it. The worst you can say is that they are like Beanie Babies, perhaps.

Something like Bitconnect, though, might be a good candidate. Even though it looked very much like a pyramid scheme and collapsed just like one, I'm pretty sure it skated by because it seemed to be based almost exactly on how the existing banking system works. It was actually fairly ingenuously designed, because there was technically no difference between it and any mainstream bank that offers interest on deposits, and at the same time it was almost guaranteed to fail just like a pyramid scheme. So regulators didn't really have much of an argument with which to indict it.

And I imagine most of those involved knew the eventual outcome. In fact, I spoke with one person last year who knew that it was destined to fail and was still going to buy some anyways to hold for a few months, hoping to sell closer to the top. I'm not sure whether he did or not.

I guess I should say it was just like any other offshore bank. US banks have FDIC insurance.

This may have been mentioned already but pyramid schemes were one of the first things to pop up. Some guy scammed millions off of people and if I remember correctly he was shut down but didn't get into any real trouble. Unless it gets regulated you have to be careful otherwise you are shit out of luck.