Just when you thought you’d heard of everything, along comes Bitcoin2. Displaying all the aspects of a classic scam, this superbly named Bitcoin fork briefly blasted its way into CoinMarketCap’s top 25. Which raises a few important questions.

WTF Is Bitcoin2?

Bitcoin2 00 may have flown under your radar and, hopefully, it has. One look at its website should be enough to set the alarm bells ringing for most investors. As a completely unknown Bitcoin fork, this new cryptocurrency is promising the moon–with no evidence to back it up.

It’s a Bitcoin fork, yet it’s “truly anonymous,” entirely scalable, and offers “instantly verified transactions.” Oh, and it uses Proof-of-Stake.

It gets better. One of the most sophisticated aspects of this scam coin has to be its detailed and well thought-out roadmap for 2019.

For the year ahead, its goals including “marketing” and “more to be announced.” Call me cynical, but a Bitcoin fork coming out of nowhere (registering its website in 2019) and offering solutions to all of Bitcoin’s problems smells decidedly like a scam.

Not to mention the glaring fact that more than 95 percent of Bitcoin2’s (BTC2) coin supply is yet to be claimed by Bitcoin holders since the fork.

Go ahead and invest; just don’t be surprised if you get asked for your private keys to receive the forked coins.

Clear Pump and Dump Scheme

With a 5500 percent surge in 24 hours, BTC2 has to be one of the largest pump and dump schemes the cryptoverse has seen in recent times. Clearly manipulated by some unscrupulous whale driving up the price only to dump on FOMO-gripped investors.

According to Bitcoin2’s Twitter, it was listed on CoinMarketCap last week:

Bitcoin 2 just got listed at #Coinmarketcap – https://t.co/HIASPNGCOv#btc2 #bitcoinfork #proofofstake #zerocoin #masternodes #bitcoin2 #bitcoin

— Bitcoin 2 (@Bitc2org) May 28, 2019

So, if Bitcoin2 is clearly a scam, how is it still hovering in CMCs top 100 list, currently trading at just under $4 a coin?

How Can CoinMarketCap List It Based on 2 Small Exchanges?

That people are still falling for this type of pump and dump scam in 2019 is disheartening. But then, that’s crypto for you, never a dull moment nor opportunity missed to separate fools from their money.

But it does have to make you wonder if we can’t get some better metrics in place.

We already know that 95 percent of trading volume is made up by exchanges and most DApp traffic comes from bots.

With so few reliable indicators about the actual state of the market, one has to wonder about many people’s go-to source for cryptocurrency market information. As CryptoNewsDaily states:

Why does CoinMarketCap use data from just two scam exchanges to effectively value a sh**coin like Bitcoin2 at half a billion dollars?

Why does CoinMarketCap use data from just two scam exchanges to effectively value a sh*tcoin like Bitcoin 2 at half a billion dollars?! It makes crypto look like a complete joke! Only data from ‘legitimate'(wash trading, I know!) top exchanges should be … https://t.co/4ghtRpMFCp pic.twitter.com/uSxwGaS3mW

— CryptoNewsDaily (@CryptoNDaily) June 7, 2019

Bitcoin2 for its part maintains that it was “caught off guard” by the interest in its coin. It will now be seeking more legitimate exchange listings:

We were caught off guard by the effects of a lot more new eyes on #BTC2 so suddenly. We’ll be applying for big exchanges shortly.#bitcoin2

— Bitcoin 2 (@Bitc2org) June 6, 2019

Wherever this sh**coin gets listed next, just keep your private keys private–and be sure to spread the warning.

Is ‘Bitcoin 2’ a blatant scam? Share your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock

The post ‘Bitcoin2’ Is Here as 5500% Daily Gain Screams Pump and Dump appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.