The Wall Street Journal | By: Chuin-Wei Yap | October 04, 2017:
Seminars on digital-currency investing that once drew hundreds now take place in smaller, more secretive settings.
Three days after Chinese regulators outlawed cryptocurrency fundraising in early September, a woman met with half a dozen individuals at a Beijing golf club to pitch a digital-currency investment opportunity.
Over an hour and a half, the woman, who introduced herself as Ms. Zhang, said she represented a logistics company that was selling a new investment, one that could help buyers get up to a 40-fold return on their money in two to three years, according to an audio recording of the presentation reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
“We are basically a financing project,” Ms. Zhang told attendees. “It’s called virtual currency.” She told attendees not to publicize the investment opportunity, saying their gains could be affected if other investors rushed in, according to the recording.
As China widens a crackdown on exchanges and attempts to limit private trading venues for digital currencies, clandestine sales pitches seeking as much as $100,000 per investor are taking place away out of regulators’ sight, according to investors and traders.
Some of the activity that used to take place on widely accessible online platforms is shifting to low-profile offices and online messaging services, as digital-currency promoters and investors try to get around the new curbs.
To read full article – please click here.
