BitConnect
A high-yield 'lending program' built around the BCC token (2016–2018). Per a U.S. federal indictment, founder Satish Kumbhani ran it as a Ponzi scheme that took about $2.4 billion from investors worldwide.
Also known as: BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, Glenn Arcaro, BCC
Summary
BitConnect was a cryptocurrency lending platform that operated from 2016 to 2018 around its native token, BitConnect Coin (BCC). According to a U.S. federal indictment, founder Satish Kumbhani operated the platform's "Lending Program" as a Ponzi scheme and obtained approximately $2.4 billion from investors worldwide. [1][2]
Mechanism
The platform claimed a proprietary "Trading Bot" and "Volatility Software" would generate returns. The indictment states that, in reality, earlier investors were paid with funds from later investors and the purported trading did not occur as described. [1][3]
Outcome
Lead U.S. promoter Glenn Arcaro pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy in 2021; the DOJ described BitConnect as among the largest cryptocurrency frauds charged criminally at the time. [3] Kumbhani was indicted in February 2022 and, according to reporting, remains a fugitive. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (3)
- BitConnect Founder Indicted in Global $2.4 Billion Cryptocurrency Scheme — U.S. DOJ
- Bitconnect (overview) — Wikipedia
- Director and Promoter of BitConnect Pleads Guilty — U.S. DOJ (SDCA)
See also
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) — Justin Sun token freezeProjectsWLFI, a DeFi project linked to Donald Trump and his family, blacklisted/froze the wallet of major investor Justin Sun in Sept 2025 — ~540–595M unlocked WLFI tokens (~$107M) plus ~2.4B locked. Sun sued, alleging an undisclosed admin 'blacklist backdoor'; WLFI denied it and threatened a countersuit. The dispute is ongoing.
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
