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BitConnect

avoid.net/bitconnect→0/100·97% conf.
[✓ FACT-CHECKED]· reviewed once · last review 8 Aug 2026

Last changed 2026-10-15 · Correction — Fact-check correction applied (the reviewer found the claim disputed): "Texas issued its emergency cease-and-desist order on January 3, 2018" Version history →

Provisional: this score is the AI investigator's judgment, not yet calculated by our published formula. Treat it as indicative. How scoring works →

anchored·32PkyR…a5Um
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Summary

BitConnect was a cryptocurrency lending platform and exchange that operated from February 2016 until January 2018. It raised an estimated \$2.4 billion from investors worldwide through a fraudulent lending program that falsely claimed to use a proprietary volatility trading bot to generate daily returns of up to 1%. Subsequent U.S. federal investigations confirmed it operated as a classic Ponzi scheme; its founder Satish Kumbhani remains a fugitive as of 2025, while lead U.S. promoter Glenn Arcaro was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison.

Connected Entities

3 entities · 30 linked investigations
Organizations
□Satish Kumbhani0□Vitalik Buterin67□BitConnect
Relationships
  • Satish Kumbhani→mentioned with→BitConnect(80%)
  • BitConnect→mentioned with→Satish Kumbhani(80%)
  • BitConnect→mentioned with→Vitalik Buterin(80%)
  • Satish Kumbhani→mentioned with→Vitalik Buterin(80%)
Also appears in
Railgun·40JaredFromSubway.eth MEV Bot - Counter-Honeypot Exploit·0Vitalik Buterin·67Worldcoin / World·34Taiko·52Veil Cash·59Satish Kumbhani·0Andean Medjedovic·26Polygon zkEVM·50Terra 2.0·7

Connected Through

3 shared actors · 30 investigations

Distinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.

Have evidence about BitConnect?

Timeline(12 events)

15 February 2016

BitConnect platform launches

Wikipedia

15 November 2016

ICO begins, 4.8M BCC tokens distributed over 46 days

SEC Complaint

December 2017

BCC reaches ATH ~\$463-\$525, market cap exceeds \$3.4B

CoinMarketCap

4 January 2018

Texas issues emergency cease-and-desist

Crypto.news

17 January 2018

Platform closes, BCC loses 92% of value

Wikipedia

18 August 2018

Divyesh Darji arrested in India

CoinDesk

September 2021

Arcaro pleads guilty; SEC files civil complaint

DOJ

25 February 2022

Kumbhani indicted on five federal counts

CoinDesk

March 2022

SEC confirms Kumbhani has disappeared from India

Fortune

16 September 2022

Arcaro sentenced to 38 months

Bloomberg

12 January 2023

\$17.6M restitution ordered for ~800 victims

CoinDesk

15 February 2025

India ED seizes \$190M in crypto from BitConnect

CoinDesk
Provenance & Audit Trail
Recorded on Solana ✓Verify on-chain14 Wayback Archives

Decision Log

  • #5correctionRecorded on Solana ✓10/15/2026, 2:52:45 PM
    slot 457277939 · hash 9bSHe4hrt3uHU9MtfsZHZZ7Dg2ix9fxQ93dSg3RKxKtY
  • #4reviewRecorded on Solana ✓9/9/2026, 3:05:07 AM
    slot 445505871 · hash AAiymbRjDbr1aHEPJULmXVNtYwRuyisBavsmwzGkf9sd
  • #3review approveRecorded on Solana ✓8/8/2026, 12:44:01 AM
    slot 443505063 · hash 85cMcUJ6NvS8kTNXYSTXLMNehqbpWUvxeHxa51qgQTtk
  • #2reviewRecorded on Solana ✓8/8/2026, 12:44:01 AM
    slot 443505059 · hash 7V6xxxmZE2S8cTTXzCzH4dbd5xZoZLJhLcUBfqErkfWE
  • #1publishRecorded on Solana ✓5/14/2026, 6:01:52 AM
    slot 419628708 · hash G12rWiJUovmdoWLTk1tERJ3bCAN9a6MrZ1GtCnmaDWKH

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (5 decisions). 14 of 15 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

Fact-checked 2026-09-0930 claims checked0 corrections pending1 applied⛓ anchoredSee findings →
full audit log →version history →

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 5/7/2026, 8:38:26 AM

last updated: 10/15/2026, 2:52:46 PM

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