This is a warning to anyone being seduced by the Bitconnect "lending program" promo videos on Steemit/Youtube (sorry @craig-grant, I really like your videos and your "flow" but this needs to be said). The only people earning more bitcoin versus buy and hold strategy are those using the referral program. I will back this up with simple math at the end of my post so skip to the bottom if you want to get to the point.
I'm not trying to look down on those promoting Bitconnect but they should call it what it is - a risky Ponzi scheme that could fold at any time. Once you "lend" BCC to the "volatility software" it is outside the domain of the trustless blockchain domain. There is a very real risk that the ones running this scheme at the top of the pyramid will exit scam once they have accumulated enough bitcoin. You get paid every day until "they" decide otherwise.
Cryptocurrency is about freeing the working class from the corrupt, and dishonest who take much more than they will ever put into "the system". Most of us work 40 to 60 hours a week just to eek out some leisure time with family/friends on our days off. We are essentially modern day slaves to the current monetary system.
We need to eradicate these parasites from our cryptospace. This requires information sharing. Some of us are very good at social networking. Others are gifted at math and reasoning. Whatever skill you have - please use it to defend our space and keep it growing in its purest form.
We are endlessly bombarded with the Bitconnects, Ethereum ICO's, and cloud mining contracts. It is very difficult to tell the real deal from a pile of shit. The purpose of this post is to identify one of the those piles of shit . Okay, enough preaching and now to the facts.
Go here to get the 30 day average percent return from the Bitconnect Lending Program:
https://bitconnect.co/learning-center/bitconnect-bitcoin-price-volatility-software/
As of today 6/2/2017 the 30 day average return is 0.99% per day (seemingly impressive)
Now let us compare this to buying and holding bitcoin return over the same 30 days. Go to your favorite bitcoin price tracking site. I will use https://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/bitstamp/btcusd. Here are the prices for the start and end dates to compare:
Bitcoin Price Start Date 5/4/2017 : ~$1437/BTC
Bitcoin Price End Date 6/2/2017: ~$2479/BTC
Buy and Hold Return: ($2479-$1437)/($1437)*100%/ 30 Days = 2.42% per day
As you can see the return for buy and hold is about 2.4 times higher than what the Bitconnect lending program returned over that same time period. You can look at past return rates at draw similar comparisons. You may be thinking, "But this is a good hedge if Bitcoin goes down in value". Remember, the lending program typically does not offer returns when Bitcoin goes down in value. You can speculate that they game the return rate during those down times to smooth it out. In other words they give back some of that profits they are exploiting during the up times just to keep the scheme going.
My final words of advice is to follow the cryptocurrency you believe in, with proven and diverse developers that have the same vision as you. Once you find that coin, buy and hold, and have a strong hand. Do not be seduced by scammers. You will prosper in the end.