Abstract
The years 2001–2004 was a prosperous period of growth for new digital currency systems. This increase also produced millions of new unsuspecting victims who became targets of online fraudsters. Purported to be a digital currency backed by gold bullion, the Off-Shore Gold (OSGold) system was a complete fraud. Hidden behind a legitimate façade, OSGold was only an online method to accept Ponzi funds into the HYIP named OSOpps. The OSOpps Ponzi operator simply stole users’ funds, including the money deposited to OSGold digital currency, and then fled to Mexico. This chapter is a fascinating look into independent segments of the digital currency business that support the financial activities of online Ponzi schemes. Lawsuits that followed the Ponzi’s collapse attempted to assign liability to the Ponzi’s foreign bank partners and digital currency exchange agents.
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Mullan, P.C. (2016). OSGold. In: A History of Digital Currency in the United States. Palgrave Advances in the Economics of Innovation and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56870-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56870-0_8
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56869-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56870-0
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