So far as I can tell there were only ever two reasons for the existence of cryptocurrency.
The first was so lazy people could get rich by doing no work – just buy a currency, sit back and hope the value rockets.
In which case, you’ll be bitterly disappointed if you bought a currency called PLC Ultima when it was selling for more than $100,000 earlier this year, because yesterday it was down to barely $1,000.
The second reason is meant to be convenience – anyone can hold and transfer crypto without the need for traditional banks and all their pesky money-laundering checks on who you are and where your income has come from.
Which is another reason why PLC Ultima, or PLCU for short, is a disaster – at time of going to press it had stopped withdrawals from its electronic wallets.
This is the equivalent of a high-street bank saying you can’t take cash out of your current account.
It’s a difficult time for PLCU, which might explain why I was thrown out of its conference last weekend. They apparently don’t want journalists asking awkward questions.
The event was organised by the optimistically named Infinity Income Team. “Your path to financial freedom”, read its online flyer, but my path was back out the door when I told organisers I worked for the Mirror.
Promoter Ken Barnes told me the conference was for members only, something not mentioned on the Facebook flyer that was posted for anyone to see.
I was able to get in a couple of questions before being slung out, including asking whether the regular meetings he holds amount to giving financial advice, something he is not authorised to do by the Financial Conduct Authority.
“It’s not financial advice, it’s just education,” he insisted. “The presentations are for educational purposes. We are not selling financial services, we are selling the concept.”
I’m not sure how that squares with other posts of his in which he talks about PLCU and “my short and long-term planning and investing strategy”.
His message for anyone who has seen the value of their investment plummet was to hang on to it.
“The cycle always comes back,” he claimed. “You get rich over time, three to four years. Unless you sell the coin you have not lost.”
Backing up Barnes in having me ejected was someone called Stuart Latimer.
He has previously endorsed a crypto venture called Hyperverse which promised “flexible and stable cryptocurrency wealth management products”.
Stable? The Hyperverse coin has plummeted even further than PLCU and is effectively worthless.
Another leading promoter at the Infinity Income Team is Terry James, who is also a stage hypnotist.
In April he urged: “Join my team and change your entire financial life quickly.”
Since then 99% of PLCU’s value has disappeared in a puff of smoke.
PLCU was founded by a German, Alex Reinhardt, but the company behind it is registered in Cyprus and operates out of Dubai.
It is not regulated and so investors are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Reinhardt has a dismal crypto record that includes the disastrous PlatinCoin and SwissCoin.
He too has come over all shy, declining to answer my emails.
Backers of PLCU make him out to be something of a genius and cite articles in obscure publications such as Business Insider Africa, which ran a piece on the "Top ten crypto minds" in October.
Nine of them were obvious - Elon Musk and the likes of the bosses of such crypto titans as Binance and Ethereum.
Among this illustrious company, and sticking out like a midget among giants, was Reinhardt.
PLCU promoter Terry James posted links to the article though I did not see him point out an important fact.
It was paid-for content. Just advertising guff, in other words.
investigate@mirror.co.uk
