You’ve just found it — a promising cryptocurrency startup that few have heard of. It claims to be developing a blockchain system for agricultural commodities, such as fruits and vegetables.

Its goal: to raise $6.5 million.

It’s exciting to be part of the beginning phase of a company — particularly a crypto company. You decide to invest a little. When the startup, called Prodeum, tries to sell its tokens to you through a fundraising technique called an ICO — or initial coin offering — you say: “Sure, why not?” You hand over a few hundred dollars.

Then the company suddenly vanishes.

Luckily, you didn’t hand over your life savings. Phew. But you’re wary of the crypto industry now. Not just you, but the entire market.

And with good reason. Crypto scams like these are real. In fact, this Prodeum scam was just uncovered this past weekend.

So when scam rumors circle or regulatory crackdowns take place, it understandably adds more volatility to an already volatile market.

But as cryptocurrency, cryptos are here to stay. Period. The trick — as I’ll tell you today — is figuring out which are the fool’s-gold crypto scams and which are the opportunities that will help you hit pay dirt, and how to take advantage of the latter when volatility hits…

Cracking Down on Crypto Scams

It’s the 800-pound crypto gorilla in the room: crypto scams exist.

That’s the main reason Facebook just banned all crypto ads, including ones that promote bitcoin and ICOs. Truth be told, if you have to advertise your new crypto investment offering on social media, it’s probably not worth buying anyway. But I digress.

South Korea also cracked down on crypto scams recently, and the country has uncovered $600 million in crypto-related crime. Some crypto skeptics were worried South Korea would shut down trading on exchanges, but it only introduced new regulations.