Uganda's central bank just accused OneCoin of running a Ponzi scheme.

The Bank of Uganda issued a regulatory warning on February 14th that stops just short of calling the cryptocurrency outfit a fraud outright. The warning targets OneCoin's core business model: taking money from new recruits and using it to pay returns to earlier investors. That's textbook Ponzi.

OneCoin operates in Uganda without registering as a financial institution, putting it outside the Bank of Uganda's regulatory reach. The company lists its website as onecoin.eu and maintains an office on the fourth floor of Mukwano Courts on Buganda Road in Kampala—though whether that's an official OneCoin presence or just a local affiliate's address remains unclear. A quick search shows Mukwano Courts sits inside a shopping mall.

The bank's complaint targets OneCoin's aggressive pitch to Ugandans. The company promises high returns and rewards distributed on a "first-come-first-served" basis. That language is the red flag. First-come-first-served is how Ponzi schemes work—new money pays old returns until the scheme collapses.

In its warning, the Bank of Uganda lumped OneCoin with legitimate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ripple, cautioning that anyone putting savings into digital currencies faces risks without investor protection or regulatory oversight. The bank made clear: invest in OneCoin at your own peril. It urged the public to use only licensed financial institutions.

Uganda follows Nigeria's lead. The Nigerian SEC issued a similar warning last month, making Uganda the second African nation to publicly flag OneCoin as dangerous. Multiple European countries have already done the same.

Despite the mounting warnings, law enforcement has largely sat on the sidelines. London police are investigating OneCoin, and multiple other regulatory bodies have launched probes. Yet over a dozen warnings later, no significant action has been taken against OneCoin's operator Ruja Ignatova or the company itself.

🤖 Quick Answer

What warning did the Bank of Uganda issue regarding OneCoin?
The Bank of Uganda issued a regulatory warning on February 14th against OneCoin, accusing it of operating a Ponzi scheme. The central bank identified OneCoin's business model of collecting money from new recruits to pay returns to earlier investors as fraudulent activity, though the institution operates unregistered outside regulatory oversight.

Where does OneCoin maintain its presence in Uganda?
OneCoin lists its website as onecoin.eu and maintains an office on the fourth floor of Mukwano Courts on Buganda Road in Kampala. However, the status of this location remains unclear, as it may represent either an official OneCoin presence or simply a local affiliate's address within the shopping mall.

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