SKP Mine, also known as Skip Cloud Miner and SK Pools, has collapsed. The platform’s website is no longer accessible as of March 4th, 2024. The operation, which claimed to offer cloud mining services through a simple "click a button" interface, is now confirmed to be a Ponzi scheme.
The domain for SKP Mine, skpools.pro, was registered privately on June 3rd, 2023. Website source code analysis shows the site is localized for Chinese users, suggesting the operators have connections to China. Despite this, SKP Mine appears to have primarily targeted the Philippines, with marketing materials presented in Philippine peso equivalents. Traffic data from SimilarWeb indicated the Philippines was the top source of visits in September 2023, though this was down 87% month-on-month. Other significant traffic sources included Indonesia, Egypt, Russia, and Turkey.
SKP Mine offered no retailable products or services. Affiliates could only market membership in the platform itself. The compensation plan involved affiliates investing tether (USDT) with promises of daily returns based on investment tiers. For instance, a 10 USDT investment was advertised to yield 1 USDT daily for 20 days. In addition to these purported returns, affiliates earned referral commissions on USDT investments made by downline recruits across three unilevel tiers: 10% on level 1, 4% on level 2, and 2% on level 3. Free membership was available, but full participation in the income opportunity required a minimum 10 USDT investment.
The core mechanism of SKP Mine involved affiliates logging in and clicking a button to generate mining revenue, with the frequency of clicks purportedly increasing with higher investment amounts. This "click a button" cloud mining ruse is a common tactic employed by Ponzi schemes. The premise that clicking a button generates mining revenue, and that the platform requires user funds for existing mining operations, is illogical. In reality, the platform simply recycled new investors' funds to pay earlier participants.
SKP Mine is part of a broader trend of "click a button" app Ponzis that began appearing in late 2021. Similar schemes utilizing the same cloud mining deception include Stronghold Digital, Dmining, and T97 BestPlan. Daily Exposed has documented over one hundred such schemes, most of which operate for a few weeks to a few months before collapsing. These operations typically vanish by disabling their websites and associated apps without warning, leaving the vast majority of investors with losses due to the inherent mathematics of Ponzi schemes. It is believed that the same group of Chinese scammers is responsible for this wave of fraudulent operations.