FCoin Overview
FCoin launched in 2018 out of China, hyped for its “trans-fee mining” model that refunded trading fees 100 % in FT tokens and paid out daily income to holders. It rocketed to top volumes, but by 2020 the cracks were fatal - FCoin admitted a shortfall of up to 13,000 BTC, froze withdrawals and left traders stranded.
What made FCoin unique
- Trans-fee mining: Pay fees, instantly get them back in FT tokens. On paper, it was free trading paired with revenue sharing.
- Daily payouts: FT holders got slices of up to 80 % of FCoin’s daily income, turning traders into yield chasers.
- Fast rise: These incentives pushed FCoin to the top of volume charts almost overnight - though much was churn.
Where it unraveled
- Collapse in 2020: FCoin halted withdrawals, saying it owed users between 7,000-13,000 BTC due to old reward miscalculations.
- Shady fund flows: Blockchain data showed ~19,000 BTC quietly left FCoin wallets over years - far beyond normal customer withdrawals.
- Broken trust: Traders were left empty-handed, with many calling it a scam or calculated rug pull masked as system errors.
Quick snapshot table
- Started: May 2018 by ex-Huobi tech lead Zhang Jian
- Model: Trans-fee mining, daily revenue shares via FT token
- Collapse: Feb 2020, short by ~7k-13k BTC
- Claims: Mispaid rewards & delayed treasury fixes
- Reality: Fund flows suggested hidden extractions
Pros & cons
- Pros: Massive early volume, aggressive user incentives, pioneering token-dividend experiments.
- Cons: No audits, encouraged wash trading, ended with frozen funds and no protections. Now serves as a cautionary tale.
What traders faced
Early on, traders earned daily rewards and flipped FT tokens for quick gains. But as treasury gaps ballooned, FCoin shut down withdrawals and balances vanished. Social channels exploded with fraud claims, and the founder’s promises of future repayment via new projects fell flat.
Final thoughts
FCoin was a flashy experiment that prioritized hype over safeguards. It taught the crypto world that clever fee rebates mean nothing without strong controls and reserves. Today it’s remembered as a classic meltdown that locked user money and showcased the dangers of untested tokenomics.