I have tried a lot of various exchanges and I have been not happy with the vast majority of them. The majority of the problems are that besides having to check their sites extensively, I use scamadviser.com as the first check, then what other write about various companies and apps.
This is the best app for exchange of digital currencies https://LocalBitcoins.com./, but remember that if the offer is too good to be true then use a few minutes to check the profile and the country of origin. The amount of confirmed info and reviews from the other users.
I have noticed that the majority of claims of sites being ponzi scams often are selling even more dubiuos scam websites, that they present after their analysis of the site that they deem as a ponzi scheme. In the end there is only common sense that can be the most useful tool.
Is the reward unrealistic high, sadly in most cases the loss of investment is the most common result for 24 months cloud mining contracts, compared to what a simple calculator programs return as results for the returns of the investment.
If is not possible to pay with a credit or debit card and only with Bitcoin, Ether BitcoinCash, Bitcoin Gold or other digital currencies, then there is no help from anyone or any government agencies or banks. It requires a huge amount of trust and research, try to find a customer review page and get ready to be chocked with how little many huge companies care, they don't even bother to to remove the most sad stories and crying for help with people going bankrupt.
If the settling of disputes is in a nation that does not care about foreign investors that are not able to prove that they have been scammed. If the legal matters are solved in countries like China, Cayman Island or other tax free heavens for dodgy criminal companies and rich individuals who hide their wealth in shell companies, then it is a risk factor that has to be accounted in the risk assessment.
Gold and silver coins are still the best as they are tax free in almost every nation and with a little research silver can be purchased VAT free in the EU, with free shipping. But that is only for securing your wealth and not the best way to get a return from it.
Digital currencies can be used to get decent return from an investment and convert it to the most stable valuable goods as gold and silver coins are, but it looks like the digital currency market is behaving like gold and silver which is a cartel.
The majority of gold and silver are owned by a few companies, the best way to see it is the fixed relationship between the price index between the two precious metals, that is not determined by the demand and supply, it follows each other. When the price was sky high around 2012 it was due to the lack of silver, but after the discovery of one of the largest silver deposits in South America, the supply was so big that some gold and silver specialist investors predicted that the supply was big enough to to last 15 to 20 years. The result was that gold was suddenly very cheap with no change in the supply and demand, it followed the price index of silver. That is either really strange or a hint of cartels agreeing on a fixed ratio, I don't know for sure so any other guess is valid.
My own strategy is to be sceptical, assuming that the game is rigged and not panic when prices plunge down as it is an old tactic in the gold and silver trading, to create panic and buy cheap while others freak out and sells as much as possible to save as much as possible.
