Mining Max provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Mining Max website domain (“miningmax.net”) was privately registered on September 1st, 2016.

An April 6th YouTube video titled “Mining Max Introduction” names Daniel Park as Founder and Chairman of the company.

No further information about Park is provided (I couldn’t find anything either).

On their website, Mining Max provide a Nevada incorporation number. The corporate address provided for the company however is in California.

Whether Mining Max exists in the US other than in name only is unclear.

Offered languages on the Mining Max website are Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English, with Korean being the most prominent.

Reflecting this, Alexa currently estimate that 66% of traffic to the Mining Max website originates out of South Korea.

A Max Mining marketing presentation also claims the company utilizes an “internet data center” in Seoul, the capital of Korea.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.

Mining Max Products

Mining Max has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market Mining Max affiliate membership itself.

The Mining Max Compensation Plan

Mining Max affiliates invest $3200 on the promise of a daily ROI paid out for two years.

A $200 referral commission is paid out on every $3200 invested by personally recruited affiliates.

Residual Commissions

Mining Max pay residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):

The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note that there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

At the end of each day Mining Max tally up new $3200 investments on both sides of the binary team.

Affiliates are paid $140 per $3200 investment matched on both sides.

How much a Mining Max affiliate can earn each day in binary commissions is determined by how much they have themselves invested:

  • invest $3200 and earn a maximum $500 a day
  • invest $9600 and earn a maximum $1500 a day
  • invest $16,000 and earn a maximum $3000 a day
  • invest $22,400 and earn a maximum $5000 a day
  • invest $32,000 or more and earn a maximum $10,000 a day

Matched $3200 investments are flushed on both sides of the binary team, with unmatched amounts on the stronger side carried over.

Matching Bonus

Mining Max affiliates earn a matching bonus on binary commissions paid to their downline.

The Matching Bonus is paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Mining Max cap payable unilevel levels at ten and pay a 5% matching bonus across these ten levels.

How many unilevel levels a Mining Max affiliate is qualified to earn on is again determined by how much they have invested:

  • invest $3200 and earn a 5% Matching Bonus across two levels
  • invest $9600 and earn a 5% Matching Bonus across four levels
  • invest $16,000 and earn a 5% Matching Bonus across six levels
  • invest $22,400 and earn a 5% Matching Bonus across eight levels
  • invest $32,000 or more and earn a 5% Matching Bonus across ten levels

Mining Bonus

Mining Max claim ROI payouts are generated via Ether mining, with 7% of the mining output reserved for the Mining Bonus.

The Mining Bonus appears to use the same unilevel team structure as the Matching Bonus, payable down twenty levels.

Specific Mining Bonus payments are not provided in the Mining Max compensation documentation.

To qualify for the Mining Bonus, an affiliate must invest $9600.

An affiliate can also generate two new positions within their unilevel team to earn additional Mining Bonus from.

  • invest $16,000 and receive a second unilevel position
  • invest $32,000 and receive a third unilevel position

Star Sharing Bonus

Mining Max place 3% of their purported mining output each month into the Star Sharing Bonus.

Mining Max affiliates receive a share in one of five Star Sharing Bonus pools, based on their Star Sharing Bonus Pool rank:

  • 1 Star (personally generate at least $32,000 downline investment volume) – one share in a 50% Star Sharing Bonus pool
  • 2 Star (personally generate at least $64,000 downline investment volume) – one share in a 20% Star Sharing Bonus pool
  • 3 Star (personally generate at least $96,000 downline investment volume and have a 2 Star ranked affiliate on both sides of your binary team) – one share in a 15% Star Sharing Bonus pool
  • 4 Star (personally generate and maintain at least $96,000 downline investment volume, have at least $1.6 million in total downline investment volume on your weaker binary side and have a 3 Star ranked affiliate on both sides of your binary team) – one share in a 10% Star Sharing Bonus pool
  • 5 Star (personally generate and maintain at least $96,000 downline investment volume, have at least $3.2 million in total downline investment volume on your weaker binary side and have a 4 Star ranked affiliate on both sides of your binary team) – one share in a 5% Star Sharing Bonus pool

Joining Mining Max

Mining Max affiliate membership is tied to an investment of at least $3200 every two years.

Full participation in the Mining Max income opportunity costs $32,000.

Conclusion

Mining Max claim to be mining ether in facility they have a partnership with in South Korea.

The company provides no proof of any mining taking place, with the backoffice resembling the Ponzi points model used by similar schemes.

Even if we give Mining Max the benefit of the doubt however, serious compliance issues are still evident.

First and foremost is a purportedly US company offering securities to US resident.

At the time of publication Alexa estimate the US is the second largest source of traffic to the Mining Max website.

Offering securities to US residents requires registration with the SEC. A search of the SEC’s database for “Mining Max” turns up nothing.

With no retail offering, Mining Max’s referral commissions and bonuses also constitute pyramid fraud.

Affiliates invest and are paid to recruit new investors, with nothing marketed or sold to retail customers in the process.

These two compliance issues are enough to see the company shut down should the SEC investigate, regardless of whether any actual ether mining is taking place or not.

One Mining Max presentation I watched claimed bank wire details for the company had recently changed, suggesting the company is already feeling regulatory heat.

Mining Max’s compensation plan ties up a good portion of funds invested.

Yet despite this, Mining Max claim they were paying out $45.36 a day per $3200 investment back in March.

That’s on top of the 30% of mining output the anonymous admin(s) running Mining Max keep for themselves.

Mining Max is likely doing some ether mining in the background, but hardly enough to account for affiliate daily ROIs in their entirety. Much the less a consistent ROI for two years.

The mining ruse is particularly convenient for companies not engaged in mining, as it gives them an out when the scheme starts to collapse.

The value of the cryptocurrency being mined is typically blamed, along with a rise in mining costs and lessened mining output.

To date I’m not aware of any MLM company who claim they’re mining to be able to sustain ROI payments for two years or more.

BitClub Network is probably the longest (because they were one of the first and people hadn’t wised up), however they still had to scrap ROIs on initial investments prematurely.

Pending the SEC intervening and/or affiliate recruitment dying out well before two years, it’s likely Mining Max investors are in for a bumpy ride.

 

Update 23rd December 2017 – Mining Max collapsed shortly after launch, prompting an investigation by Korean authorities.

Earlier this week around twenty Mining Max executives and affiliates were arrested.