Pop Max Review: Dubai MLM crypto “staking” Ponzi
Pop Max fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Pop Max’s website domain (“popmax.io”), was privately registered on December 23rd, 2024.
In a July 6th Pop Max marketing video from serial Ponzi promoter Sal Khan, “Nick” is represented to be a Pop Max co-founder.
I’m not 100% sure but Nick appears to have a Singaporean or Chinese accent. Whever he’s from, Nick’s actual name is not disclosed.
Another name we can attach to Pop Max is CMO Magnus Larsson:
Larsson is a serial promoter of MLM Ponzi schemes. In 2018 Larsson was promoting LeoCoin:
After LeoCoin Larsson went on to become a top promoter of the Crowd1 Ponzi scheme:
Crowd1 stopped paying investors in 2022. This prompted Larsson to ditch Crowd1 towards the end of the year.
In 2023 Larsson remerged as co-founder of the Dubai-based Alacor Ponzi scheme. Today Alacor’s website is no longer available.
In Sal Khan’s “Nick” interview video, it’s revealed Pop Max is also based out of Dubai.
Due to the proliferation of scams and failure to enforce securities fraud regulation, BehindMLM ranks Dubai as the MLM crime capital of the world.
BehindMLM’s guidelines for Dubai are:
- If someone lives in Dubai and approaches you about an MLM opportunity, they’re trying to scam you.
- If an MLM company is based out of or represents it has ties to Dubai, it’s a scam.
If you want to know specifically how this applies to Pop Max, read on for a full review.
Pop Max’s Products
Pop Max has no retailable products or services.
Promoters are only able to market Pop Max promoter membership itself.
Pop Max’s Compensation Plan
Pop Max promoters invest a $100 or more as a 50% combination of tether (USDT) and pop social token (PPT).
This is done on the promise of daily passive returns:
- invest for 10 days and receive 0.4% a day
- invest for 30 days and receive 0.5% a day
- invest for 90 days and receive 0.6% a day
- invest for 180 days and receive 0.8% a day
- invest for 360 days and receive 1% a day
Although not explicitly clarified, it’s believed Pop Max pays returns in PPT.
The MLM side of Pop Max pays on recruitment of promoter investors.
Pop Max Promoter Ranks
There are nine promoter ranks in Pop Max’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- P1 – invest $100 or more, recruit three promoters and generate at least $30,000 in downline investment volume
- P2 – invest $200 or more and have two P1 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P3 – invest $400 or more and have two P2 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P4 – invest $800 or more and have two P3 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P5 – invest $2000 or more and have two P4 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P6 – invest $4000 or more and have two P5 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P7 – invest $8000 or more and have two P6 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P8 – invest $15,000 or more and have two P7 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
- P9 – invest $30,000 or more and have two P8 or higher ranked promoters in your downline
Note rank-required downline promoters must be in separate recruitment legs to count towards rank qualification.
Referral Commissions
Pop Max promoters earn a 15% commission on cryptocurrency invested by personally recruited promoters.
ROI Match
Pop Max pays a match on daily returns paid to downline promoters:
- P1 ranked promoters receive a 10% match
- P2 ranked promoters receive a 19% match
- P3 ranked promoters receive a 28% match
- P4 ranked promoters receive a 37% match
- P5 ranked promoters receive a 46% match
- P6 ranked promoters receive a 55% match
- P7 ranked promoters receive a 64% match
- P8 ranked promoters receive a 73% match
- P9 ranked promoters receive an 82% match
Note that the ROI Match is coded, meaning an 82% match is always paid out.
The coded nature of the ROI Match means:
- higher-ranked Pop Max promoters earn less as their downline promoters rank up
- higher-ranked Pop Max promoters earn the difference between their match rate and lower-ranked downline promoters
P9 Rank Level Bonus
P9 ranked Pop Max promoters receive a “1% weighted dividend from total network earnings”.
I’m not sure what that means but am guessing it’s either a bonus 1% match on downline earnings (as opposed to just a ROI match), or a share in 1% of Pop Max’s company-wide investment volume.
Joining Pop Max
Pop Max promoter membership is free.
Full participation in the attached income opportunity requires a minimum $100 investment.
Pop Max solicits investment in the USDT and PPT cryptocurrencies.
Pop Max Conclusion
Pop Max is a simple “staking” model MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.
New Pop Max promoters invest tether (USDT) and pop social token (PPT).
PPT is a token attached to Pop Social, a failed social network that beta launched in late 2022. While Pop Social is still around, I say failed because, like every crypto project, nobody outside of PPT investors hoping “number goes up” cares.
I hadn’t heard of Pop Social prior to researching Pop Max. There’s more than a good chance the same is true for you.
Pop Max’s passive returns investment scheme constitutes a securities offering.
Despite this, Pop Max fails to provide evidence it has registered with financial regulators in any jurisdiction.
In addition to securities fraud, registering with financial regulators requires Pop Max to periodically file audited financial reports. These reports are the only way consumers can verify Pop Max is generating external revenue to pay ROI withdrawals.
As it stands the only verifiable source of revenue entering Pop Max is new investment.
Using new investment to pay ROI withdrawals would make Pop Max a Ponzi scheme.
Additionally, with nothing marketed or sold to retail customers, the MLM side of Pop Max operates as a pyramid scheme.
As with all MLM Ponzi schemes, once promoter recruitment dries up so too will new investment.
This will starve Pop Max of ROI revenue, eventually prompting a collapse.
The math behind Ponzi schemes guarantees that when they collapse, the majority of participants lose money.
