Initiative Q – Internet start-up or get-rich-quick scam?

Lots of our readers have been asking about a new program called Initiative Q, which has the tagline “tomorrow’s payment network” and asks readers to sign up with their name and email address. Most will come across the program after seeing invitation links on the Internet and social media asking them to sign up.

Too long didn’t read? Is Initiative Q going to make you rich? It’s possible, but very unlikely. Is it a scam? No.

Initiative Q wants to become a global payment system, similar to Bitcoin, only bigger. The aim of the program is to become a payment system where people can purchase goods with the Q currency, instead of using traditional methods such as credit cards.

The reason Initiative Q has become so popular across the Internet is because it takes on a pyramid-themed referral model, meaning those who are invited have to refer others in order to reserve the Q currency. The more people you refer, the more Q you reserve. (You can invite up to 15 people, though initially it will say you can only invite 5.)

Generally we recommend to our readers to avoid pyramid structures like this, but Initiative Q – unlike pyramid schemes – doesn’t require those who sign up to pass anything (like money or items of value) up the pyramid to earlier members, meaning it doesn’t really fit the description of a pyramid scheme.

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According to Initiative Q, the reason this invitation stage is happening is so that the program can garner a “critical mass” of users, which can then be harnessed to move to the second stage with the ultimate goal of creating the payment network itself. The specifics of how Initiative Q will achieve that are still quite vague.

Is it a scam?

Perhaps the common question we get; is it a scam? We understand the hesitation, because we always drill into our readers to be skeptical of programs that seem to emphasize recruiting others, and programs that promise that you can get rich. And that advice still stands.

However, Initiative Q is quite open about the people behind the program. For example, it was founded by Saar Wilf, who was responsible for much of the technology behind current payment network PayPal. Economist Lawrence White is also on staff in what appears to be a consultancy role.

As such, it’s certainly not a ‘take your money and run‘ type of Internet scam. Not only because of the high profile people behind it, but because Initiative Q doesn’t ask you to part with any of your money.

 

Is there any risk at all?

While you’re not giving any money to Initiative Q, there are still some things to be wary of. Firstly, there is still the possibility that in the future you may be asked (or given the option) to hand over money, and then it becomes something else entirely. Now it becomes an investment, and investments in online start-ups are inherently risky, so if you do part with your money, do so in the knowledge that you may never get it back.

The other concern is a privacy one, because Initiative Q does ask those who sign up to provide their name and emails address. Initiative Q does say that any information provided to them is not sold to marketing companies, and is kept strictly within their own program, and if the program doesn’t succeed, any information they have is destroyed.

Of course that could change, and you have to trust them to stick to their promise. If you want to be extremely careful, we’d recommend using a fresh or “burner” email address to sign up, and – as we always recommend – use a unique password.

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Is it going to make me rich?

Those behind the Initiative Q program make some grandiose claims, including the claim that their aim is to value each Q “crypto-token” the equivalent to $1, meaning if you have, say 80,000Qs, then that will amount to $80,000 when they get released to you. (Of course, right now Qs are not worth anything.)

Of course this doesn’t mean that this will happen. The vast majority of programs and start-ups online will fail, and the Initiative Q has been dismissed by many crypto-currency experts as likely to fail. May claim the ideas behind the program are flawed, or “non-existent”. So if you’re planning on signing up thinking you’re going to get rich, then don’t, because that is probably not going to happen, at least at this early stage.

Even if Initiative Q program does go somewhere, it has a rollout timeline spanning a number of years, meaning it certainly isn’t going to make you money in the foreseeable future.

While the website may make bold claims, this is what you’re likely to see during the initial start-up of a company with big ideas. And like always, if it appears too good to be true, it probably is.

The bottom line

Okay, you’re probably not going to get rich with Initiative Q, and there’s a good chance you won’t make money at all. But since you’re not investing any money (and presumably not much time either) then it could be considered a low risk “punt”. If you want to be extra careful, use a fresh email address and a unique password to protect yourself against changes in the privacy policy and potential future data breaches.

If in the future you’re invited or asked to invest money or serious time into the system, consider in an extremely high risk investment that may not return any results.