Ethereum startup vanishes with $374,000 in virtual currency scam

Confido, a startup on the Ethereum platform which pitched itself ''as a blockchain-based app for making payments and tracking shipments,'' disappeared from the internet this week after selling $374,000 worth of tokens to potential investors, Motherboard reported.

Shortly after the funds were raised, the Confido website and Twitter accounts were taken down, and other traces of the company's online history were removed from the web.

Meanwhile, the value of Confido's token, plunged 90 per cent from its $10 million market cap, The Next Web reported. According to commentators, the idea that its signature product would have been all that valuable was itself dubious.

In a brief comment to the company's now-private subforum on Reddit, a company representative said legal problems were preventing the Confido team from continuing their work.

''Right now, we are in a tight spot, as we are having legal trouble caused by a contract we signed,'' the message stated (a cached version of the Medium post is viewable). ''It is likely that we will be able to find a solution to rectify the situation. However, we cannot assure you with 100% certainty that we will get through this.''

The message was from one Joost van Doorn, apparently Confido's founder, who seems to have no internet presence besides a now-removed LinkedIn profile.

Even the Confido representative on Reddit seemed to be unaware of what was going on as he posted hours after the initial message, ''Look I have absolutely no idea what has happened here. The removal of all of our social media platforms and website has come as a complete surprise to me.''

Confido tokens had a market cap of $10 million last week, before the disappearance of the company, but now the tokens are worthless. Also investors are crying foul.

According to commentators it is not clear at this point what will happen to the $374,000 that investors put into the Confido project.