Pantera Capital VIP, a fraudulent operation, has prompted a stern warning from the Central Bank of Russia. The entity's website offers no information regarding its ownership or executives. Its domain, oupapa.com, registered in 2017, was last updated privately on April 1st, 2025, indicating a recent refresh of its deceptive facade.

The scheme solicits investments in tether (USDT) with promises of daily returns ranging from 21% to 42%. These tiered investment levels, labeled VIP1 through VIP9, require initial capital from 16 USDT up to 188,888 USDT. Affiliates also receive referral commissions on recruited members, paid down three unilevel recruitment tiers: 10% on level 1, 2% on level 2, and 1% on level 3.

Pantera Capital VIP operates as a "click a button" app Ponzi. Its purported ruse involves quantitative trading, where users log into an app and click a button to generate revenue. The more an affiliate invests, the more frequently they are instructed to click this button. This mechanism is a deliberate misdirection. In reality, clicking the button has no effect; the operation merely recycles new investments to pay off earlier participants.

This operation has also illicitly adopted the name and branding of Pantera Capital, a legitimate US hedge fund, to lend an air of credibility. The scheme has no affiliation with the actual Pantera Capital. Similar "click a button" app Ponzis that have previously used stolen identities include Lufthansa MVP, Toyota WRC, and Nvidia USDT. Schemes claiming quantitative trading as their revenue source include Treasure, Q-Research, and AGI-AI.

Such Ponzi schemes typically collapse within weeks or months. Their operators disable websites and apps without warning, leaving most investors with losses due to the inherent mathematical unsustainability of Ponzi structures. Prior to collapse, investors often find their accounts locked, particularly when attempting to withdraw funds.

Scammers behind these operations frequently employ recovery scams, demanding additional fees from victims under the guise of unlocking funds or enabling withdrawals. Any payments made in response to these demands are invariably lost, with scammers ceasing communication thereafter.

Organized crime syndicates based in China are believed to operate these "click a button" Ponzi schemes from Southeast Asian countries. In September 2024, the US Department of Treasury sanctioned Cambodian politician Ly Yong Phat due to alleged ties to Chinese human trafficking scam factories, asserting that companies he owns provide shelter for Chinese scammers operating out of Cambodia.

Myanmar has reported deporting over 50,000 Chinese scam factory workers since October 2023. Despite these efforts, "click a button" app scams continue to emerge. In late January 2025, Chinese ministry officials met with Thai authorities to address organized Chinese criminal gangs operating from Myanmar.

In early February 2025, Thailand announced measures to disrupt these operations by cutting power, internet access, and fuel supplies to Chinese scam factories situated along its border with Myanmar. By February 20th, Thai and Chinese authorities reported freeing ten thousand trafficked individuals from compounds in Myanmar. On the same date, five Chinese crime bosses were apprehended in the Philippines as part of a broader raid involving 450 arrests. Reports on March 19th indicated that, despite these recent crackdowns, an estimated 100,000 people remain involved in such operations.