Pop Max Ponzi Collapses, Investors Pushed Into Luma Protocol Reboot

Another Dubai-based crypto “staking” dream has gone up in smoke. Pop Max, an MLM Ponzi that promised easy returns in USDT, has officially collapsed. And like clockwork, victims are already being herded into a shiny new reboot called Luma Protocol — same scammers, new name, and even more convoluted token hoops to jump through.

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Now back to the Luma Protocol prelaunch review…

Pop Max: How It Worked (Until It Didn’t)

Launched earlier this year, Pop Max lured investors with the promise of returns through a staking model. Here’s how the scam worked:

• Victims invested USDT (Tether).

• Returns were issued in PUSD token.

• To cash out, investors had to convert PUSD into Pop Social Token (PPT).

It was a digital hamster wheel dressed up as “DeFi innovation.”

But a few weeks ago, Pop Max pulled the rug by disabling the PUSD-to-PPT conversion. With withdrawals shut down, investors were left holding useless tokens. Cue the reboot.

Enter Luma Protocol: A Repackaged Scam

Almost immediately after Pop Max stopped payouts, the scammers announced Luma Protocol, hosted on dapp.lumaprotocol.io.

The domain was privately registered on August 29, 2025, and the new pitch revolves around “mining” yet another token — this time POP tokens. To cash out, users must again jump through hoops, funneling withdrawals through Nivex, a sketchy Dubai-based crypto exchange.

Sound familiar? It should. Because it’s the exact same playbook, just with different branding.

Meet the Masterminds: Hardy and Choi

Behind Luma Protocol — and Pop Max — sits Nivex, an exchange run by serial fraudsters:

• Simon Hardy (aka Szymon Pietraszczyk)

• Becky Choi (aka Becky Cai)

These two are seasoned Ponzi pushers with résumés that include DEFI Money Club, Meta Force, GPBots, and SolaRoad. Now they’ve rebranded their scheming talents into Pop Max and its inevitable reboot.

The “Founders” Front

Of course, Hardy and Choi don’t run the show alone. Chinese scammers have also been paraded as Pop Max “co-founders.”

In July 2025, serial Ponzi promoter Sal Khan interviewed Pop Max co-founder Nicholas Wan (Ruicheng Wan, 万睿诚) at Nivex’s Dubai office. The setup was classic: flashy office backdrops, promises of blockchain breakthroughs, and scripted optimism to sell the illusion of legitimacy.

Why Luma Protocol Exists

At this stage, Pop Max is no longer attracting fresh victims at scale. That means the operators are moving into the “milk the leftovers” phase.

Luma Protocol’s purpose isn’t growth — it’s containment. By forcing investors into new tokens and endless conversion processes, the scammers can trap funds longer, delay withdrawals, and squeeze more money from an already shrinking pool of victims.

It’s the Ponzi version of shaking an empty piggy bank and hoping a few more coins fall out.

What’s Next

If history is any guide, Luma Protocol will collapse just like Pop Max. And when it does, expect Hardy, Choi, and their partners to launch yet another “revolutionary” platform to recycle the same victims all over again.

The only innovation here isn’t in blockchain — it’s in scam recycling efficiency.

Final Verdict

Pop Max was never about staking. Luma Protocol isn’t about mining. Both are just new wrapping paper on the same old Ponzi gift box, handed out by professional scammers hiding in Dubai.

For victims, the lesson is clear: if you have to convert your money into three different scam tokens before cashing out, you’re not investing — you’re donating. And the only ones profiting are Hardy, Choi, and their crew.

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