It's become more and more obvious when following GAW's announcements that Josh just does not understand currency. And to be fair, it's a very tricky subject. To really understand Bitcoin you need to first understand fiat.

Paycoin removes several of the main strengths of a cryptocurrency. What's the point to try to introduce a "floor" - backed by their own supply of good ol' fiat USD? That's just counterintuitive. There is no need for a cryptocurrency backed by fiat (if you want it there's Ripple's IOU system which can be made to achieve same effect). Also, no need for another debit card, Xapo and several others do that.
And, if almost everyone wants to sell their Paycoins will GAW buy every one that is up for sale up to 100MUSD? I don't think so... I wouldn't, even if I was GAW/Josh and didn't understand currency.

That idea of a floor, in Josh's head, does not constitute a real "floor" or a "backing". The coin's exchange rate will still fall to close to nothing if few wants to buy them when many others want to get rid of them (which is likely). Josh has not explained how this floor is supposed to work, and will probably have a hard time doing so as he does not understand currency or cryptocurrency. As the latter is supposed to be decentralized - how could GAW then stop the coin from being traded at lower rates on other exchanges? In what world would they be able to execute a "floor" 24/7 affecting all exchanges?

It is painfully obvious in the interview done with "Coinbrief"; Josh can't answer simple questions on how his currency and its blockchain works, even though that info is more important than any marketing gimmick he can think of. He talks about a "very, very reputable company doing that". The details (block time, supply rate, inflation controls etc) of a currency are the most important things to get right - especially if you want to have a chance of predicting ROI, but Josh is not so interested in that (it takes a lot of reading to really understand currency). How can GAW base their whole future on something its own CEO clearly states he doesn't understand?

Nothing comes close in processing power to the Bitcoin network, thanks to its simplicity and more than 5 years of ongoing network effect. Cashtakers, time-limited pos wallet that needs coins loaded, prime controllers, origin, double dip, boost, amp bla bla etc etc is not simple = not likely to succeed (even IF a buy wall was possible in a truly decentralized cryptocurrency).

In general it seems Josh just doesn't "get" bitcoin. He talks about this new currency as being designed for institutional investors, for "business" - and for "miners", sorry, "stakers". He has built in a lot of bells and whistles with those Hashlets for the gamification crowd, making it more "complex" (more stupid, really). Those bells and whistles are useless for a currency. Actually, it makes for a less efficient currency (more time-consuming). A cryptocurrency either stands on its own legs (the genesis block) or it wont stand at all. Bitcoin has way too much of a head-start and will be enough going forward, especially considering sidechains.

I think Josh never really intended for this to be a scam as they moved from importing hardware to selling cloudy fluffy stuff marketed as "miners" doing "mining" (in reality nothing more than scripts and numbers in GAW's database).
He probably underestimated delivery times, got left cold after something failed and stopped the Vaultbreaker, tried to cover-up with Hashlets "mining", got the idea to turn everything into cloud gamification, got really cocky and fooled himself into believing he understands currency. Josh's reasoning indicates he thinks of cryptocurrencies as where they stocks in a company.

As for this scam hurting cryptocurrencies in general - well, I'm of the opposite view. We need a couple of more scams and security breaches (Stellar?) in altcoins and altblockchains so people get the point with the Bitcoin network. Stop the altcoins, do sidechains if you need bells and whistles.