Bitcoin Forum

Don’t get me wrong, I’m holdig bitcoin and I am amazed of it. Anyways, I don’t get it why Bitcoin is not a ponzi scheme. How ponzi scheme works? By bringing new and new investors to the scheme/market. How does the bitcoin price rise? By buying/brining new people into the network. So if anyone could give me a good explanation why bitcoin isn’t a Ponzi scheme I would appreciate it.

If all the poeple would sell their bitcoin holdings, the price would crash to 0 and ~70% of people would remain with loss.

L.E: What's the purpose of ponzi scheme? Nothing. After 1, 2 year, cash out and take all the money. So... what's the purpose of Bitcoin? Back in 2009 it was made to change the way we think about money, decentralization, low fees => to change the current banking/fiat system. But I can't see the Bitcoin as the "future of the money" because of high tx fees. Current fees are between 18 ~ 25$. So if you send 10$ to someone, you would pay much more fee. Is this it a digital gold? And now, again, I ask... what's the purpose of Bitcoin?

A Ponzi scheme is a system which asks for investments and then distributes returns to its investors accordingly until it collapses.

BTC does not "distribute" returns to anyone - it is simply an asset that can be bought and sold at any point, similarly to gold or a stock.  It also doesn't promise returns to people.  

It's also not a pyramid scheme, because even though pyramids involve a somewhat less centralised system, they rely on people in the pyramid making money by recruiting more people, whereas the effects on the individual in BTC are completely negligible.

It's not really a debatable matter.  BTC can't be a Ponzi scheme - it's not possible because nothing is centrally managing it.

According to Black’s Law dictionary a Ponzi scheme is:

“A fraudulent investment scheme in which money contributed by later investors generates artificially high dividends or returns for the original investors. Money from the new investors is used directly to repay or pay interest to earlier investors, usually without any operation or revenue-producing activity other than the continual raising of new funds.”
Bitcoin does not fit the definition of Ponzi scheme for various reasons:
There are no paid dividends to any investors.
The purpose of using bitcoin isn’t to recruit new participants.  
There’s no centralized body that funnels money up to the top.
Unlike Ponzi schemes, Bitcoin will still have value and continue to function even if no new participants join the ecosystem.

Bitcoin isn't a lending service or anything similar, it pays no dividends etc, think of it similarly to gold or diamonds, they are a finite resource and so as new investors buy some the price is pushed up. It would be a ponzi scheme if there were promised returns etc and these were funded by new investment. While it may seem similar in nature it is not the same.

Would you make the same argument about stocks and shares? Of course not, Bitcoin isn't a ponzi in any sense of the term. However if bitcoin ever does collapse at some point and become worthless or worth very little then people will certainly try their best to smear it as one, but that would only be the ever time the term would be even vaguely justifed (but still wrong in my humble opinion).

Simply that you don't have to ask somebody to invest in your referral link. Bitcoin wallets doesn't have that while ponzi schemes does have those links that they'll ask other people to sign under their link and in return to their effort, it's either they will have a percentage to total investment of that referral or will get a fixed commission. Bitcoin doesn't require any of them, it's value is growing and no one does have the power to control it unlike those ponzi schemes, there's a head for it's system. And if you are confuse on how bitcoin's market goes, understand what's the law of supply and demand tells.