Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme, Says Former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak

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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised blockchain as an important technology but thinks bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme that should be avoided.

Barak — who was prime minister from 1999 to 2001 — made the remarks at the Globes Most Promising Startups event in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Barak recently invested in, and became chairman of, the medical cannabis company InterCure Ltd. He was responding to a question about whether medical marijuana — like bitcoin — is a bubble. He said no.


Blockchain, Not Bitcoin
“Blockchain itself is a mathematical technological concept and an interesting and important methodology,” the tech investor said. “Cryptocurrencies — bitcoin and all the others — that’s a Ponzi scheme.”

Barak said he doesn’t believe that “it’s possible to make a currency in this way in the current generation.” Accordingly, he will not invest in crypto. “I wouldn’t invest in anything that’s related to cryptocurrencies,” he said.

However, like many crypto skeptics, Barak thinks blockchain is a potentially game-changing innovation that could disrupt many different sectors, including business, healthcare, banking, and supply-chain management.

“Whoever has the patience and understands blockchain deeply can find a lot of uses for it, from keeping sensitive medical information through to contracts,” he noted.


Reference: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-is-a-ponzi-scheme-says-former-israel-prime-minister-ehud-barak/

Once again a "personality" who has no idea of what he is talking about. These people belong to a generation who find it difficult to understand such developments and techniques in their entirety. The same applies to Warren Buffett. as I like to read books about him and his investments, unfortunately he belongs in the same category. We should not give so much to these statements.

If most investors and buyers buy Bitcoin or cryptos for the purpose of speculation, "Ask most of the people here about why you buy these currencies?" without a thorough understanding of it, why blame politicians for such statements?

He has the right to say, and we have the right to use
as Satoshi says

why the hell are these bitcoin news channels giving importance to his opinion? It's not like he's the prime minister and he had the power to ban bitcoin in Israel, and it's not like he did much research on bitcoin, so why the hell would his opinion be relevant? Why should we pay attention to his opinion? we need to distance ourselves from the opinion of politicians who have archaic thoughts

Not new anymore and im not really surprised that anytime there would be some personalities would pop out and say negatively about bitcoin, as long they do have the
position and popularity but most of the time the things they are talking is totally rubbish and as you said i doubt that they dont even made a research thoroughly and just
making conclusion with just basing on their first impressions.

It is a well-known fact that every famous person in today's world at some point express its opinion about BTC, and why should an exception would be former Israeli prime minister? He just says what he thinks, using powerful negative words as Ponzi Scheme in the same context as many others before him.

What I find interesting in this article is the fact that Barak gives this statement in correlation with medical cannabis : He was responding to a question about whether medical marijuana — like bitcoin — is a bubble. He said no. “Cryptocurrencies — bitcoin and all the others — that’s a Ponzi scheme.”

Just imagine the IQ of the journalist who asked this question. How BTC bubble can have anything to do with medical cannabis? Barak obviously answered negatively to this question, but in continuation of his answer he say his opinion about BTC.

I would summarized his opinion in a short sentence : Why should I believe in bitcoin when I'm in business with medical cannabis, goods with high demand and great price - people will always use marijuana in one way or another.

If Blockchain is so important and it succeeds, so will Bitcoin. Despite of what some people think, a success of blockchain = a success of Bitcoin, the same way that a success of Bitcoin means a success of many other cryptocurrencies. When Bitcoin was going up, shitcoins like BCH were reaching prices over $2000, which looks even more incredible when you compare it to the price of Bitcoin a year before, which was below $1000, so a pump of Bitcoin in 2017 took altcoins to the moon, unreachable even for Bitcoin in 2016.
Also, he doesn't know what a ponzi scheme is. He should read a definition first.

There's probably been hundreds of people that have stated that bitcoin is a ponzi by now.

I don't think that a former president of a particular country saying so again makes any difference. Besides, what real justification has he given to say that bitcoin is a ponzi scheme? There is absolutely no central entity in bitcoin since its goal is for decentralization, and there is utility value for bitcoin as it can be used as a store of value, and a means of transacting.

I don't see any element of bitcoin being a ponzi scheme. If his only argument is that "bitcoin is worth what the next guy pays for it", isn't that everything? Except bitcoin, unlike fiat, has a capped and controlled supply curve.

Centralized blockchains don't represent anything Bitcoin stands for. I often hear these bobos see plenty of value in the blockchain as technology, but less to zero in crypto currencies themselves. Seriously, the blockchain itself is the most overhyped garbage there is. It's nothing more than a marketing gimmick to trap in fools and raise tons of money. If it isn't a decentralized crypto currency making use of a blockchain, then a blockchain itself is useless.

Databases can do everything a centralized/private blockchain can, and the worst thing is that people don't realize how they years ago could have booked significant efficiency gains by simply using that wat was available for plenty of years already.

I wonder why the argument that is so easy to disprove is being used over and over. A ponzi scheme needs to be made by a person or a group that later takes money from new investors. Who would that person or group be in Bitcoin? It doesn't exist! If he knows it and still keeps repeating it like a parrot, it doesn't speak well about his intelligence.
Smart people don't make up stories and stick to them no matter what.


It's the same with any art piece. For one person it will be worth $1 and another will price it at $100. Many famous paintings that are now being sold for millions were once worth only a few dollars.