Bitcoin Forum

What is a bitcoin ponzy or pyramid scheme ?

Well, this is a scam. The system works by cheating people and finally convince them to put their money into a circle, pyramid, or whatever. They begin at the bottom of the system, and the ones in the top receive money. Supposedly, the newcomers will be able to climb to the top, so, eventually will have rewards, but the reality is: if there`s nobody under you, you will never get anything, so, your work is to scam others and put them in the bottom, so you can rob them.
Obviously, when there is no longer somebody at the bottom, the system falls and many people lose their money.

Basically, it is a Ponzi scheme.

If you have a question that could be easily answered through research, then maybe try making Google searches first.

Ponzi Scheme: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/ponzischeme.asp
What is a Pyramid Scheme?: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/042104.asp

The form of person joined into that program is forming pyramid chart, the top position is a little person/members but they will earn the most of fund from their bottom line. The lower is the position, the more member and the most bottom position will be the less money to earn will not earn at all. Here is the picture of the participant scheme:

https://i.imgur.com/FSVVHNz.png

The above posts do well in explaining what they are. Therefore, below is a list of crypto ponzi and pyramid schemes that have been uncovered. Have fun looking into them, perhaps they can help you create a mental checklist for spotting and avoiding them in the future.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7r6chx/here_is_a_list_of_crypto_ponzi_schemes_and_people/

Cheers

It's necessary to understand how exactly Ponzi schemes work, because you can meet a lot of crypto scam projects that work exactly in the same way. So yu should be able to determine and avoid them. The key is, if something is too good to be true, then it probably is.

The concept of the Ponzi scheme refers to such fraudulent investment operations whereby the company obtains money from investors to "duplicate" them.
However, instead of "copying" money through other very profitable investments, this company does not "raise money" in any way. Only some investors are paid, others are not.
As a rule, they are the investors who first invested. This is the basis of the Ponzi scheme / pyramid game and the related term "pyramidal cryptocurrency".

You have received great replies above.

Now I would like to give you something to think about:

Some people say that all cryptocurrencies are a ponzy or pyramid scheme.
The reason they give is that the more people buy the cryptocurrency, the price goes higher and the early adopters can profit by dumping at a higher price.

It makes sense until you think that the same thing happens with the real state market, fiat currencies and almost any existing product on earth.

Any thoughts?

try to search Bitconnect and you'll find out

there are many obvious ponzi investment out there..

but there are still people falls in the trap.

does a USD a Ponzi scheme for you? if your answer is yes it BTC is Ponzi scheme if no then it's not.

it's not a pyramid scheme if everyone sells BTC at 20k. you will get the same ratio as others BTC at 20k but if someone or you sell it lower you will get lesser even your the one who bought 1st BTC.
a pyramid scheme always the old ones getting more benefit than the new ones.

This thread helped a lot. Learning every day, thanks!

It is a scheme where a company multiplies your money which attracts more and more customers. Then, when a lot of money is accumulated, the company just takes it all for themselves and disappear, instead of multiplying money.
It is a classic scheme, it works because people actually see other people get their money multiplied, and they think it will be like that forever.

I just wonder why a lot of people still fall to these kinds of schemes, keep in mind that "whats too good to be true is not true!"

Bitcoin is not pyramid scheme.
There is scam known as pryamid scheme, that payout for old members are done from deposits of new members.
Simplest as i can describe it :P

I think a lot of people get this stuff mixed up.

A ponzi scheme that accepts bitcoin has really nothing to do with bitcoin. They simply elected to accept bitcoin as a form of payment - it's not directly related to the bitcoin platform, nor is it endorsed by anything or anyone within the bitcoin community/network.

Now, I believe that the biggest telltale sign/rule that you should use to spot a ponzi is their business model.

Can you verify what they're doing as their business model to be true? For example, if there is a cloud mining site, can you verify that they are actually mining? If not, then it's probably a ponzi.

A ponzi is based on the idea that they use a cover story in order to suck in investors, and pay out investors based on previous investments. So their business model as well as the claims that they make are really both important points to consider.