These generic statements of yours cannot change the fact I stated in the op: in the bitcoin circulation chain no end consumer exists that can use bitcoin for consumption or for satisfying his human needs, like food is used by hungry people or dollar by borrowers. For that reason, profit or benefit for chain members can come from new investors only, which is a textbook definition of Ponzi or other type of pyramid scheme. So bitcoin can be called money, value, digital gold, safe, usable, new internet, emergency store or ... whatever, but this is just semantics and its Ponzi nature or ultimate fate won't change because of that.

All those epithets you used for bitcoin cannot change the fact that in the bitcoin circulation chain nobody is able utilize bitcoin for satisfying their needs, like in the case of dollars, goods, services and similar utilizable resources..., which is why such resources can be obtained from new investors only. And this is the definition of a ponzi or pyramid scheme. Hence, you are using semantics to escape this fact.

Not uses of cryptocurrency but transfers of cryptocurrency. Transfers from one address to another. Nearly everything that is in existence has the capacity to be transferred from one address to another, either electronically or manually. However, that does not mean that everything has the capacitly to be used, consumed or practically utilized for satisfying human needs. And it is the capacitly to satisfy human needs why things are produced and why they came to the market in the first place. For e.g. there are lots of people who have needs to consume goods or services they don't own. But how can they get them? Well, by borrowing them, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the same or an equivalent good or service in the future. And here is where the bank kicks in with its product - dollar. Dollar is produced to satisfy needs of these people. This product is composed of two crucial parts: contract and collateral. These two components guarantee that those who traded produced dollars to people for their goods and services, return goods and services back to people, which happens every time their contract obligates them to make loan payments. Hence, dollar is a product like food or clothing, with the capacity to be used, consumed or practically utilized by its end users (borrowers). Bitcoin on the other hand has no such capacity, which is why it can only be passed from address-to-address, from hand-to-hand, from member-to-member. And this is exactly how classical fraudulent schemes operate.

Madoff investors also saw no problemma.

A payment is the transfer of an item from one party to another, and not the usage of an item. Everything that exists on Earth can be transfered from one party to another, but that doesn't render it usable. So, the fact that you regularly buy goods and pay Bitcoiners with bitcoin has nothing to do with usability of bitcoin. Usability is the capacity of an item to satisfy human needs.

Time-locks and non-controllability cannot change the fact I stated in the OP - in a bitcoin scheme, old investors can profit from new investors only, which is the definition of a Ponzi scheme. Features of bitcoin, or more precisely Bitcoin system, are just technical means by which this modern Ponzi operates. Bitcoin alone is a number associated with an address and as such it is an abstraction with no practical features.

If I say that iPhone has a use, that mens it is used as communicating device, music player, gaming console, camera, and so on. If I say that Dollar has a use, that mens it is used for fulfilling loan obligations - which is the reason it came into existence in the first place. Passing iPhone or Dollar from hand to hand is not usage but transfer. And transfer is performed via infrastructure that has nothing to do with iPhone or Dollar. If I make a bet and win iPhone or dollars this is also not usage, but transfer of an item from one person to another. Hence transferring, moving or gambling with bitcoin is not the usage of Bitcoin. So, I will ask again: how Bitcoin is used?

Name just one, please.

The dollar or any other fiat currency is practically utilized every day when loan payment liability must be fulfilled and borrowers are forced to give goods and services to dollar owners.

Short video summary of the argument: https://youtu.be/wQJCL4s2GH0

In a fraudulent investment scheme, like Ponzi, investors transfer their utilizable resources, be it money, goods or services, and then they end up with something which has zero utilization capacity, like promise or non-binding record of investment. After the investment, the only possible way for them to get utilizable resources back is if new investors join the scheme and in that way bring such resources with them.

The opposite is true in a legitimate investment business, where investors transfer one type of utilizable resource and in return they receive another type of such resource. An utilizable resource is anything that can be practically utilized by humans. For e.g. a car can be practically utilized for driving, a dollar for loan payments, a stock for participation in company's profitability, food for providing nutritional support, a raw material for producing finished products etc. Hence, an utilizable resource is not something that is just passed from hand-to-hand on a market for investing or speculation purposes, but something which has end consumers who will consume, utilize or otherwise put the thing to practical use. And this practical use by end consumers is why things got to the market in the first place. For e.g. dollars got to the market because they have end consumers in the form of borrowers the same as food has such consumers in hungry people. In other words, loan contracts and collaterals force people to use dollars for loan payments the same as hunger forces people to use food. Since all dollars (either paper or digital) are loan based, they are not just passed from hand to hand, but also utilized by borrowers who are forced to give goods and services to dollar investors, speculators, or regular users, when loan payment liability must be fulfilled. In the same way, hungry people are forced to give money, goods or services to food producers.

In a fraudulent investment scheme there are no end consumers, which is why a thing that lures members into the scheme is just passed from hand-to-hand, from member-to-member... until it is realized that the only profit can come from utilizable resources invested into the scheme.

And this finally brings us to bitcoin and the following question. When investors transfer their utilizable resources like money, goods or services into bitcoin do they end up with another utilizable resource, i.e. a resource which can be utilized by some end consumer? Well, the obvious answer is: no, they do not. Instead, they end up only with a record in a table (blockchain) or in other words, only with a number associated with their bitcoin address. And this number cannot be practically utilized like food is utilized by hungry people or dollar by borrowers, but it can only be passed from address-to-address, from hand-to-hand,  from member-to-member. And this is exactly how classical fraudulent schemes operate - they use something to lure people into the scheme, but the thing itself is non-utilizable, which is why it is just passed from one person to another. Once people realize that profit or utilizable resources can come from new investors only, the whole scheme collapses. And this is the ultimate fate of bitcoin. So, do not buy it.

Update 1:
I see a lot of posters are unable to differentiate between the terms "usage of bitcoin" and "transfer of bitcoin". "Using" X is not the same as "transferring X". If I say that iPhone has a use, that mens it is used as communicating device, music player, gaming console, camera, and so on. If I say that dollar has a use, that mens it is used by borrowers for fulfilling their loan obligations - which is the reason it came into existence in the first place. Passing iPhone or dollars from hand to hand is not usage - it is transfer. Nearly everything that is in existence has the capacity to be transferred from one person to another, either electronically or manually.

However, that does not mean that everything has the capacitly to be used, consumed or practically utilized for satisfying human needs. And it is the capacitly to satisfy human needs why things are produced and why they came to the market in the first place. For e.g. there are lots of people who have needs to consume goods or services they don't own. But how can they get them? Well, by borrowing them, with the implied or expressed intention of returning them back in the future. And here is where the banks kick in with their product - dollar. Dollar is produced by the banks to satisfy needs of these people. Its main feature is that it is composed of two crucial parts: contract and collateral. These components guarantee that borrowers who traded produced dollars to people for their goods and services, return goods and services back to them, which happens every time their contract obligates them to make loan payments.

Hence, dollar is product like food or clothing, with the capacity to be used, consumed or practically utilized by its end users - borrowers.

Bitcoin on the other hand has no such utilizable capacity - it cannot be used, which is why it can only be transferred - i.e. passed from address-to-address, from hand-to-hand, from member-to-member. In other words, in the bitcoin circulation chain, nobody is able use bitcoin, like in the case of dollars, goods, services and similar utilizable resources..., which is why such resources can be obtained from new investors only. And this is the definition of a classical ponzi or pyramid scheme.

In the bitcoin world, when you transfer your dollars, goods or services to someone all that has happened is numerical marking of the transfer. That is all. After the transfer you didn't become the owner of some right, claim, good, service, etc., but a visible trace is created in the database that you gave something for nothing. In the real world, when you transfer your dollars, goods or services to someone, this can also be marked numerically, for accounting/bookkeeping purposes for e.g., but you will also receive something of the same kind in return - euros, rights, claims, goods, services, etc.

So the only information attached to bitcoin is mark of the fact that you gave something of value and received nothing in return.

Yes, and I do not think that people with crashed Ferrari take solace by the fact that at least their luxury sport car can be used as a cheap scrap metal when things get bad.  




So, the point of your logic is exactly what? That fiat monetary "vehicle" is BS because some corrupt governments don't know how to "drive it"?

There is no need for much philosophy here. It is pretty easy to determine whether something has value, or intrinsic value, or utility, or whatever we wanna call it. All we need to do is answer one simple question: what an owner can do with a thing in his possession if no one wants to exchange any goods, services or money for it?

A share owner can participate in a company's profitability, cast votes in company's meetings, or be paid in event of a corporate liquidation. A food owner can meet his basic human needs. An owner of fiat currencies can get goods, services, or other property of borrowers since general non-acceptance of fiat currencies won’t make borrowers liabilities go away. An owner of a digital asset, like Microsoft Outlook or LibreOffice can send and receive email, or store, manipulate or format text. A car owner can carry people or goods between two or more places.

But, what an owner of Bitcoin can do? Well the answer is: NOTHING. Absolutely and precisely nothing. A bitcoin is a number. Number is an mathematical abstraction. An abstraction has no concrete existence, and that is the main reason why an owner of a bitcoin can do NOTHING with his possession if no one wants to exchange any goods, services or money for it.

And finally, if there is no way a thing can be utilized, then obviously it has neither value nor intrinsic value. Now you can carry on with your philosophy, mental gymnastics, and points of view to convince yourself the opposite.

Graph is just a mathematical abstraction that cannot chage the utility of a thing. So, the appeal to graph is just one of those irrational excuses you use in order to find value in valuelessness .

I am misusing nothing. It is paper that gives you the ability to write on, or start a fire with, and not letters B, T and C. 

Well, it is false information what is "handed over" to get money from Greater Fool, and it is this information what has value to scamers. Thus, it is not number (BTC) what is well promoted, branded and pumped, but false information that BTC has value.

Btw, I didn't say that value is subjective. I said that the degree of value is subjective.

Yes I have. You can't eat, drink, wear, drive, sit on, enter into, or legally enforce physical bitcoins, so they don’t have intrinsic value. Intrinsic value of a paper Bitcoin would be contained in the paper, and not in the name you put on this paper (BTC).

In this case, scamming object is not bitcoin but computers that store blockchain, and in that regard bitcoin owners do not own these computers like box would be owned in mentioned diamond scam. So, in the diamond scam you would at least have the box that can provide you with some utility. It the Bitcoin scam you are left with useless numbers that can provide zero utility.

No, that is NOT BTCs value but manipulation's value. If you were tricked to give million dollars to a scammer who sold you an empty box because you were convinced it contains an expensive diamond, that does not mean that emptiness in the box has value. It just means you've been scammed. Or in other words, scam was the thing that had value, and not the subject of the scam (emptiness).

Everything is physical, just like the dot at the end of this sentence. But, I've already explained that value comes from utility and not physicality. I have no interest to respond to things I already disproved.