An Anatomy of Bitcoin Ponzis

[Coinbuddy]

A Very Brief History of Bitcoin Ponzis

Bitcoin’s history, sadly, can’t be separated from the word Ponzi. The history of Bitcoin is in a certain way the history of several ill-conducted scams, and while many cryptocurrency detractors will jump on the “Bitcoin is a scam” bandwagon, they would be ill advised to do so.

“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” says the Bible, and it is well-known since ages past that there is a connection between greed and evil. It is not that “greed” is evil per se, as it is really okay to want to improve one’s current situation. The problem is what immoral people are willing to do in order to reach their goals.

Bitcoin is not technically money as it lacks the “store of value” attribute. It certainly is a tool for immoral people to deprive others of wealth. Take for instance Mt. Gox. While it can be debated whether Gox itself was really intentionally fraudulent, or just plain stupid, for practical purposes it was a scam. People put their money into it and poof, it was gone.

SOURCE: http://cointelegraph.com/news/114164/an-anatomy-of-bitcoin-ponzis

[Meuh6879]

ponzi = virtual wallet.

simple.

[Shindo1988]

ponzi = virtual wallet.

simple.

Huh?
Sorry, but you have me a little bit confused there.

Care to elaborate?
Thanks

[R2D221]

While you can say that Mt. Gox was a scam, I fail to understand how it was a Ponzi. Mt. Gox didn't promise a return from an investment.

[jonald_fyookball]

i disagree that Bitcoin isnt a store of value.  On what basis is that claim made?

[drugs]

ponzi = virtual wallet.

simple.

Huh?
Sorry, but you have me a little bit confused there.

Care to elaborate?
Thanks

That's exactly what I was thinking. Blockchain.info might be a virtual or online wallet, but ponzis are straight up pyramid scams. Sometimes they actually pay out initially but at some point they will collapse if they don't run off with your money straight away that is.

[oblivi]

ponzi = virtual wallet.

simple.

Huh?
Sorry, but you have me a little bit confused there.

Care to elaborate?
Thanks

That's exactly what I was thinking. Blockchain.info might be a virtual or online wallet, but ponzis are straight up pyramid scams. Sometimes they actually pay out initially but at some point they will collapse if they don't run off with your money straight away that is.

By that definition everything is a Ponzi. Everything has a begining and an end, where the ones at the beginning get the most gains. Timing is everything, and Bitcoin hasn't even begun.

[pereira4]

It certainly is a tool for immoral people to deprive others of wealth.

And fiat isn't?

A lot of things can deprive you of wealth, for example Chinese knockoffs - if you're dumb enough to buy them you'll end up with a flimsy gadget not worth a dime. Does that mean China should be bombed into oblivion?

If there is something that can deprive you from wealth is the fiat scam, now that's a ponzi. With Chinese knockoffs, if you are purposedly buying them, you at least know what you are getting and what you are risking by trying to buy cheap.

[Ruthful]

If there is something that can deprive you from wealth is the fiat scam, now that's a ponzi.

How is that a ponzi ?

[RussianRaibow]

It certainly is a tool for immoral people to deprive others of wealth.

And fiat isn't?

A lot of things can deprive you of wealth, for example Chinese knockoffs - if you're dumb enough to buy them you'll end up with a flimsy gadget not worth a dime. Does that mean China should be bombed into oblivion?

If there is something that can deprive you from wealth is the fiat scam, now that's a ponzi. With Chinese knockoffs, if you are purposedly buying them, you at least know what you are getting and what you are risking by trying to buy cheap.

That explains transparent Ponzis

I like this part from the article...

Bitcoin accelerates online businesses, whether they’re good or bad. Certainly Vegas casinos have not yet adopted this new form of gambling or extreme sport known as a Transparent Ponzi, and who knows whether they will.

[goosoodude]

Unfortunately, bitcoin has been associated with a large number of ponzi's and scams. That fact that, if used correctly and in small enough amounts, that bitcoin can be anon, as well as the fact that most bitcoin related sites allow people to connect via tor makes criminals very much attracted to bitcoin.

It was not many months ago that this forum was almost overrun with various ponzis, and the forum was in a similar situation ~a year prior to that

[Kprawn]

A Very Brief History of Bitcoin Ponzis

Bitcoin’s history, sadly, can’t be separated from the word Ponzi. The history of Bitcoin is in a certain way the history of several ill-conducted scams, and while many cryptocurrency detractors will jump on the “Bitcoin is a scam” bandwagon, they would be ill advised to do so.

“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” says the Bible, and it is well-known since ages past that there is a connection between greed and evil. It is not that “greed” is evil per se, as it is really okay to want to improve one’s current situation. The problem is what immoral people are willing to do in order to reach their goals.

Bitcoin is not technically money as it lacks the “store of value” attribute. It certainly is a tool for immoral people to deprive others of wealth. Take for instance Mt. Gox. While it can be debated whether Gox itself was really intentionally fraudulent, or just plain stupid, for practical purposes it was a scam. People put their money into it and poof, it was gone.

SOURCE: http://cointelegraph.com/news/114164/an-anatomy-of-bitcoin-ponzis

The lack of money or too much money, is the root of all evil. 

How can you say, Bitcoin is not money... What is out there at the moment, that you cannot buy with Bitcoin? ....lack the "store of value" attribute.. BS.

Gox was a scam not a Ponzi..... if you cannot see that, you do not understand the definition of a Ponzi.

See :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

[Amph]

If there is something that can deprive you from wealth is the fiat scam, now that's a ponzi.

How is that a ponzi ?

now with the crisis they are paying you with the money of other, and it was always like that for deposit or loan with fiat

with bitcoin wasn 't exactly like that, if you want them you just buy from early adopters, there is no ponzi, there isn't something after you that you need to pay, so you can't call it a ponzi

ponzi = virtual wallet.

simple.

Huh?
Sorry, but you have me a little bit confused there.

Care to elaborate?
Thanks

That's exactly what I was thinking. Blockchain.info might be a virtual or online wallet, but ponzis are straight up pyramid scams. Sometimes they actually pay out initially but at some point they will collapse if they don't run off with your money straight away that is.

By that definition everything is a Ponzi. Everything has a begining and an end, where the ones at the beginning get the most gains. Timing is everything, and Bitcoin hasn't even begun.

well this isn't the definition of ponzi, a ponzi is when you need the money of someone else to be payed, in bitcoin you don't need that you can just buy from the miner or early adopter directly, they may look the same but they aren't

also there isn't a central autorithy controlling everything cough government/bank/ cough like in a real ponzi...

[BTC_Superman]

I am not agree with that Bitcoin lacks the “store of value”. What basis the source say that do not understand.

[neoneros]

A Ponzi is a scam, but not all scams are ponzis. You could say the banks are a big ponzi, they rely on constant input to fill up the gaps of the money that disappeared, the whole fiat economy is a big ponzi, with the ones on top getting it all and having control over the world if you like to think big in conspiracies.

people get scammed, ponzi or otherwise, that is nothing new and not strictly prohibited to bitcoin. But calling bitcoin a ponzi is stupid. Early adopters had a profit, that is a completely different game and mostly luck and a very good insight of mr Satoshi that the world needed bitcoin. Bitcoin takes away the need of a central money printing and devaluating system to maintain the wealth of the richest. It is a system of itself and has benefits over the fiat world.

[Ruthful]

If there is something that can deprive you from wealth is the fiat scam, now that's a ponzi.

How is that a ponzi ?

now with the crisis they are paying you with the money of other, and it was always like that for deposit or loan with fiat

That is not the definition of a ponzi.In order of it to be considered a ponzi, the revenue needed to pay for those loans/deposit must come from other investors( whose ROI then would be paid using later investors "investment", at least until the system collapse) .Those loans were expected to be paid using genuine revenues from the  business( revenues from the banking business in case of bank deposits) , hence not a ponzi.

Ponzis are basically investments scam.The vast majority of fiat users sure as hell aren't fiat investors.

with bitcoin wasn 't exactly like that, if you want them you just buy from early adopters, there is no ponzi, there isn't something after you that you need to pay, so you can't call it a ponzi

The reason why some people sees bitcoin as a natural occurring ponzi is because the major factor in the rise of bitcoin price is from" investors" pouring money into it, hoping  to reap profit from the rise in price(which is later fueled by more investors money).Such system is just as as unsustainable as ponzis and pyramids.Of course by this definition most bubbles(commodity ,real estate , dot com etc )can be considered as natural occurring ponzi.