Yes its a Ponzi, but theres two reasons Ponzis work on people. Its always been the same two reasons:
1:
If you are judging other people's or your own gains as proof of it's legitimacy, you don't even know what a ponzi scheme is.
This. Some people who haven't been educated on these things (and that accounts for a lot of young Crypto enthusiasts) define a scam as "Something where no one gets paid and no one makes profit but the scammer". Of course we know ponzis dont work that way. Ponzis thrive because it actually DOES make many people money, but at the expense of the people that get scammed on the bottom/at the end when it collapses. People look at folks who have made a good ROI on Bitconnect and thereby assume it cannot be a scam if some people are profiting... This is bad logic, but they haven't been taught any better so...
Second, the fuel behind them are the people who don't mind if other people get scammed so long as they make money. Example:
I don't care, it made me a profit.
This is the mentality/moral code of the people who know its a sham, but fuel it anyway as long as it can make them a dollar. Its not surprising; Wallstreet and traditional FIAT market types are full of these dirtbags, that's why we ended up bailing out American car companies and the income inequality gap keeps increasing while Bankers and Suit wearing jackasses crash the housing market with shoddy loans and make off like bandits. Most people don't care if it screws others as long as they get THEIR profit. You cant talk them out of it either, they always have some rationalization as to why its okay to profit off of someone elses misery so, dont bother.
In any case, those two things make it possible. The 1 year loan system buys them time, and yes, they have created the biggest Ponzi in Crypto for sure. My worries are with those that will lose their money, and with the effect this will likely have on the entire crypto market when it implodes. It will probably make the news and make Crypto look that much more like "criminals doing criminal things" which is so unfair and unfortunate.