What is your answer to "Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme" ?

[Sonny]

It is a Pyramid, the price is determined by miners and the mining manufacturers

Come on, miners and ASIC manufacturers, set the bitcoin price to 1 million USD now!! 

[zerk89]

It is a Pyramid, the price is determined by miners and the mining manufacturers

Come on, miners and ASIC manufacturers, set the bitcoin price to 1 million USD now!!  

Your problem is you stopped reading after that line. How's that attention span doing for you?

The greed in miners is a self regulating system, and i didn't use the word set, it's not like someone goes and enters some arbitrary number somewhere. The trend will keep on continuing. Go chart difficulty vs price.

[Sonny]

It is a Pyramid, the price is determined by miners and the mining manufacturers

Come on, miners and ASIC manufacturers, set the bitcoin price to 1 million USD now!!  

Your problem is you stopped reading after that line. How's that attention span doing for you?

Too bad, I lol'ed at that sentence so hard that I can't breathe...
I just can't continue reading it...

Okay, seriously, I can't agree with your analysis, and I truly believe bitcoin is not a ponzi scheme nor a pyramid...

[waqas]

It is a Pyramid, the price is determined by miners and the mining manufacturers

Come on, miners and ASIC manufacturers, set the bitcoin price to 1 million USD now!! 

if this happen then many bitcoiner need heart medicines because mostly cannot affored this price right now 

[porcupine87]

There's no person or company that is paying out profits to investors.  

This.  In a Ponzi scheme, you pay money to someone, and they pay you a return.  But that return that they pay you is actually stolen from someone else.

Bitcoin is just like a stock or a commodity.  You buy a piece of a limited resource, or you're given a piece of that resource, and then you re-sell your piece later.  If you pay $1000 for a Bitcoin and you're only able to re-sell it for $100, that might make it a bubble, but it doesn't make it a pyramid.

this. Another point: Transparency. In a Ponzi scheme investors do not really know, how the profit is made. The scammer tell people something and the investors have to trust the scammer. In Bitcoin: Open Source + properties of Bitcoin, which makes it valuable (fast, cheap, anonymous, etc.). Maybe some investors don't know about this and just invest, because they see the huge price raise, but this is their fault. The informations are there and easy accessible by everyone, in a ponzi scheme never. 

[zerk89]

There's no person or company that is paying out profits to investors.  

This.  In a Ponzi scheme, you pay money to someone, and they pay you a return.  But that return that they pay you is actually stolen from someone else.

Bitcoin is just like a stock or a commodity.  You buy a piece of a limited resource, or you're given a piece of that resource, and then you re-sell your piece later.  If you pay $1000 for a Bitcoin and you're only able to re-sell it for $100, that might make it a bubble, but it doesn't make it a pyramid.

this. Another point: Transparency. In a Ponzi scheme investors do not really know, how the profit is made. The scammer tell people something and the investors have to trust the scammer. In Bitcoin: Open Source + properties of Bitcoin, which makes it valuable (fast, cheap, anonymous, etc.). Maybe some investors don't know about this and just invest, because they see the huge price raise, but this is their fault. The informations are there and easy accessible by everyone, in a ponzi scheme never.  

You couldn't have said it better, the investors don't know how the profit is made.

I just pointed out to you in plain sight how it works, and you still can't see it. You are the dumb investor, getting scammed. Open source, cheap anonymous, blah blah blah. It's all the same regurgitated bullshit each time.

A currency = successful ponzi/pyramid.

Greed, #1 motivator.

I'm going to stop posting here, it's like arguing with a school kid, I probably am...

[Bagatell]

A currency = successful ponzi/pyramid

Are you suggesting we do away with currency?

[porcupine87]

There's no person or company that is paying out profits to investors.  

This.  In a Ponzi scheme, you pay money to someone, and they pay you a return.  But that return that they pay you is actually stolen from someone else.

Bitcoin is just like a stock or a commodity.  You buy a piece of a limited resource, or you're given a piece of that resource, and then you re-sell your piece later.  If you pay $1000 for a Bitcoin and you're only able to re-sell it for $100, that might make it a bubble, but it doesn't make it a pyramid.

this. Another point: Transparency. In a Ponzi scheme investors do not really know, how the profit is made. The scammer tell people something and the investors have to trust the scammer. In Bitcoin: Open Source + properties of Bitcoin, which makes it valuable (fast, cheap, anonymous, etc.). Maybe some investors don't know about this and just invest, because they see the huge price raise, but this is their fault. The informations are there and easy accessible by everyone, in a ponzi scheme never.  

You couldn't have said it better, the investors don't know how the profit is made.

I just pointed out to you in plain sight how it works, and you still can't see it. You are the dumb investor, getting scammed. Open source, cheap anonymous, blah blah blah. It's all the same regurgitated bullshit each time.

A currency = successful ponzi/pyramid.

Greed, #1 motivator.

I'm going to stop posting here, it's like arguing with a school kid, I probably am...

The good thing is: You don't have to invest
But it is not a ponzi scheme. Bitcoin is scarce and has its properties which people consider valuable. You can open a shop and double profits if every client paid in Bitcoin. Therefore the price for the product would decrease. And it is fast.

Don't you think Bitcoin has value?

[totemITnow]

If Bitcoin is ponzi, gold must be ponzi as well. Both should be used as a way to store value, but because of greed in us, we hope (and expect) to profit with both Bitcoin and gold

[VforVictory]

Satoshi was arrested, and never seen again. That alone should tell you if it's a ponzi scheme. >_>

[gpucoolingmethod]

Satoshi was arrested, and never seen again. That alone should tell you if it's a ponzi scheme. >_>

what is the source?

[corebob]

I don't see how bitcoin can be a Ponzi Scheme.
If I'm not mistaking a Ponzi Scheme means that you pay out now for something that is supposed to give profit later on (Never happens of course)
With bitcoins you get what you pay for immidiately, and can sell again at any time with or without profit. Its all up to you.

[zerk89]

I think the average age of people in this thread <17yo, real simplistic way of thinking. Not much problem solving skills. Thinking in a linear fashion.

A ---> B
if
A -|-> C - You can't figure a way to go around.

I broke my no post rule, last one.

An easier comparison would be if i programmed a robot with hard coded rules that it must never break. I give it definitions of behaviors and words that is must take as gospel. Didn't know humans were turning into robots.

[JohnsonRobinson]

I say:

"Yes, Bitcoin is a dangerous Ponzi scheme.  By the way, if you have any I would be glad to take them off your hands in order to protect you from this insidious threat."

[VforVictory]

Satoshi was arrested, and never seen again. That alone should tell you if it's a ponzi scheme. >_>

what is the source?

The source is when I infiltrated Guantanamo Bay. You can trust me. <_<

[Abdussamad]

It is a bit of a ponzi scheme though isn't it? When the price rises the early adopters get rich at the expense of the new comers. Those early adopters then get to enslave the rest of us. The coins they bought at a $1 or even less are now worth over $800. They don't even have to spend whole coins anymore. Fractions of a coin can buy you a lot of a person's time. The early adopters are now spending a lot of their coins on bitcoin propaganda because they know that is the best way to increase their wealth.

[qwk]

It is a bit of a ponzi scheme though isn't it?

Not at all.

When the price rises the early adopters get rich at the expense of the new comers.

No. Explain why you believe it's "at the expense of the new comers".

Those early adopters then get to enslave the rest of us.

Okay

The coins they bought at a $1 or even less are now worth over $800.

Well, yes.

They don't even have to spend whole coins anymore. Fractions of a coin can buy you a lot of a person's time.

The worth of an hours' work of labor is still the same, no matter what currency you use to pay for it.
I fail to see where this is even Bitcoin-related.

The early adopters are now spending a lot of their coins on bitcoin propaganda because they know that is the best way to increase their wealth.

I don't see a lot of Bitcoin "propaganda", let alone any paid for by "early adopters".

[MakeBelieve]

Yes, BTC is 100% Ponzi scheme.

Reason being? Don't call insult Bitcoin when you can't even explain why.

[Abdussamad]

The early adopters are now spending a lot of their coins on bitcoin propaganda because they know that is the best way to increase their wealth.

I don't see a lot of Bitcoin "propaganda", let alone any paid for by "early adopters".

It's funny that you should be the one to say that

[Alpaca Bob]

Other people call Bitcoin a "Pyramid bubble"


Wikipedia
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from existing capital or new capital paid by new investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to sustain the scheme.[1]

When a Ponzi scheme is not stopped by the authorities, it sooner or later falls apart for one of the following reasons:[1]
The promoter vanishes.

Satoshi Nakamoto vanished

...yet nothing fell apart.