4 ms·

the nonexistent enterprise is the use of bitcoin as a medium of exchange

• shawnz 5y ago
  Bitcoin actually functions as a medium of exchange and that's not an enterprise anyway. Is there an expectation that by buying Bitcoins, you are funding the growth of a business which creates profits by using your investment, and those profits are where your investment return is coming from? If that's not the case, then it isn't a Ponzi scheme.
  • saalweachter 5y ago
    Yeah, but ... I am constantly told that Bitcoin (et al) is the future, that it is revolutionary, that it is going to be big in some way -- that it will replace "fiat" currencies, for instance, although the exact way it is going to be big has changed over time. That some people are making money hand over fist by investing is then used as proof that it is a good investment. That the fake enterprise is just lazy meta-financial-jargon rather than a more effort-full fake building project or an imaginary hedge fund with fake books and blueprints and a fancy office and whatnot isn't enough to make the definition inaccurate IMO. Quacks like a duck, etc.
    • shawnz 5y ago
      Misleading people about the power of a technology doesn't make something a Ponzi scheme. You need to mislead investors about the origin of their returns. Purposeful speculation isn't a Ponzi scheme even if the speculators were misled about the thing they are speculating on.
  • squeaky-clean 5y ago
    > Is there an expectation that by buying Bitcoins, you are funding the growth of a business which creates profits by using your investment, and those profits are where your investment return is coming from? If you think this isn't a common viewpoint, you need to lurk on some bitcoin forums and discord servers.
    • shawnz 5y ago
      That's not the only condition though. It is not enough for some crackpot evangelists to believe that. It must be a purposeful deception in order to get the investor to give you money for something different than what you claimed.