That isn't a lie, I think you are just misunderstanding what you are looking at. When Coinbase (or whoever) shows a bitcoin price of 62000, what they are sayin

That isn't a lie, I think you are just misunderstanding what you are looking at. When Coinbase (or whoever) shows a bitcoin price of 62000, what they are saying is that in their order book they have customers waiting to buy and sell bitcoins at that price right now. It is not just a made up number, it is actually the place where the demand between buyers and sellers is being met right now. If you think that price is too high, then sell some for cheaper and you will take some of the high-price buyers off the market, therefore lowering the actual fair price of bitcoin. > this is not an organised Ponzi scheme, but it is functionality identical anyway. Functionally, a Ponzi scheme requires that investors are being deceived about the origins of their returns. What you are describing just isn't anything like a Ponzi scheme at all and it is a misunderstanding of what they are.