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While this name is very clever and cute, crypto including Bitcoin is still all a giant ponzi scheme scam. [0] [0] https://ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/bitcoin/2021-01

While this name is very clever and cute, crypto including Bitcoin is still all a giant ponzi scheme scam. [0] [0] https://ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/bitcoin/2021-01-16-yes-ponzi.html https://ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/bitcoin/2021-01-16-yes-ponzi.h...

smokey_circles 5y ago
That is the dumbest argument I've heard about ponzi schemes to date. If you don't know something, just ask questions. That author is retarded. Bitcoin has no central authority. It's just utilitarian. Crypto needs regulation where it overlaps with fiat. We should start doing that instead of having these stupid debates. None of these have anything to do with ponzi schemes, which is the act of using new investor money to payout old investors. People buy and sell crypto like anything else. It's not legal tender (at least not everywhere or even anywhere that counts) but if you wanna call bitcoin a ponzi scheme then so is every fiat currency and the entire stock market. The difference between the stock market and crypto is regulation at the fiat overlap. So can we do that instead of giving air to these completely brain dead "decentralised technology nobody controls is clearly a scam to enrich early adopters, like the whole stock market except not like the whole stock market because economics is actually beyond me" style arguments, please and thank you
mypastself 5y ago
Did I miss the part where the author lays out their argument within the article (rather than some podcast that’s referred to)? The closest I can find is the diagram with two nodes and an arrow connecting them. The first node represents users involved in transactions, the other is miners. The arrow presumably represents fees. That looks like any other payment processor. Just like another label commonly used in similar discussions, cult, Ponzi scheme has a very specific meaning. There are other more reasonable ways to criticize cryptocurrency, but I guess these two sound scarier and more definitive, even if they’re inaccurate.

smokey_circles 5y ago

That is the dumbest argument I've heard about ponzi schemes to date. If you don't know something, just ask questions. That author is retarded. Bitcoin has no central authority. It's just utilitarian. Crypto needs regulation where it overlaps with fiat. We should start doing that instead of having these stupid debates. None of these have anything to do with ponzi schemes, which is the act of using new investor money to payout old investors. People buy and sell crypto like anything else. It's not legal tender (at least not everywhere or even anywhere that counts) but if you wanna call bitcoin a ponzi scheme then so is every fiat currency and the entire stock market. The difference between the stock market and crypto is regulation at the fiat overlap. So can we do that instead of giving air to these completely brain dead "decentralised technology nobody controls is clearly a scam to enrich early adopters, like the whole stock market except not like the whole stock market because economics is actually beyond me" style arguments, please and thank you

mypastself 5y ago

Did I miss the part where the author lays out their argument within the article (rather than some podcast that’s referred to)? The closest I can find is the diagram with two nodes and an arrow connecting them. The first node represents users involved in transactions, the other is miners. The arrow presumably represents fees. That looks like any other payment processor. Just like another label commonly used in similar discussions, cult, Ponzi scheme has a very specific meaning. There are other more reasonable ways to criticize cryptocurrency, but I guess these two sound scarier and more definitive, even if they’re inaccurate.