Quote from: dc7d on April 07, 2013, 07:52:32 PM

Bitcoin is a Ponzi - but ONLY if it will end (soon). But it doesn't seem so...

Sigh. I feel like I have to respond every time the words "ponzi" and "bitcoin" occur in the same sentence.

@dc7d, you probably don't know what a Ponzi scheme is. Not every form of financial fraud is a Ponzi scheme.

Let's look at what a Ponzi scheme is:

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation.

According to this description, a Ponzi scheme has three characteristics:

1. It is run by an individual or an organization.
2. The operator of the scheme claims to earn profits on investments, but does not. This is the fraudulent part.
3. It pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors.

Bitcoin fails #1 because it is not run by an individual or an organization.
Bitcoin fails #2 because the non-existent operator of the scheme does not claim to earn a profit that is paid to investors.

Bitcoin is not and can not be a Ponzi scheme. Anyone that says that Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme either does not know how Bitcoin works or does not know what a Ponzi scheme is.