I am new to Bitcoin, so I wanted to learn what this is all about.

My conclusion is the Bitcoin scheme is a pyramid scheme.

Bitcoin can be separated into 2 components:
A) the distributed peer-to-peer payment technology
B) monetary, the Bitcoin scheme, method of creation and issuing new coins.

The technology part is not the problem. You can have a pyramid scheme over the postal mail system, something like Mailcoin, but it would not be as fast and efficient. The decentralized peer-to-peer payment system shows promise as a technology.

The monetary part is where the pyramid scheme for Bitcoin is concocted. The early adopters control a huge percentage of BTC and the Pharaoh, Satoshi, controls the most BTC. Immediately that should give an objective person alarm bell that there is something wrong with this picture.

If a new participant were to enter Bitcoin, mining for BTC is astronomically difficult. A new participant would take more than a million years to get 50 BTC compare to what Satoshi gets in 10 minutes at the beginning. That is not how money should work. New participants have to use real world currency to buy into Bitcoin, this is where value is flowing up the pyramid.

This forum will fill with people that have 1 or more BTC. They have some skin in Bitcoin, so this make it diffcult for some to be rational and objective about the Bitcoin scheme. I hope some will step back, step outside the box, and take a hard look at it. For new people that want to get in on Bitcoin, I hope you take an objective view of Bitcoin. If you do choice to buy into Bitcoin with real world currency, just hope you are NOT one of the many at the bottom of the pyramid left holding the bag when this thing collapses.