Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme. I get it, some people understand it and they are OK with scamming from BTC. But those who do not understand it... are in real danger of losing tehir hard-earned money.
According to Wikipedia:
A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products.
I was never promised payments for recruiting other Bitcoin investors. Were you?
You could argue the Bitcoin market operates by
the greater fool theory -- people invest because of an irrational expectation that prices will always rise, not because of intrinsic or fundamental value.
That's about it, though. Anyone claiming that Bitcoin is a Ponzi or pyramid scheme doesn't understand how those work.
Yeah, BTC is a hybrid scheme. A really good one. Even the authorities are careful to classify it as a scam.
For sake of simplicity leave trading aside for now.
Mining is essential, right? Without it there could be no transactions, right?
So if you pay for miners of each era half of what you did pay before and insert hope into them, it would still be profitable, then you ARE PROMISING the price will increase. If you are right, then early adapters were automatically granted with unproportional reward. If you are wrong... well...people lose their money in form of electricity.
You also think wrong about new investors. A new investor is anyone, who puts his REAL MONEY into the scheme. So, if someone buys BTC for real dollars (not, Tethers, which is even more popular:D) then he is that new money.