• TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml
    537·
    8 months ago

    Personally, I’d say Bitcoin is a negative-sum game.

    In order for one person to win, thousands of people have to lose. If that was all it was, Bitcoin would be merely a zero-sum game. However, Bitcoin mining also uses up valuable resources like electricity and processing power, so there’s still a loss.

    Calling Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme isn’t wrong, though.

      • Mesophar@lemm.ee
        172·
        8 months ago

        Right, their comment basically is “A Ponzi scheme is when a company does it, but Bitcoin isn’t a company, so when Bitcoin does it it isn’t a Ponzi scheme!”

        Ok, but they never denied they were doing it…

  • GoddessOfGouda@lemmy.world
    403·
    8 months ago

    I think crypto is dumb as hell but by this logic, how are any speculative assets not Ponzi schemes then? I’d argue that by definition, it’s not a ponzi. How could it be? What entity is controlling and organizing the flow of money in such a way that investors are repaid FIFO? Not only that but there’s zero guarantee based on position in line that you’ll make any amount of money relative to that position — a guarantee you’d likely have in most Ponzi schemes.

    Idk. There are a lot of reasons to hate blockchains and bitcoin but trying to label it as something is fundamentally is not seems counterproductive and disingenuous.

    • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
      241·
      8 months ago

      Yep. While I’m also no fan of cryptocurrencies, calling them Ponzis is just silly. People love repeating these slogans without actually understanding what they mean

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
        101·
        7 months ago

        Less ponzi and more hot potato. Right now, the potato is piping hot, so a lot of people are pumping up because HOLY SHIT 71k DOLLARS!!! YOU SHOUD BUY NAO BECAUSE IT’S ONLY GOIN UUUUUUPPPPPP

        A crash is inevitable, a bunch of whales are just biding their time and nobody knows the next floor price

        • Fosheze@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          7 months ago

          You’ve just described the stock market and capitalism in general. Ironically a digital curency is one of the few places where unlimited growth is actually possible. Not that BTC is a good idea of course.

      • 4am@lemm.ee
        24·
        7 months ago

        bro this is the enshittification of Ponzi schemes fr fr also your eclipse glasses are fakes for sure AI made them

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    7·
    8 months ago

    If you lost money on crypto, I’m sorry. But I also don’t feel that bad for you. The signs were there and people have been screaming about them for years.

    • tracyspcy@lemmy.mlOPM
      93·
      8 months ago

      I cannot agree, we should try to help people to avoid ponzi. It is hard for people to resist marketing campaigns and opinion leaders trying to involve more people into ponzis

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      281·
      8 months ago

      How does he think that applies to social security?

      Dude’s one of them libertarians who chant “taxation is theft”, isn’t he?

      • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        143·
        8 months ago

        He was probably thinking of pension. Pensions do function in a same way ponzi scheme does, it relies on a new generation to bring in enough to pay out for the previous generation.

        The problem in this is that when the population keeps getting older (less babies born), the younger gens need to pay more and more to keep up with the older gen. So basically if you decided to have only a 1 child instead of 4, you’d technically make it harder for your kid to provide pension payouts for you. This is why people argue against it.

        I personally think pensions (along with most gov welfare) should just be replaced with UBI to vastly simplify the processes at very least, even if it still has the same problem with aging population

        • Hillock@kbin.social
          4·
          8 months ago

          No, public pensions don’t function like a ponzi scheme. There are actual pension funds that are actively invested and these profits do indeed help cover current and future pension payments. Yes, the government uses current pension payments to pay out receivers. But that’s because it would be stupid to take out part of the pension fund, pay the people, and then put in the exact same amount from new payments. Instead you keep a balance sheet of how much was paid in and how much was paid out and the difference is added or deducted from the pension fund.

          Yes, there are a few mismanged public pension funds. But they aren’t nearly as common as people believe. And even in mismanaged pension funds the situation is still different from a ponzi scheme. Mismanaged pension funds use part of the deparment budget to cover the difference. This comes at the cost of cutting programs or downsizing in other ways. The more mismanaged the fund, the higher the percentage of the budget goes towards it. But that’s another reason why they aren’t lik a ponzi scheme, because there are different methods of funding them than just the payments of “new members joining”.

          Most mismanaged pension funds are from the private sector, not from the government. And there most aren’t a ponzi scheme either and instead some other form of fraud or just plain old theft.

          I still agree with an UBI being a better alternative.