Bitcoin revealed: a Ponzi scheme for redistributing wealth from one libertarian to another

[n2doc]

If Bitcoin were a currency, it'd be the worst-performing one in the world, worse even than the Russian ruble.

But Bitcoin isn't a currency. It's a Ponzi scheme for redistributing wealth from one libertarian to another. At least that's all it is right now. One day it could be more. Venture capitalists, for their part, are quick to point out that it's really a protocol, like the early internet, and its underlying technology could still be revolutionary. What are they supposed to say, though, when they've bet hundreds of millions of dollars on it?

But that's not much of a consolation to anyone who bought anywhere near Bitcoin's $1,100 top. Or near $1,000, or $900, or $800, or, well even yesterday's prices. That's because Bitcoin hasn't just fallen 76 percent the past year. It's fallen 36 percent the past two days, as you can see below, with a 24 percent decline the past 24 hours. It's too bad Bitcoin doesn't have a central bank to help stabilize its value.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/14/bitcoin-is-revealed-a-ponzi-scheme-for-redistributing-wealth-from-one-libertarian-to-another/

[redgreenandblue]

1. I thought the intended purpose of Bitcoins was buying weed on the darknet.

People who speculated on them did that to themselves.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Do you know what the definition of a "Ponzi scheme" is?

Because whatever Bitcoin is, a "Ponzi scheme" it most certainly is not.

[phantom power]

7. +1000

[tridim]

9. It's a textbook pyramid scheme.

The true believers are so deluded that they can't even see that the people at the top of the pyramid have been cashing in for years. It is all happening in plain sight.

Darwin awards for all bitcoin people.

[Nye Bevan]

10. Nope, it is not that either.

You could argue that at one point it was a speculative bubble.

[randome]

15. How about calling it stupid and supported by the truly gullible?

Would that be more descriptive?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[Nye Bevan]

21. Definitely not "stupid". Most ingenious, in fact.

A method of performing transactions that no government, no matter how repressive, can control, actually has many useful applications. And nobody needs to bet on the value of Bitcoin, you can just convert dollars into it as needed to pay for things.

OTOH, people who bought Bitcoin at $1000 hoping that it would go even higher are both stupid and gullible.

[msanthrope]

3. I wonder if Kim Dotcom paid Mr. Greenwald in Bitcoins.....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/moment-truth-greenwald-dotcom-snowden-assange-new-zealand-john-key

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11324113

Who didn't know this was a Libertarian scam, pushed by Libertarians? http://www.salon.com/2014/02/28/why_reddit_moderators_are_censoring_glenn_greenwalds_latest_bombshell_partner/

[randome]

6. LOL! In your Guardian link...

...Assange was having trouble being heard because drilling was going on in the embassy at the time. Oh, crap! Did he have some minions trying to dig a tunnel for him?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[msanthrope]

20. Tunneling is the only way he gets out 'free' from the embassy, that's for sure.

He apparently tried to get Google to invest in Bitcoin....

http://www.cityam.com/207122/julian-assange-nuggets-gold-what-you-can-say-about-world-1500-days

[Blue_Tires]

13. I loved seeing Redditors implode in a fury of finger-pointing, circular accusations and mistrust...

[zappaman]

5. I pay cash for all my drugs, firearms, and hookers.

People actually buy into this nonsense?

[phantom power]

8. Bitcoin definitely *is* a currency, and it is definitely *not* a Ponzi scheme

At least, according to the actual definitions of "currency" and "Ponzi scheme"

If somebody wants to argue that Bitcoin is an unstable currency and has endemic fraud problems, that would be on totally firm footing.

[Blue_Tires]

14. +1

The author is conflating "ponzi scheme" with "diminishing returns from a structurally flawed system"...Although all those folks who kept hyping it up endlessly look like a bunch of suckers now...

[BrotherIvan]

11. Meh

[oberliner]

12. Looks like now is the time to get in on it!

Prices have never been lower.

[closeupready]

16. I'm sure you were being a bit sarcastic, but Warren Buffett has said

that one of the secrets to his success is, when everyone else wants out, get in, and when everyone wants in, get out.

[oberliner]

17. Interesting

I still wouldn't touch it.

[closeupready]

18. Not as an investment, I also wouldn't (except maybe with mad money), but

the value in bitcoins, I have always felt, is in their liquidity. That is, you can exchange them fairly easily for currency of just about any kind.

[Jesus Malverde]

19. My friend paid for his brain surgery in India.

With money he made trading Bitcoin.