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by AJRF 3295 days ago
He is totally right about ICO's though. They are essentially Ponzi schemes as investors think the coins have value and that their initial investment is generating more value, but that is not what is happening.
1 comments

None of the token sales I've seen are ponzi schemes. "Ponzi scheme" seems to be the buzzword used to describe any irrational or bubbly investment. It's incorrect usage of the term.
You are categorically wrong about this.

Ponzi schemes are financial frauds where, under the promise of high profits, users put their money, recovering their investment and interests only if enough users after them continue to invest money.

Further to this, its qualatively provable, as you can look at the contracts and actually class the type of Ponzi scheme they are.

* https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/06/01/2189634/its-not-just-... https://stratechery.com/2017/tulips-myths-and-cryptocurrenci... * https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.03779.pdf

The wikipedia article on Ponzi Schemes draws a fairly subtle distinction between a classical Ponzi schemes, economic bubbles, and pump-and-dump schemes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

Most ICOs seem more like pump-and-dump by that nomenclature, than like true Ponzi schemes, in which the Ponzi operator is directly involved in all of the transactions in and out of the system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_and_dump

You're quoting from the Birch-Kaminska circle, which has been bashing cryptocurrency since 2012.

A ponzi scheme is where people pay a fee to join a scheme where members are guaranteed a payment that comes out of the membership fees paid by members that join after them.

No token sale has given out payments, let alone guaranteed one. A speculative price gain is not a "ponzi scheme".

So tell me, what is the goal of an ICO? And by extension, how do you ensure an ICO is successful?
Whatever the goal, unless they guarantee you a payment and fund that payment with membership fees paid by later entrants, it's not a ponzi scheme.
What are you talking about membership fees? That isn't the criteria for all Ponzi schemes you know? You don't sound like you know what a Ponzi scheme is.