[watewat]

Buying your own goods counts as a "pyramid scheme" now? That would be market manipulation. A pyramid scheme recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, and not in an abstract sense.

The usual "crypto bad" argument is calling it a Ponzi scheme. This doesn't count as one of those either, but no one really cares.

[earthtolazlo]

It’s wash trading to be exact, but that’s not really the point. The crypto markets as a whole have strong pyramid/ponzi scheme elements where most people are buying useless tokens with the sole intention of later selling them for a higher price to someone else. Not to mention obvious Ponzi schemes like Tether that provide much of the fake liquidity that feeds this mania.

[basch]

>obvious Ponzi schemes like Tether

a ponzi scheme pays out dividends or interest from deposits. unless tether is taking money from tether sales and paying it out to holders a kickback, it doesnt fit the definition.

printing shares of tether and having more shares out than underlying collateral (which im not accusing them of doing) is just fractional reserve lending...

[watewat]

> buying useless tokens with the sole intention of later selling them for a higher price

Also not a pyramid or Ponzi scheme (as you probably know) or much different than Beanie Babies. This is how capitalism is supposed to work.

> Not to mention obvious Ponzi schemes

The obvious ones are the ones which actually are Ponzi schemes (eg BitConnect, PlusToken).