Bitcoin Is a Ponzi Scheme
I am on the author&#x27;s side. Still in the end, it just comes down to whether you think Bitcoin has any value. You can take any other investment and do the same comparisons:<p>When you buy assets like a house, you are speculating, that someone else will buy it at a higher price or pay rent to you, because they think it has value. All 5 points apply here, too. I would say rent is basically the same instrument as buying a house (for a short period of time), but even if you think of it as something different, as some external source of inherent value: You can rent out Bitcoin as well.<p>When you buy stocks, you are speculating, that someone is going to buy the stocks at a higher price from you. You can base that speculation on the fact, that the company behind it is using your money [1] to buy something from a third person [2], that some fourth person [3] is going to buy back from them. And since they have done it in the past successfully and overall companies are doing that, you call that inherent value.<p>I would call it the same, but in the end, &quot;inherent value&quot; is just a concept created through abstraction. It is turtles all the way down. There is no difference. Some investments are just a bit more complex, but in the end it comes down to whether you think something has value or not.<p>It comes down to whether human nature makes enough people feel the thing you are ultimately betting on has value.<p>There are many businesses, whose value really depends on similiar mechanisms as Bitcoin. E.g. you might think Bitcoin is a scam, but companies like Adidas or Nike are serious established businesses solving problems for humanity and are therefor inherently valuable. Well, those two companies can sell shoes at their prices, not because of the desire of people to go running, but really because of their desire to own a shoe with these brands printed on them.<p>And who is to say that the desire to go running is something better than the desire to own something called &quot;Nike&quot; or &quot;Bitcoin&quot;? I know where I want to base my retirement on,<p>[1] simplification, only true at IPOs, reality adds a layer of abstraction here<p>[2] employees, business partners, a government<p>[3] customers