The closest parallel we found is tulip bulbs in Holland in the 17th Century.
Ok, and was that a pyramid scheme?
It's just like DazedInPontoon has outlined above. The ponzi/pyramid claims are false. Nobody can point to design elements of the bitcoin protocol that scream ponzi. It's a protocol that doesn't proclaim to offer any return! How could it be a ponzi/pyramid scheme on that basis?
I could invest in a startup that claims X. X doesn't come to fruition and I lose all my money. That doesn't make it a ponzi/pyramid. If those attempts to develop that innovation/idea/tech were not genuine or downright false, maybe it could be deemed to be fraud (along the lines of Elizabeth Holmes / Theranos ). If bitcoin is fraudulent, then the codebase is opensource and the whitepaper has long since been published - have at it - and tell us where the ponzi/pyramid/fraud element is.
So now we've arrived at a point where pyramid/ponzi claims are once again thrown out and we're right back at intrinsic value once again.
With regard to the last in = loser claim, how is that any different to me investing in a startup offering new tech at an early stage, I sell all or some of my position as the price rises - and maybe the tech flourishes ( and the latecomer makes a stack) or the tech dies and the latecomer loses everything? This plays out all of the time.
This is what VCs do in the traditional world - and the ordinary guy is not allowed to participate in! (as they have to be accredited investors). With regard to bitcoin, ordinary people have participated. If they participated early, they have shown greater conviction and taken greater risk...so my answer to anyone with this gripe is that you had the opportunity to participate at sub $1, $10, $100, $1000, $10,000, etc. What you decided to do was your choice.
As regards comparisons with Tulipmania, there are important differences:
- Tulips are in no way scarce - bitcoin on the other hand is scarcer than gold.
- Bitcoin has inherent properties which provides it with utility in the role of money and as a store of value.
- There's never been a time when we are not reminded of bitcoin's utility - via failed currencies - the most recent example being the Turkish Lira. A coupe of months prior, it was the Lebanese pound....and on and on it goes. There is utility in a rules-based digital asset that governments and central bankers cannot tinker with.