>The acquisition of bitcoin by newcomers in no way enriches earlier adopters
Doesn't it though? The reason we're talking about ethereum here is because it's got the best adoption of any of the newer altcoins. And the more people talk about these altcoins the better they seem to do. Hence things like "this is good for bitcoin", they're trying to get buy in.
I suppose. But there is no guarantee of return, or even the promise of return, which is something a Ponzi scheme almost always offers.
As OP pointed out, everyone who is investing in mining / purchasing these coins is hoping they will be a store of value that will appreciate. At some level, it's no different from betting on specific commodities. No one is promising anything. I think that's an important distinction.
The comment I'm replying to is talking about pyramid schemes so for clarification: the subject of this thread is ponzi schemes on an alt-coin but my belief is that the altcoins themselves are a classic pyramid scheme.
>there is no guarantee of return, or even the promise of return
You should check out some altcoin subreddits and /biz/ and I think you might disagree with yourself.
"Frgtpsswrdlame-coin is going to the moon! You guys need to hop onto this, I already have a 100% return. Plus it's safe because frgtpsswrdlame-coin has <encryption gibberish>. It's still early so get in!"
"Buy the dip! If you look at frgtpsswrdlame-coin's charts you can see that there's a <technical analysis gibberish> pattern forming which means this is going to bounce right back!"
Perhaps what seperates this from a more traditional pyramid scheme like door-to-door knife sales is that you can't point to the guy who convinced you to buy in and you can't point to the guys at the top of the hierarchy but they still exist and they still misled you. It's just obfuscated because of the internet.
There is a marked difference between investing and outright gambling. When you invest, you are placing capital at risk in order to achieve some kind of gain, be it growth or dividends. At the end of the investment, there is the return of your original principal. There are legal mechanisms in place that govern real investments. That's not to say that you can't lose all that initial principal, you can, but it's still a remarkably different process than what these Ponzi schemes look like. At least to me.
Look, every Ponzi that ever existed has anecdotes about those who made it big--it's part of the con. Getting rich quick is the dream of every peon everywhere.
Doesn't it though? The reason we're talking about ethereum here is because it's got the best adoption of any of the newer altcoins. And the more people talk about these altcoins the better they seem to do. Hence things like "this is good for bitcoin", they're trying to get buy in.