That scheme was based on arbitrage of international reply coupons, of which there were a finite number in circulation.
As mentioned this happens a lot with shitcoins and yield farmers, its rather easy to setup, but is not indicative of the industry, and the main source to blame for this misconception is the media, because you certainly cannot justify it if you understood the technology.
Isn't this just saying "something can't be a pyramid scheme unless it has already collapsed"?
Whereas the argument being made is that looking like a pyramid scheme is something that tells you something about the future likelihood of collapse.
(I think there's also an interesting dynamic that's not explored much here about "finite supply" - unless/until every coin except for one or a small handful collapse, it seems like "crypto" as a whole is subject to inflationary pressure from new coins. Would BTC be worth more in USD terms if ETH didn't exist?)
I'm poor, (but not stupid, thank you!), but I've only seen crypto being used as payment for prostitution. Which, hey if that works, good on 'em, I support the idea of safe, legal sex work.
I have to relate this to the whole Allison Mack/NXIVM pyramid scheme.
Funny that we still don't know who the mythical "Satoshi Nakamoto" is. Seems pretty cultish to me, but believe what you wanna believe. To me that's a pretty big red flag. But I'm super into people calling me stupid so have at it.
The SEC are saying that some operators of proper Ponzi schemes are taking crypto as investment and using crypto hype to justify their insane profits.
Not that crypto in general is a Pyramid or Ponzi scheme.