Those who call $Bitcoin a ponzi know very little about ponzi schemes! The questions they asked at the time I was lured to ponzi schemes where I lost so much money were; Where is the interest coming from? and What is the place of the funders in the whole structure? And I answered; Banks are ponzi schemes do you know that? You deposit your money with a bank, and they loan it out to someone else, while you never benefit from the interest on your money! Ponzi scheme's are pyramid schemes where you take from Mr. A and Give to Mr. B.Yes that's how they work and the banks aren't any different! The only difference between banks and other ponzi schemes is that banks are ponzis backed by the Government laws. Money just changes hands! $Bitcoin however is a comodity, that is subjected to economic laws of supply and demand! only impatient people lose money here; because everyone has the opportunity to make money! If I buy one bitcoin today at say $100000 and price falls to $10 technically I haven't lost, I lose only when I sell it at $10, If I am patient enough, someone gets to buy it from me tomorrow at $105,000 I have made a profit haven't I? Banks like ponzi schemes don't have a commodity to sell, they only transfer Mr. X's money to Mr. Y, $Bitcoin is comodity money that's why it isn't a ponzi. if the demand increases with its limited supply, it is only normal that price will go up and vice versa.
But this isn't really true. Bitcoin isn't a magical money making scheme and there are no guaranteed returns here no matter how long you hold your money. Bitcoin isn't guaranteed to last forever and could well fall by many more thousands and never get back to the all time high or even where it is currently. What then? Keep holding in the hope that one day it will return again? Again, nothing is guaranteed with bitcoin no matter how long your are prepared to hold.
As I previously explained, Bitcoin obviously wasn't created as fraud or pyramid scheme and it was created with what I believe to be good intentions to make a new economic model for truly fair money, but unfortunately it does have some similarities with a pyramid/ponzi schemes and I can see why people make the comparison. Ponzis and pyramids are scams created by a fraudster with the intent of getting people to invest in something that doesn't exist. You could argue that bitcoin doesn't exist other than in code and the early adopters were the ones who benefited the most and for the model to keep going new money needs to keep coming in. If that new money stops coming in or most holders lose confidence and dump their coins then that could be catastrophic. Bitcoin could then collapse at that point and if that does happen then not only will bitcoin go down in the history books as a failure but many people will then refer to it as a scam/fraud and the new tulip mania and so on. I really hope that doesn't happen but it's something that would be out of our control. Respect. One of the very first enthusiasts, who at least understands, why the comparison is made.
Now, there is just a tiny gap between what I think and what You think. I dont believe in good intentions and I think empty talk, like mystical Lightning network coming and saving a day, is just a regular delaying lie, which are often used to prolong the scheme. I also think BTC scheme masters didnt see even in wettest dreams, how big their fraudster becomes. When looking at, say Satoshis income, there would had been a great motivation for archidect this scheme even for money 100 FOLD less, than he got now (if he has cashed out). But thats another topic already.