Now days it is almost impossible to prove that project is a ponzi scheme. All of them are masked under MLM companies that are completely LEGAL or under Cloud Mining services, that are LEGAL too. There is also a new and very interesting crypto ponzi scheme, called company revenue shares... Some crypto companies are offering to the token holders the share from their monthly revenues. For example. I invested $1000 and bought the tokens. Every month the company is issuing the statement about their monthly revenue and that revenue is paid to all token holders. Nobody knows if the numbers in that statements are correct, because no external audit is allowed.
I agree.
It depends completely on how the revenue is generated. A small return like that is sustainable in ordinary commerce situations. If genuine revenue is generated then it isn't a ponzi. If new investment is used to pay old investors then it has the elements of a ponzi. This can sometimes be detected by following the blockchain payments.
ICO tokens that pay a "dividend" run into new risks - being an unregistered security.
Howey Test (USA)
It is an investment of money ☑
There is an expectation of profits from the investment ☑
The investment of money is in a common enterprise ☑
Any profit comes from the efforts of a promoter or third party ☑
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/328/293.html
https://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/newsletter/0014/materials/investmentch2.pdf
Commonwealth law is a bit different but the test is symilar.
https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/digital-transformation/initial-coin-offerings-and-crypto-currency/#when