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   cjd (cjd@pkteerium.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:07:35 JST cjd
   These days people like to call all kinds of things "Ponzi" and it's corrosive because it muddies the water.
   
   Coins are not Ponzi schemes. Speculative bubbles, even if highly unstable, are not Ponzi schemes. Even scam tokens which are designed to rug pull, are not Ponzi schemes.
   
   What is a Ponzi scheme? Paying yields to old investors from the principle of new investors. That's it. That's the definition.
   
   When you see "risk free yields", Run. No exceptions.
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     on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ (lain@lain.com)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:07:34 JST on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

     in reply to
     @cjd so, social security, for instance
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     cjd (cjd@pkteerium.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:23:41 JST cjd

     in reply to

     • on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
     Social Security is more of an obligatory investment account where you put in principal and then you receive back your principal at old age. This is not, by definition, a Ponzi scheme because it's not paying you yields on your principal which you may withdraw.
     
     The fact that you're putting it into an account which is used to pay someone else's retirement and then hoping someone else will pay yours is not precisely a Ponzi scheme, it is more like an insolvent bank.
     on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ likes this.
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     on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ (lain@lain.com)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:24:14 JST on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

     in reply to
     @cjd so it's not really a scheme, more like an accident
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     cjd (cjd@pkteerium.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:34:01 JST cjd

     in reply to

     • on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
     I'm really adamant about the precise definition of a Ponzi scheme, because people keep spreading these moron takes like "Bitcoin is a Ponzi", "US Dollar is the biggest Ponzi", etc. and we're losing the cultural competency to spot real actual Ponzi schemes.
     
     Ponzi schemes are investments where you put money in, you're allowed to withdraw your principal at any time (until you aren't), and you're paid interest on your principal (which comes from other peoples' principal).
     
     These things are uniquely harmful because they play on psychology with impossible promises, and they collapse instantaneously, losing 100% of all depositor money. This is why they have a special name, and I want people to be better at recognizing them.
     on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ likes this.
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     🌲-alist (threalist@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Saturday, 12-Nov-2022 23:38:38 JST 🌲-alist

     in reply to

     • on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
     > The fact that you're putting it into an account which is used to pay someone else's retirement and then hoping someone else will pay yours is not precisely a Ponzi scheme, it is more like an insolvent bank.
     
     Huh. I always thought of it as a ponzi scheme. Good point.
     on-lain ✔ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ likes this.