It doesn't meet the traditional definition, no, which is why I referred to it as a "distributed Ponzi scheme" - it's closer to an MLM in classical parlance.
[edit] Here's the SEC definition:
> A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often promise to invest your money and generate high returns with little or no risk. But in many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters do not invest the money. Instead, they use it to pay those who invested earlier and may keep some for themselves.
> With little or no legitimate earnings, Ponzi schemes require a constant flow of new money to survive. When it becomes hard to recruit new investors, or when large numbers of existing investors cash out, these schemes tend to collapse.
And here are the red flags that the SEC warns folks to watch for:
> High returns with little or no risk.
> Unregistered investments.
> Unlicensed sellers.
> Secretive, complex strategies.
[edit2] So with that in mind, it meets many (but not all) of the classic definition elements.
1. All returns are generated by bringing new money into the system. The only way someone can make money on Bitcoin is if a new person invests. That money is then distributed to the earlier participant, net of miner fees.
2. There is no actual business underlying.
3. The constant flow of new money is required to keep the price from collapsing because miners extract something like $50M in welfare from the system per day.
4. The entire space is unregistered investments hawked by unlicensed sellers.
Edit: parent comment was edited, originally said:
> It actually matches the SEC definition of a Ponzi scheme haha, which happens to be a little bit less restrictive than a traditional definition.
> It's a negative sum wealth redistribution scheme the takes money from new entrants and gives it to miners and to old entrants. The miner portion is what makes it negative-sum.
You can’t build a building on top of nothing so if land has a building on it you can apportion some of the productivity of the building to the land itself.
Agreed land without improvements is zero sum.
"Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that"
"investment fraud" - "induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information"
Major cryptocurrencies do not present "false information", therefore they are not "investment fraud", therefore they are not Ponzi schemes.
This statement is obviously false, as there are people born daily.
> information .. buried in code .. some consider that fraud
It doesn't matter that people consider it fraud. It is not fraud neither by definition, nor it is fraud "in spirit of law" (burying it in code does not have the necessary intention to deceive).
You can twist the definition of fraud as much as you want in your mind, but if you do that - you are just a part of ignorant mob with pitchforks.