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Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently wrote an article in The Daily Mail in which he stated that he had long feared Bitcoin was a Ponzi scheme and that his fears have now been proven true. Johnson, known for his messy hair and unfiltered takes, was famously relieved of his prime minister post in 2022 amid a massive revolt within his conservative party following several glaring scandals.
The article was also tweeted out by Johnson’s official X account:
Johnson highlights multiple reasons why he believes Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. They include the age-old argument that it has no intrinsic value, reliance on the “greater fool theory”, dependence on a constant influx of new investors, and stories after stories of scams within the crypto space. Johnson stated that even physical collectibles, such as a Pokémon card, could be a better investment than BTC itself.
Is Bitcoin a Ponzi Scheme?
It is interesting to note that Johnson’s tweet on X included additional context. It read:
The context shows that the textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme is that it promises high rates of return with little downside and offers no value proposition. While Bitcoin is a volatile asset that can be harsh on investors at times, it is not a Ponzi scheme, at least according to fact-checkers, multiple economists, and analysts.
 
An investigation by the World Bank and the Swiss Federal Council found that Bitcoin was not a Ponzi scheme because there is no central operator collecting money and no guaranteed payouts to early investors from later investors.
Eric Posner, a University of Chicago Economics Scholar and Bitcoin critic, stated that a true Ponzi scheme requires fraud and a central organizer. Bitcoin has no promoter promising guaranteed returns, so he described it more as “a collective delusion” than a Ponzi scheme. In essence, Bitcoin is many things, but the consensus is that it is not a scheme in the sense Johnson implies.
Twitterati React
Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy, replied to Johnson:
One user had a comical take on things:
Another user quipped:
While the overall discussion was about whether Bitcoin was a Ponzi scheme, there was an overwhelming consensus in the thread that Boris Johnson wasn’t qualified to determine whether the premier cryptocurrency was a scam.
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