A look at crypto and politics, one of tonight's CBS 60 Minutes segments. Coincidentally airing as I read this.
I know a similar story, 14-yr-old prodigy bought one something at the beginning and is now a global adventurer...
No backlash in her case, but testament to the "opportunity" out there to be tapped, at the top of the pyramid, if not the "risk" of huge loss, or in this case, "doxing" &/or just burning in hell - or getting "woke".

Happy Holidays!

Property investment, which crypto is a form of, can be an outright gamble. Sometimes it pays big. But so does the lottery or game machines. Really, tho, it's up to the individual to know one's limitations and up to the government to protect consumers from fraud.

Personally I think bitcoin is a speculative investment, not for the amateur. At least not meant to dip into life savings.

Also, I think bitcoin is really clunky. I think it is a fair assessment to say bitcoin doesn't have much legitimate demand, i.e. it is used to hide things more than to conduct legitimate transactions. There many, much easier ways to conduct monetary transactions than using bitcoin.

But on the other hand, LOL, bitcoin value has increased exponentially over the last couple decades. It increased a hundred fold in the last ten years.

So, it isn't a scam, it is a speculative investment.

BUT... scammers will scam, and this "opportunity of a lifetime" might seem like low-hanging fruit. I'm reading "James" now, a story of Huck's adventures as told by his friend/slave, addressing the twin worlds and languages. (Strong recommend). The thing is, I just finished reading about a scene where two top-tier scammers use Huck/Jim's raft, telling them they are a Duke and a King, and proceed down-river to find a revival meeting with a preacher/conman about to meet his match. Eventually Huck learns how low some scammers/schemers will go.

That said, I'm big on seeing "context and perspective" so in the whole I'd agree with this "thing"/tool/scheme being less the evil device than the people who are out to profit and scam. Like our collection of incoming oligarch Lords & judges.

So, it isn’t a scam, it is a speculative investment.

So is a Ponzi scheme. Some win, some lose. You takes your chances.

@Andrew Pam 5 bitcoin now is a half million dollars. You must have did your mining 20 years ago.

I toyed with crypto 10 or 15 years ago. Then i forgot about it. A year ago someone asked me to help them with a small amount of bitcoin that someone had given them. So I grudgingly refreshed my memory and figured out how to check their bitcoin for them. Along the way I dug around in my old files for keys and passwords of my own stuff, and checked on the tiny bit of bitcoin I had left in a couple wallets. Whoa, it had ballooned into a few thousand dollars. Color me impressed.

But I do agree with Joseph's sentiment, bitcoin does not have much socially redeeming value, lol.

But bitcoin isn't exactly a ponzi scheme.

In a Ponzi scheme, a con artist offers investments that promise very high returns with little or no risk to an investor. The returns are said to originate from a business or a secret idea run by the con artist. In reality, the business does not exist or the idea does not work in the way it is described or the extent of returns is made up or exaggerated.

There is a bit of real money involved by miners who have purchased ungodly amounts of computing power, and who have to work to get their money back plus profit. After all bitcoin is based on proof of work.

But the value of bitcoin is still based on the value of privacy of transactions. That's why cash was invented.

Somebody send me a bitcoin receiving address or QR code and i'll send you $20 worth, just for giggles. It's just funny money to me now that it has appreciated 100 times what i invested (20 cents x 100 = $20).

Easy, just download a wallet app (or get account on coinbase), set it up and generate a receiving address. Hard part for converting to dollars is you have to sign up to an exchange, like coinbase, then you have to set up a wire transer to a bank to deposit cash. Or just let it sit for 5 years and it will be worth 10 times that much, lol.