Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, called Bitcoin (BTC) a “Ponzi scheme” that is less valuable than Pokémon cards, collectibles that he said had broad appeal and a decades-long history.
Johnson wrote a review article published Friday in the Daily Mail that began with the story of a friend who gave 500 pounds sterling, or about $661, to a man who promised to “double his money” by investing it in BTC.
The friend continued to pay additional “fees” to the project developer over the next three and a half years, but was never able to recoup his funds, despite sinking 20,000 British pounds, or about $26,474, leading to financial hardship, Johnson said.
“He was having trouble paying his bills. He wasn’t the only one, my friend said. Other people in the neighborhood were going through the same nightmare,” Johnson added. Johnson then argued that collectible Pokémon cards are a more tradable asset than BTC:
“These curious little beasts from Japanese cartoons seem to exert the same fascination on the minds of five-year-olds as they did 30 years ago. Children drool over them. They brag and argue about them.”
Even if you remain fairly desensitized to Pikachu’s charm, you can pretty much understand why a decades-old Pikachu card is still a tradeable asset,” he added.
The opinion piece sparked a wave of criticism online from the Bitcoin community and crypto industry executives, who refuted it by explaining Fundamental Properties of Bitcoin and claiming that debt-based fiat currency systems are Ponzi schemes.
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Bitcoiners educate and ridicule Johnson for his views
“Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi requires a central operator who promises returns and pays early investors with late investors’ funds,” said Michael Saylor, co-founder of Strategy. said in response.
“Bitcoin has no issuer, no promoter, no guaranteed returns, just an open, decentralized monetary network driven by code and market demand,” Saylor continued.
Pierre Rochard, CEO of The Bitcoin Bond Company, a BTC-backed issuer of financial products, said the UK is a “giant Ponzi scheme”. debt financed.
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