[fandango]

Ah the ol' pyramid scheme and religious cult arguments.

Fair enough, now we actually have something to discuss. Do you consider the stock market and forex market also as pyramid schemes? If not, what's the difference?

The religious argument is kind of absurd though. I could dismiss every group or school of thought as being a bunch of crazy religious weirdos. Especially easy because in that case I don't have to provide any substantive arguments.

[carlmr]

The difference is that Bitcoin is not used much for transactions currently. The companies on the stock market usually have a valuation at least somewhat related to the output they provide (I say somewhat because stock traders also try to project for the future and often get this wrong).

I see this as an issue of what's probably a reasonable valuation for the near future for a company or virtual currency and what is the current valuation. Bitcoin is valued many many times more than it's current actual value, most companies would have a massive selloff if they published such bad numbers in terms of current earnings with no clear value in the future.

Until Bitcoin gets at least some widespread adoption and most people investing in it are people that want to get rich quick, I see it on par with any other pump and dump scheme, pyramid scheme or cult.