The Bitcoin Argument Is Starting a Little Bit Like a Pyramid Scheme

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The only way to make that kind of money from a ship coin is to buy it when the e is really low, and then persuade lots more people to buy into this coin. The bitcoin argument is that one day the wholewor d will be using bit coin as a method of payment and as a store of value. There's no real justification for why they would ever be used by everyone. Everyone in the ship coin space knows that every time you win, someone else loses.

When the Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern was contacted on Twitter to ask if he was involved in a new cryptocurrency called Tsuka, he assumed they just wanted him to buy it. He ignored the messages. But soon after Alex realised that, without knowing it, he was already involved. What happened next reveals a lot about the strange world of ‘shitcoins’ – cryptocurrencies with no reason for existence beyond buying low and selling high. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Alex Hern about his shitcoin saga, and how the lines can get blurred between a gamble and a scam. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod