I know this is a joke, but there are numerous real life Ponzi and pyramid schemes based on Ethereum smart contracts. PonziCoin, PoWH3D, and EthPhoenix transparently advertise themselves as Ponzi/pyramid schemes. There's also a whole genre of "hot potato" collectible games that operate like pyramid schemes. CryptoCelebrities and CryptoKitties are a couple well known games in this genre.<p>Personally, I don't think there's anything unethical about transparent pyramid schemes. They're essentially gambling games where players bet on the greed of other players. The greediest players end up "holding the bag" while every one else makes money. These games can be pretty profitable if you play conservatively.
What is so great about this is that in today's age anyone can create a great looking website, appear professional and really pull off things like this. Use fancy job titles, like Second Layer Expert (lol) and invent a bunch of other nonsense that sounds innovative and disruptive, as well of course publish the code to be open. It's a great prank, unfortunately backed by too many real world cases that do exactly that, and make people lose money.
Meh, there was one in Russia 2y ago. Called MMM 2.0. MMM 1.0 was also Ponzi, but not honest.<p>So the guy behind them got prosecuted for MMM 1.0, finished his sentence and then did 2.0 honestly.
This reminds me of the time I was approached to join a multi-level marketing scam affiliated with Transamerica. Their contact phone number was 1-800-PYRAMID. I was like "Well, at least they're up front about it and put it right there in the phone number."
I wouldn’t mind investing in an honest ponzi scheme as long as honesty tapered off over time as the number of people joining grow, and there’s no restriction on when you can pull out. I would have loved the super charged returns in Bernie Madoff’s early days.
This is great. So many little touches.<p>Have a look at the licensee agreement.
<a href="https://ponzischeme.io/images/rules.gif" rel="nofollow">https://ponzischeme.io/images/rules.gif</a> Elon?