It is not unheard of for popular influencers outside the Bitcoin and crypto community to formulate and share their opinions about the emerging space. Well-known conspiracy theorist and comedian Owen Benjamin was the latest to go down that path, as he recently shared his views on Bitcoin.
Owen Benjamin’s thoughts were more negative than positive, as he labeled Bitcoin a decentralized Ponzi scheme. The American actor heavily criticized the leading cryptocurrency, arguing that its inherent value comes from people not spending it because they want it to increase.
Rather than being a decentralized currency, Owen Benjamin argues that Bitcoin operates as a Ponzi scheme but cannot be shut down because there’s no one individual behind it who could be sent to prison. Additionally, he claimed that the media willfully controls the price of Bitcoin for their gain, ultimately defeating its stated purpose of being a currency.
Bitcoin appears to be a decentralized Ponzi scheme not a decentralized currency. People don’t spend it because they want it to go up. The dollar works because of inflation. It keeps velocity up like hot potato. If you want to store value silver gold and land. Because it’s…
— Owen Benjamin (@OwenBenjamin) December 8, 2023
In a follow-up post, Owen Benjamin further argued that the government’s control over Bitcoin makes it appear more volatile than an actual material store of value asset. He advised his 192,000 followers to invest in assets such as gold and silver as a store of value instead of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Community Response
The Bitcoin and crypto community responded differently to Owen’s tweet, with few echoing his opinion and others strongly refuting it. Leading Bitcoin’s defense was Saifedean Ammous, the author of the popular book The Bitcoin Standard. In his defense, Saifedean Ammous emphasized Bitcoin’s superiority to the dollar, especially as the former is not overly subject to inflation.
In his words, Ammous noted that “inflation is just necessary to rob [individuals]” as it is not a good attribute of a currency as the government has led people to believe. The Bitcoin book author pointed to the recent inflation in Lebanon as a reason why Bitcoin is necessary.
Meanwhile, X user Seeky sought to define a Ponzi scheme to prove that Bitcoin was not one. Instead, they described Bitcoin as a speculative asset, given its historical rise and collapse cycles.
Overall, the Bitcoin community urged Owen Benjamin to spend more time learning whether Bitcoin is a scam or legit. Such valuable time spent studying would help reshape his thinking about the crypto asset and potentially lure him to become a supporter rather than a critic.
The post Conspiracy Theorist Owen Benjamin Calls Bitcoin a “Decentralized Ponzi Scheme” appeared first on Coinfomania.