How do Bitcoin scams, multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, and Ponzi schemes affect the public's perception of value?

No problem, this is actually quite an interesting topic, and I'll try to explain my views in plain language.

These scams, whether they're Bitcoin scams, pyramid schemes, or Ponzi schemes, fundamentally undermine how ordinary people perceive "value." This is mainly reflected in several aspects:

1. Equating "value" with "getting rich quick," blurring the lines between investment and gambling.

Let's think, why does something have value? It might be because it's useful (like a house provides shelter), because it's rare (like diamonds), or because it improves efficiency (like a technology). This is a process that requires understanding and research.

But scammers don't talk about these things. They'll only tell you: "Buy our XX coin, it'll triple next month!" "Invest with us, and earn a steady 30% every month!" They use an extremely tempting outcome, directly skipping all discussions about "value."

Over time, many people, especially those new to the field, form a wrong impression: anything related to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies should make you rich overnight. They no longer care what problem the technology solves, whether the team is reliable, or what its future application prospects are. They only care about one thing: how much will this thing go up tomorrow?

This transforms something that should be value investing (or at least high-risk investing) into buying a lottery ticket. People no longer seek value; instead, they seek the next "code" that can skyrocket. The perception of value shifts from "why is it valuable?" to "can it make me rich quickly?"

2. Making people confuse "price" and "value," two fundamentally different things.

This is a core issue. One of the scammers' best tricks is "creating price."

Think about how pyramid coins or financial schemes work. Early investors put money in, and the project owner uses money from later entrants to pay "interest" to the earlier ones, while artificially inflating the coin's price within their small circle.

At this point, newcomers see the price curve "soaring" and get a false impression: "Wow, this thing's price is rising so fast, it must be very valuable!" This is a classic case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

They don't realize that this price is fake, conjured out of thin air by moving money from one hand to another, with no underlying support. It's like a sandcastle built on the beach; it looks beautiful, but it's gone with the tide. True value, on the other hand, should be the foundation beneath the castle.

When the scam collapses and the price drops to zero, many people are utterly bewildered. They feel that "value" is ethereal and untrustworthy. In reality, what they saw from the beginning was a manipulated "price," not true "value."

3. "Tarring everyone with the same brush," severely damaging the reputation of the entire industry.

This is the most frustrating point. Imagine a relative of yours who lost everything because they fell for a so-called "Bitcoin mining" pyramid scheme. What will they tell others afterward? They won't say, "I participated in a Ponzi scheme disguised as Bitcoin mining"; they'll just say, "Bitcoin is a scam! Don't touch it!"

This is like someone using a reputable brand to sell counterfeit goods, and instead of blaming the counterfeiter, people conclude that the "brand" itself is bad.

These scams are like parasites attached to Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency industry. They exploit Bitcoin's fame and the public's unfamiliarity with new technologies to commit fraud. The result is that many people who could have learned about this technology now dismiss it entirely because they've heard too much negative news.

This leads to a huge bias in public perception of "value." When Bitcoin is mentioned, many people's minds conjure up "scam," "money laundering," "bubble," rather than "decentralization," "digital gold," or "inflation hedge." The potential value explored by the entire industry is overshadowed by these negative labels.

In summary:

These scams are like funhouse mirrors, completely distorting the concept of "value."

• They make people believe that value doesn't need fundamental support, only a story of getting rich quickly.
• They make people mistake manipulated "price" for true "value," leading to a loss of judgment.
• They tarnish the reputation of emerging technological fields, making the exploration of true value more difficult and leaving public perception stuck in fear and prejudice.

Therefore, learning to distinguish between genuine technological exploration and scams disguised as technology is one of the "financial literacies" everyone in our era should cultivate. Otherwise, it's very easy to be led astray by those extravagant stories.