> Though whether the equity shares are worth as much as Bitfinex is claiming them to be is an another question.
I am not sure but they might be restricting the IOUs or shares to trade on their platform. So they are raking in commissions on the shares being traded. In which case it is surely a scam. But to be pedantic it is not a Ponzi scheme.
As the author has made a strong argument that the equity shares are in fact worthless, the caveat is not much of one.
To be precise, it is not the debt-to-equity swap that the author is comparing to a Ponzi scheme, but the part where it is suggested they get their money back by selling on to a second round of 'investors' - but pedantic arguments over what to call it can only distract from the central issue of fraud.
> Though whether the equity shares are worth as much as Bitfinex is claiming them to be is an another question.
I am not sure but they might be restricting the IOUs or shares to trade on their platform. So they are raking in commissions on the shares being traded. In which case it is surely a scam. But to be pedantic it is not a Ponzi scheme.