And if there are less future owners who are willing to buy then it decreases in value.
You make it sound as if there is a set amount of buyers and transactions and the only way bitcoin can have value is if its price goes up which isn't the case.
As long as people are willing to accept bitcoins as having value then people are willing to buy it at a certain price. What that price is is determined by the market. It isn't necessary for bitcoin to either go up or go bust.
"old money is paid back from the new, and the value increases only on the hope that you can involve more new money."
Old money isn't necessarily paid back from the new. Money has already exchanged hand. Those that hold bitcoins hold a value of whatever the market considers worth. That may be 0, that may be 1m. That isn't any different from anything else. I.e. those who have dining tables hold such a value as the market is willing to pay.
And of course the value increases only if more people are willing to buy than sell i.e. involve more money.
I'm making no such assumptions; I don't think I'm making the argument you think I'm making.
As for "money has already exchanged hands," that can be true of any Ponzi scheme as well. When we talk of "old" and "new" money in a Ponzi investment scheme, we don't mean two literally segregated categories. You might have some old money and some new money at the same time.
You make it sound as if there is a set amount of buyers and transactions and the only way bitcoin can have value is if its price goes up which isn't the case.
As long as people are willing to accept bitcoins as having value then people are willing to buy it at a certain price. What that price is is determined by the market. It isn't necessary for bitcoin to either go up or go bust.
"old money is paid back from the new, and the value increases only on the hope that you can involve more new money."
Old money isn't necessarily paid back from the new. Money has already exchanged hand. Those that hold bitcoins hold a value of whatever the market considers worth. That may be 0, that may be 1m. That isn't any different from anything else. I.e. those who have dining tables hold such a value as the market is willing to pay.
And of course the value increases only if more people are willing to buy than sell i.e. involve more money.
What exactly is the ponzi part?