Is it a Ponzi?

Has crypto built anything useful?

Or is it just a myriad of Ponzi schemes with sophisticated grifters stealing money from hopeful newcomers? 

Depending on who you ask, Crypto could be the financial coming-of-Jesus moment. Or it could be a “venereal disease… below contempt” in the words of Charlie Munger.

Part of the problem in assessing the crypto industry is we throw around certain terms without really understanding them, and without having a clear terminology around them. There are Ponzi schemes. But most projects aren’t Ponzi schemes. That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good, but we need some more expressive ways to describe projects that are good and bad, living and dying, scams and not. 

So here’s one attempt at a framework for judging crypto projects. 

I’ve broken them out into two meta categories: living or dying. 

Then within those categories, there are four subclasses: Pyramid, Ponzi, Tulips, and Spenders. 

Put together, this gives us a useful framework for looking at new or existing projects and assessing if they have a future.