https://unherd.com/thepost/is-crypto-just-one-big-ponzi-scheme/
This article ignores other potential benefits to crypto (that is, beyond a possible rise in price) and also ignores precious metals, which like crypto offer no interest payments or dividends but have other benefits. The article also ignores some of the possible RISKS of crypto (e.g., that the alleged security and privacy might be illusions, outright theft by an exchange, loss of a wallet or a password, etc). Metals also have risks (theft of physical metal for instance, including government confiscation, plus the added risk if one uses a third party to hold the metal).
There is nothing in life without risk; assessing risk and choosing which ones to take on are among the more important life skills.
Defining whether or not something is — or has become — a Ponzi scheme has been long forgotten; it involves working out if an investment’s underlying structure creates a negative-sum game. With regulated securities, such as stocks and bonds, investors receive a combination of interest payments, dividends, and cash flows, making these, at the very least, a zero-sum endeavour. With crypto, however, investors receive none of these, only benefiting from a potential rise in price — the so-called greater fool theory.
This disparity, among other things, has led many financial commentators to describe even the number one crypto, Bitcoin, as a negative-sum Ponzi scheme (one FT story suggested it was even ‘worse’ than that). If Bitcoin’s ecosystem collapses, funds can’t be returned to holders because its price going to zero means there’s nothing to recover. But with a Ponzi scheme, funds can be recovered and returned to investors. Following the collapse of the infamous Madoff Ponzi scheme, 14 out of 20 billion dollars initially invested have been recovered from offshore accounts.
For now, Bitcoin’s Ponzi status is irrelevant. Bankman-Fried has simply joined the increasing list of crypto’s nobility who’ve accidentally gloated about profiting from dubious financial structures. Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners, infamously likened Bitcoin to a pyramid scheme, despite how his company’s primary function is cryptocurrency investments. Meanwhile, outlets in the crypto media have also embraced Ponzinomics, like CoinDesk publishing an article with a lede reading: “Yes, it’s a Ponzi scheme. But who cares?”
I realize most of this sounds rude, but it's not meant to be. This is just pointing out where you're missing some points.
You're making a logical fallacy by saying crypto is dangerous because people treat it like a stock. You're correct that that's a problem and when the dollar crashes people will pull their "investment" money out of bitcoin, but that's a temporary drop. Those of us that understand what bitcoin is will buy more and suck up the losses from those that sold out of fear.
You also don't understand what NFTs are and you're being short sighted. Initially people are selling jpgs and gifs as NFTs, but that is not at all the real use. How about documents like birth certificates, business licenses, diplomas, car registrations, etc? How about emails, records, entire databases, scientific research, etc? You're missing the whole point of NFT technology because the market of jpgs has been taken advantage of by people looking for a quick buck. Ownership of digital assets has very real use cases, so I would not be laughing at the technology just because of what the media throws in your face.
You clearly read way to much into that. I just said be careful. This is uncharted territory, nothing like this has ever been done, there is a lot we don't know about it, including who has the most bitcoins and this person who started it.
But no, please, continue to pour your discretionary income into it. Its your life.