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> It seems like a Ponzi-like startup is not illegal because it's not as deliberately deceptive nor is it schemed by a single party/person, but rather it's more the creation of the entire market and what is really causing the profits/payouts is more up-for-debate.

In a Ponzi scheme, you’re led to believe that profits are from sales, luring new investors to partake by lying.

Uber is losing money but there’s still hype around it because everyone wants to get in on the ground floor. At the end of the day, they’re going to be releasing truthful quarterly reports rather than fabricating numbers out of thin air.

The difference is pretty massive I would say.




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