Boris Johnson bashes Bitcoin — and gets educated by crypto’s biggest names

The crypto community bit back at Boris Johnson after the ex-British Prime Minister wrote a column calling Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme.

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, and even legendary Bitcoiner Adam Back all responded to Johnson’s article, “I’ve long suspected Bitcoin is a giant Ponzi scheme and now I’m hearing tales of woe that make me fear I’m right.”

“Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme,” wrote Bitcoin treasury pioneer Saylor on X on Friday.

“A Ponzi requires a central operator promising returns and paying early investors with funds from later ones.”

The responses came after Johnson posted his Daily Mail column on X where he warned would-be investors about putting their money in crypto.

The politician isn’t the first high-ranking official to have referred to cryptocurrencies as a Ponzi.

‘But Bitcoin? What is it?’

Johnson, who was UK Prime Minister from 2019-2022, wrote in the Daily Mail that he had met a fellow churchgoer who needed financial help.

After lending the “nice old boy” money, he found out that he had lost cash by buying Bitcoin.

Johnson went on to write that while Bitcoin is decentralised, if people lose faith in the cryptocurrency, it could lose value — and burn investors as a result.

“The more elderly people get ripped off — in the name of Bitcoin — the faster that disillusion will set in,” wrote Johnson.

“I have always suspected from the outset that all cryptocurrencies were basically a Ponzi scheme, with very few good-use cases.”

Oh, Bozza!

The crypto community was quick to try and correct Johnson.

Saylor added that the biggest cryptocurrency had “no guaranteed return — just an open, decentralized monetary network driven by code and market demand.”

And investor and fund manager Fred Kreuger added: “A Ponzi usually needs a central operator, Boris. Bitcoin just has math. Your system has the Bank of England.”

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino simply highlighted X’s community notes, which gave detailed explanations on why Bitcoin is not a Ponzi.

Blockstream CEO and early Bitcoin developer Adam Back responded to Johnson’s post by using his nickname, “Bozza.”

The Ponzi narrative

Bitcoin has long been described by crypto critics as a Ponzi — a scam where people are rewarded for conning others to pile into a bogus investment with false promises of big returns.

Economist Nouriel Roubini has in the past called crypto a “total real‑bubble Ponzi scheme” that will collapse.

And European Central Bank Executive Board member Fabio Panetta in 2022 referred to the digital asset industry as a Ponzi, likening crypto to a “house of cards” that could collapse.

But those in the crypto world simply point to Bitcoin and other digital assets not having a central authority — as Ponzi schemes typically do — as a rebuttal to the critique.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at [e-mail].