TLDR

  • Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson characterized Bitcoin as a “giant Ponzi scheme” in a Daily Mail article.
  • Johnson recounted an anecdote about a villager who lost £20,000 (approximately $26,450) due to what he described as a Bitcoin scam.
  • He raised concerns about trusting a system established by a pseudonymous individual, Satoshi Nakamoto.
  • Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy, countered by stating that Bitcoin lacks an issuer, promoter, or guaranteed returns.
  • Other social media users highlighted Bitcoin’s fixed supply and open-source nature as evidence that it does not align with the definition of a Ponzi scheme.

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ignited a discussion within the cryptocurrency community this week by labeling Bitcoin a “giant Ponzi scheme” in a prominent newspaper column. The crypto community’s reaction was swift and direct.

Johnson’s views were published in the Daily Mail on Friday, March 14, 2026. The article began with a story about a man from his village in Oxfordshire who gave £500 (approximately $661) to an individual in a pub who promised to double it through Bitcoin.

That man spent three and a half years paying fees and attempting to recover his funds, without success. He ultimately lost around £20,000 (approximately $26,450), and Johnson noted that the man “was struggling to pay his bills.”

Johnson used this account to argue that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic value. He drew unfavorable comparisons to gold and even Pokémon cards, suggesting that the latter possess cultural or physical appeal.

“These curious little Japanese cartoon beasties seem to exercise the same fascination over the five-year-old mind as they did 30 years ago,” Johnson wrote, implying that Pokémon cards are more easily traded than Bitcoin.

He also questioned the credibility of a financial system created by someone known as Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous figure whose true identity remains unknown.

“Who do we talk to if they decrypt the crypto?” Johnson inquired in the column.

Michael Saylor Responds

The cryptocurrency industry responded quickly. Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, directly addressed Johnson’s assertions.

Saylor stated that a Ponzi scheme necessitates a “central operator promising returns and paying early investors with funds from later ones.” He asserted that Bitcoin does not fit this description.

“Bitcoin has no issuer, no promoter, and no guaranteed return — just an open, decentralized monetary network driven by code and market demand,” Saylor posted on X.

Pierre Rochard, CEO of The Bitcoin Bond Company, also offered a response. He contended that the UK itself functions as “a giant Ponzi scheme” financed by debt.

Community Notes and Social Media Pushback

On X, a community note was appended to Johnson’s post. It pointed out that Ponzi schemes promise unrealistically high returns with minimal to no risk. The note read: “Bitcoin has no issuer and its value is purely determined by the free market. The code is totally public and opt-in.”

Others cited Bitcoin’s capped supply and its open-source, public code as significant distinctions from a typical Ponzi structure.

BitMEX Research responded to Johnson’s query about who controls Bitcoin with a concise answer: “Nobody is in charge.”

Some users shared memes and criticized central banks for increasing the money supply during the pandemic.

The column and the subsequent reactions occurred in the same week that the Bitcoin network reached the milestone of producing its 20 millionth coin, drawing attention to Bitcoin’s hard-coded supply limit of 21 million coins.