OK I read your concerns, I think they are good points, and yeah, similar to what I'm thinking. I think its not 100% straight-forward 'YES" or "NO" on the Ponzi question.
I think ultimately it will come down to are payouts coming from new buyers (made easier because are also "locked in" to Vests), or do they come from somehow the overall value in the system increasing? I admit the second choice, the non-Ponzi one, sounds kind of subjective and hard to test for. Also I think we should be more concerned with whether or not the VALUE is transferring from "suckers/bag holders", and not specifically each of the 3 token types. Their complex relationship makes that hard to track.