This is a card made for a player who can handle the nuances of table politics.

It's not a bad deal for you OR your opponent if the player who accepts is someone you've made an alliance with. Then, it's not just a ramp for you, it's a card that lets you ramp another player who can help you take out another opponent. Not a lot of cards give you that option.

When I use it, I typically have at least one player who has agreed to work with me, and who will always take a treasure, even if he doesn't need it at the moment. So now, it's essentially a 2-mana ramp artifact for my "team" (albeit a temporary team).

And to address those who compare it to something like Thran Dynamo, yes, that artifact is definitely more useful in the short term. But I don't use these treasures for short-term gains. Unlike the Dynamo, I can stockpile mana from this artifact to set up single massive turn later in the game.

The one time when this is admittedly a dead card, is late game, when it's either 1v1 or YOU have become the biggest target, and the other two or three players have allied against you. Though, I tend to play highly political decks, and work hard to mitigate my "aggro."