One of the most renowned economists in the world, Nouriel Roubini, who is known very well for his bearish standpoint on financial markets across the globe, doesn’t seem to be optimistic about bitcoin and the digital currency industry.
Using Twitter as his platform to convey his message Sunday, Roubini described bitcoin as a “Ponzi scheme,” a concept that the virtual currency has been compared to many times over. Also, Roubini explained that bitcoin remains as a “lousy” store of value.
“So Bitcoin isn’t a currency,” Roubini tweeted. “It is (by the way) a Ponzi game and a conduit for criminal/illegal activities. And it isn’t safe given hacking of it.”
In a different tweet, he cited the recent data breaches of debit and credit cards that have been fully repaid by the parties involved. He asked: “Who is going to repay the $1bn BTC fraud at Mt. Gox? No one.”
Roubini went onto further state that bitcoin proponents are “fanatics” and perhaps even worse than goldbugs because they appear to be “cult-like.” This might be one of the first damning statements made by a high-profile economist since the digital currency was launched a few years ago.
“(Bitcoin) bugs like gold bugs are fanatics who speak of (bitcoin) in cult-like religious ways. Like gold bugs they have paranoid conspiracy views on the dollar,” he said in another Twitter update late Sunday.
He ended his rant on bitcoin by noting that retailers that have begun accepting bitcoin will likely just convert them back into their respective currency, whether it be dollars, euros or yen.
