What if Bitcoin was a Scam and Most Cryptocurrencies Were Worth Zero?

A lot of banking executives have said some rather remarkably ignorant things about Bitcoin and crypto-assets over the years.

Nouriel Roubini is an American economist. As a renowned Global economist he’s one of the few who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, and he’s making sure U.S. senators don’t miss his warning on cryptocurrency. His basic message believe it or not is this:

Blockchain isn’t about democracy and decentralisation — it’s about greed!

There’s no doubt hundreds of ICOs have been scams, real fraud has occured in crypto and even Jimmy Song thinks EOS is a scam and ETH is amateurish. The debates about crypto have been some of the best in tech in the 2015 to 2020 period.

What if Bitcoin Really was a Scam

“Crypto is the mother or father of all scams and bubbles,” Roubini, also a professor at New York University, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Community Affairs at a hearing.

A Harvard alumnus and now a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, Mr. Roubini has always been critical of the crypto and blockchain industry. It’s important to have economists who don’t agree with crypto, it gives the generational divide some really interesting meat on the fate of digital assets and blockchain adoption.

He may however be right, most cryptos are likely worth close to nothing. EOS could indeed be a shitcoin. It’s not outside the realm of possibility. Bitcoin’s price we have to admit is a fairly manipulated and volatile asset, whatever the movers on its price seem to be. Apparently, CNBC is one of them.

Yet in 2018 we’ve basically learned that the fate of stablecoins could actually be to protect the global economy in times of crashes and hyper-inflation. Nevermind that for now though, to congress Nouriel said: I can see a bubble when there is one — and to me, this entire space has been the mother and the father of all financial bubbles and now it’s [going to] burst.

So if you bought in to Bitcoin late, for instance when it was at its peak — you probably lost 70 percent of your value. It is a bit like gambling. Crypto in many ways has been the high-risk high-reward play that young men would be most prone to.

The self-described expert on international financial markets, asset and credit bubbles and their bust, said the first warning sign came after late last year as bitcoin neared a high of almost $20,000. Yet people seem to have stronger views on crypto than they do on politics or religion. It inspires fanatical nearly cult-like following. Is it greed, or something else?

CNBC puts crypto skeptics on their stage on a regular basis. This feeds the flames of crypto propaganda whereby manipulation of these digital assets can take place for profit. It’s not good or bad journalism, but it certainly is clickbait. With everything in America, the internet is a tool for propaganda. However, with a Bitcoin ETF, Etheruem Futures, Bakkt launching and many other factors, we could actually see another bull run for Bitcoin. Whether you agree or disagree with it, it does exist and it’s slowly legitimatizing digital assets in a way few saw coming on a macro level.

Does the world really need public blockchains, privacy and stable coins, shitcoins? Probably not, we would be fine without all of these things. Is Blockchain the most hyped technology most people don’t understand? Without a doubt.

CNBC goes on quoting him: “Especially folks with zero financial literacy — individuals who could not tell the difference between stocks and bonds — went into a literal manic frenzy of Bitcoin and Crypto buying,” Roubini said in prepared testimony. If we were financially literate would we be investing in Wall Street instead — basically a tool the rich user to get richer? Can most of us even afford to do so?

Crypto is a poor man’s investment, where Bitcoin has become an idol — and that crypto greed is really a symbol of our poverty. Nouriel Roubini doesn’t have to be right, blockchain like AI can strengthen and make the global economy more resilient even if true decentralization might not manifest in our lifetime. The world can laugh at crypto, but it’s not ready for real decentralization. So what’s left? Likely a lot of frauds and ponzi-schemes.