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Bitcoin 'A Magnet For Idiots, A Fool Detector,' Says 'The Black Swan' Author

Benzinga · 01/06/2023 13:31

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) critic and noted essayist and mathematical statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb has said the apex cryptocurrency is now a “magnet for idiots.”

What Happened: In a recent interview with French magazine L’Express, the author of “The Black Swan” said Bitcoin was a “fool detector.”

Taleb posted a translated version of the L’Express interview with Laeticia Strauch-Bonart on his Medium Blog.

On the craze surrounding cryptocurrencies, Taleb said it was a product of near zero or sometimes negative interest rates without “real market functioning.”

“Lowering rates creates asset bubbles without necessarily helping the economy,” said the former options trader and risk analyst. He said this gave rise to “malignant tumors” like Bitcoin.

Taleb said he had wrongly thought Bitcoin could be a “bulwark against the distortions of this monetary policy.”

“I think the crypto universe attracts manipulators and scammers. It also has a generational vice: it is filled with young people who have no experience,” said Taleb.

Why It Matters: In the interview, Taleb referred to his 2021 article termed “the Bitcoin black paper" in contrast to the Bitcoin Whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the original cryptocurrency.

He said Bitcoin had not managed to satisfy the concept of “currency without government.” Taleb said Bitcoin was not a short-term or long-term store of value and cannot function as a hedge against inflation and doesn’t shield against “government tyranny” either.

Taleb said Bitcoin compares poorly with gold. “Technology comes and goes, gold stays, at least physically. Once neglected for a brief period, bitcoin would necessarily collapse,” said the author.

Previously, Taleb has compared “Cryptoism” with communism and labeled it as 21st-century “hyper-naive utopianism.”