Nassim Taleb criticized bitcoin and was rude to crypto enthusiast

Bitcoin Currencies and Bubbles

Taleb recalled that the concept of money is based on a collective agreement. The latter can be achieved forcibly, as in the case of fiat money, or as a result of the evolution of social interactions, as happened with gold.

Both scenarios take a long time for the instrument to be culturally accepted by society. According to the author of the article, from the point of view of the social sciences, it is a mistake to expect that Bitcoin will quickly reach what gold took thousands of years to achieve.

“It is a mistake to say that bitcoin can become the“ new gold ”, because gold is not because of technical documentation; it organically became a reserve due to centuries of competition against other instruments of saving, payment and collecting, ”Taleb said.

He drew attention to the fact that one of the main properties of money is value stability – the first cryptocurrency does not meet this criterion.

According to Taleb, the arguments of cryptocurrency maximalists and theorists are nothing more than a delusion:

bitcoin is not an offshoot of libertarianism or Austrian economic thought, since these currents do not imply “complete distrust” of state institutions;
the first cryptocurrency cannot become a “safe haven” because it “reacts to liquidity in the same way as others [финансовые] bubbles “;
Bitcoin does not serve as a defense against oppressive political regimes, as its dependence on fiat and the transparency of the blockchain allows for the establishment of oversight of transactions.

In conclusion, Taleb wrote that a society completely dependent on the first cryptocurrency will be run by corporations and individuals who have accumulated it from the early stages of development.

“A group of insiders are accumulating what they think will become the world’s currency, so later others will have to turn to them to buy. Together they will earn trillions and among them there will be many billionaires – “hodlers”. […] This is the transfer of wealth to the cartel of the first Bitcoin users, ”he said.

Taleb added that “great technology” does not mean useful. He stressed that society “has achieved practically nothing with the blockchain.”

Some representatives of the cryptocurrency industry did not agree with the conclusions of the philosopher. The host of the popular Bitcoin podcast Peter McCormack invited Taleb to discuss his article, to which he received a harsh response:

“Listen, [чертов] moron. Go and write your own rebuttal. The only thing your amoebic brain is capable of is bullying crowds, bullying innocent people with a different opinion, and pushing them to close their Twitter accounts. So sit still and keep your mouth shut. ”