Long-time bitcoin critic and renowned economist Nouriel Roubini has conceded that bitcoin may have some utility as a store of value.
Roubini, famous for his correct prediction of the 2007-2008 collapse and more recent debates with BitMEX’s Arthur Hayes, said that “maybe bitcoin is a partial store of value.” Speaking on a panel alongside Brock Pierce, Bobby Lee and Tone Vays at the CC Forum 2019 conference held in London Oct. 16, the economist made “baby steps” in accepting the cryptocurrency.
Roubini said,
Maybe Bitcoin is a partial store of value but it’s not a unit of account, it’s not a means of payment, it’s not scalable […] in spite of its rally earlier this year, it’s lost 60% in value since it’s peak, so I don’t see it going anywhere frankly.
However, he quickly followed his position by reaffirming his trust in fiat currencies, telling Bobby Lee he would rather “take the U.S. dollar over any of your s**tcoins.”
Here is the infamous panel w/ @Nouriel @brockpierce @bobbyclee & the now self admitted “FakeToshi” Craig S. Wright.
– I must say Bobby was Brilliant vs Roubini
– Nouriel 'admmited' #Bitcoin $BTC has some store of value 😁.. Baby Steps 👍https://t.co/vDvAP7JGYM— Tone Vays [Bali – Financial Summit] (@ToneVays) October 17, 2019
Roubini told audience members that despite his criticism of crypto, he is not a “defender of the traditional financial system.” However, he believes that the tokenization of assets on a blockchain, such as stocks and bonds, would digress financial institutions to the “Stone Age of bartering.”
He concluded,
Even the Flintstones had a more sophisticated system of value than crypto.
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