‘Black Swan’ author says bitcoin is a worthless, speculative bubble – Markets Insider

Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

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Nassim Nicholas Taleb has posted a bunch of incendiary tweets about bitcoin over the past six months. The author of "The Black Swan" and "Antifragile" has compared the most valuable cryptocurrency to an infectious disease, dismissed it as worthless, and said it doesn't serve as a hedge against anything.

In the summer, Taleb said in an analysis dubbed the "Bitcoin Black Paper" that bitcoin wasn't a currency, a store of value, an inflation hedge, or a haven from government tyranny or catastrophe. He has used Twitter to amplify his view that bitcoin is a fragile bubble built on speculation instead of genuine value.

1. "View BTC is as a contagious disease. It will spread, spread & its price will rally until saturation, that is ~every sucker stupid enough to buy the story is invested. When all suckers are in, the prevailing belief will make it an 'obvious' investment. That's maximal fragility." (January 17)

2. "Almost nothing in financial history has been more fragile than bitcoin." (July 3)

3. "Bitcoin has been a magnet for imbeciles." (He was blasting critics who accused him of being too rigid in his views about bitcoin, even though he shifted from being excited about its potential to deciding it was worthless in 2020.) (July 30)

4. "Bitcoin may interest some for speculative purposes but anyone who claims that #bitcoin is a hedgeagainst anything, financial or otherwise, is a certified fraud." (September 20)

5. "1- Bitcoin is no hedge for adversity 2- Bitcoin is no hedge for inflation 3- Bitcoin is no hedge for deflation 4- Bitcoin is no currency 5- Bitcoin is nothing." (December 4)

6. "It is an awkward, clunky & already obsolete product of low interest rates. It should collapse with inflation." (December 28)

7. "If after this morning you still think that #BTC is a hedge against world events, or represents 'diversification', you must stay out of finance, & take up some other hobby s.a. stamp collecting, bird watching or something less harmful to yourself & others." (November 26)

8. "I am not 'bearish' on #BTC. It is a tulip-bubble (without the aesthetics & disguized as a "currency"), hence it is as irrational to buy it as it is to SHORT it, perhaps even more. Gabish?" (October 21)

Read more: A 30-year market vet shares 5 indicators that show stocks are in dangerous territory as the Fed tightens and economic growth gets set to slow all while valuations sit at historic highs

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'Black Swan' author says bitcoin is a worthless, speculative bubble - Markets Insider