perma-bull clashed with avowed at the 2019 SALT tech conference in Las Vegas on May 8.
During a panel discussion about digital currencies, Roubini once again trashed crypto as a massive “bubble.” Meanwhile, Novogratz cooed that is a “miracle.”
‘Crypto is the mother and father of all bubbles’
is an economics professor at New York University. His latest claim to fame is opposing .
Despite the fact that Roubini has little real-world (i.e., non-academic) experience managing large sums of money, he has repeatedly dismissed as worthless and a giant scam. He doubled-down on these sentiments today at the SALT forum.
“Crypto is the mother and father of all bubbles,” Roubini said (via ). “[The term] is totally a misnomer. To be a currency, you have to be a unit of account, valuable, and a scalable means of payment.”
Roubini said crypto evangelists are essentially con artists who are deluding themselves and others. Why? Because can’t scale efficiently, is too vulnerable to “massive manipulation,” and is too volatile to be a stable of value.
“I’ve never seen such a level of manipulation. The reality is, these are not currencies.”
Mike Novogratz (center) battled Nouriel Roubini (right) at the 2019 SALT conference in Las Vegas. At the far-left is co-founder Joseph Lubin. | Source: /Twitter
Novogratz: ‘Debate is over, bitcoin has won’
On the other end of the spectrum is , a Goldman Sachs alum and former hedge fund manager. Novogratz is the founder of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital.
Novogratz said Roubini is underestimating the crypto industry and is overlooking its vast potential. Moreover, Novogratz said has proven that it has staying power, so perma-bears like Roubini have lost the debate.
“There’s a tremendous amount of stuff going on [beneath the surface]. In some ways, there’s been a small miracle.”
“The debate is over. won. It is now seen by people all around the world as a legitimate place to [store] their value.”
Roubini refuses crypto wager
Novogratz says the mere fact that global institutions like Fidelity and Facebook are planning to implement crypto proves it’s not going anywhere.
“I think has got a very future. My sense is it’s going to continue to march higher.”
Novogratz then invited Roubini to put his money where his mouth is, and make a small bet (and it doesn’t even require Roubini to put up any cash).
“ is at $6,000 now. If at Christmastime it’s above $6,000, you have to wear a shirt that says, ‘I Love .’”
“If it’s not, I will wear a T-shirt saying, ‘Nouriel Was Right.’”
Not surprisingly, Roubini refused to take Novogratz up on the wager. “I don’t care about the price of ,” he crowed.
Roubini: bitcoin fans are ‘ignorant and clueless’
As CCN reported, Roubini has not only repeatedly trashed , but also slams , the technology underpinning crypto.
Despite his self-professed disdain for , Roubini talks obsessively about it. In March 2019, Roubini blasted as an “exponential, parabolic bubble,” and called investors “” zealots and fanatics.
“I’ve never seen in my life people who on one side are so arrogant in their views — who are total zealots and fanatics about this new asset class — while at the same time completely and totally ignorant of basic economics, finance, money, banking, central banking, and monetary policy.”
“They want to reinvent everything about money, but most of them are absolutely, totally clueless. The ratio between arrogant and ignorant is astounding. I have never seen such a gap in my life.”
‘Arrogant’ Fans are ‘Absolutely Clueless,’ Rants Crypto-Hating Nouriel Roubini
— CCN.com (@CCNMarkets)
Published at Wed, 08 May 2019 23:05:52 +0000
