On February 12, the well-known Lebanese-American essayist and risk analyst, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, declared that the leading digital currency bitcoin is, at least for the time being, a failure. Fans of cryptocurrency are upset about Taleb’s recent statements, after the well-known author apparently did a full 180 after supporting the crypto asset for years.
Nassim Taleb is not impressed with Bitcoin these days
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a very popular writer, mathematical statistician and scholar. Over the years, Taleb has been very critical of the current monetary system, the current finance industry, and the recent financial crises. The philosopher is best known for his books “The Black Swan” (2010) and “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder” (2012).
After Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin network, Taleb was initially very optimistic about this emerging technology and he has written positive things about the digital asset over the years.
Two years ago in a post published on Taleb’s Opacity blog called ‘It May Fail but We Now How to Do It’, the novelist explained that ‘Bitcoin is an excellent idea.’ Taleb said his essay was initially written as a preface to the book written by Saifedean Ammous, but he also stressed that he did not endorse the “crankish and conspiratorial ideas” of Saifedean Ammous. When discussing bitcoin (BTC), Taleb at the time believed that the cryptocurrency was a powerful beast.
“It meets the needs of the complex system, not because it is a cryptocurrency,” Taleb wrote. ‘But precisely because he has no owner, no authority to decide his fate. It is owned by the crowd, its users. And it now has a number of years record, enough to be an animal on its own. ”
In 2021, specifically on February 12, Nassim Nicholas Taleb decided to tell the public that he was selling some of his bitcoin. Furthermore, Taleb criticized a number of people in the crypto community towards the end of his tweet.
“I got rid of my BTC,” said the famous author. tweeted to his 705,000+ Twitter followers. ‘Why? A currency is never supposed to be more volatile than what you buy [and] sell with it. You can not price goods in BTC, ”said the former option trader.
Taleb added:
In that respect, it’s a failure (at least for now). It was taken over by Covid who denied sociopaths with the refinement of amoebas.
Taleb was not finished with his fierce criticism and decided to add his first statement. ‘The other problem BTC Protozoa [doesn’t] ” the attractiveness of a cryptocurrency depends on a degree of opacity, its ability to facilitate tax fraud and money laundering, ” Taleb said tweeted. ‘You can make a gold coin anonymously by melting it again. You can rework a spoon. BTC is more manageable than cash. BTC volatility does not decrease with time / om [a] higher price, exactly what you do not need, ”emphasizes the famous author.
Paul Sztorc: ‘Saner Bitcoiners have Quieter Recently’
Of course, advocates for cryptocurrency and bitcoin were not too pleased with Taleb’s statements. The popular bitcoiner Pierre Rochard tell Taleb that ‘bitcoin is collapsing’, while digital asset advocate Chris Ellis said:[Bitcoin is] synchronize with the world economy. ”
“It’s like looking at the progress bar of an old tire backup without the time to completion function,” Chris Ellis prosecute.
Others reacted differently and discussed the topic from an alternative perspective. Software developer Paul Sztorc talked about how smarter BTC people have not been so hard lately.
‘Unfortunately, it’s true that most Bitcoiners do [Nassim Nicholas Taleb] spoken were embarrassments (namely Saifedean making it his mission to ward off all intelligent reasonable people). Saner BTCers has recently become quieter, ”said Sztorc said on Twitter.
Sztorc continued:
It’s exactly like [Chris] DeRose / Junseth predicted a long time ago. ‘Enforcer’ types, who push very well with the gullible to increase their devotion, but are disgusting to outsiders or independent thinkers. I think it’s the people [Nassim Nicholas Taleb] refer.
Nassim Taleb is not convinced to refute, says ‘Bitcoin Misfits Share the Monocellular Brain’
Following Taleb’s initial tweet on February 12, the author tweeted a few more on the 14th, and criticizes Dan Hero of Kraken FX. Blockchain researcher Willy Woo has responded to criticism of Taleb and said that “volatility is a red herring.”
‘The possibility is that BTC will become a reserve asset that supports currency. To regard it as a unit of account is a hangover from the agricultural era when we had shells and lumps of silver. We are in a digital age now, we have live indexes and baskets, ‘Woo added. Despite all the defense and reaction to Taleb’s new way of thinking, the author does not seem to prefer the crypto-asset as in the past.
Even in April last year, when the news went viral that the Bank of Lebanon applied strict rules for local money transfers, Taleb tweeted: “Use Cryptocurrencies!”
Today, however, is a different story, and on Sunday morning (EST), Taleb apparently responded to numerous “reserve assets” Twitter responses.
‘Bitcoin fits share the monocellular brain [and] logical wiring errors: ‘BTC is a good idea, therefore it will be * THE * reserve currency’ (ie no other ideas) [and] no other reserve). Reserve ol Volatile. [Plus] It is not supposed to be volatile at HIGHER PRICES. [Plus] Never found uses, ”Taleb insisted.
What do you think of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s recent fierce criticism of bitcoin and bitcoin proponents in general? Let us know what you think of this topic in the comments below.
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