Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman Insists That Bitcoin Has Almost No Legitimate Uses

Prominent economist Paul Krugman has started the new year by taking another swipe at Bitcoin, claiming that the world’s largest cryptocurrency has almost no legitimate uses in a recent Twitter thread.

Krugman believes that fiat currencies going “to hell” will incur a bunch of other political and societal problems that one simply won’t be able to fix with the help of cryptocurrencies.

Yet, proponents of crypto argue that Krugman’s views are too myopic since he ignores the recent tech developments within the Bitcoin community.  

Krugman laughs at the idea of using ≅Coinbase during a monetary collapse.

Meanwhile cypherpunks are building Mad Max proof infrastructure: Nuclear Blast-Proof Cold Storage, Bitcoin Satellite Nodes, Volcano Mines, HAM Radio Nodes, Lightning Powered Mesh Networks, … ???️ pic.twitter.com/A8QoHi0PO5

— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) January 3, 2022

He cites a Bloomberg Wealth article that mentioned Hungarian-born billionaire Thomas Peterffy’s recommendation to keep up to 3% of personal wealth in cryptocurrencies in case fiat money collapses.

Peterffy believes that cryptocurrency prices could soar to millions or ultimately crash to zero, which is why his bet is relatively conservative:    

I think it can go to zero, and I think it can go to a million dollars.

Ray Dalio, who has repeatedly called cash “trash,” also came out in favor of Bitcoin last year, but he recently clarified that he wasn’t a raging bull, merely recognizing the top cryptocurrency as a means of diversification. The legendary hedge fund manager continues to stand by his prediction that governments could potentially ban Bitcoin.

Last May, Krugman wrote that he had given up on trying to predict Bitcoin’s “immediate demise,” claiming that its cult can survive “indefinitely.”

In an op-ed published by the New York Times, Krugman wrote that the cryptocurrency was “a long-running Ponzi scheme” that can be compared to the sham orchestrated by Bernie Madoff.

The Nobel laureate argued that the value of the largest cryptocurrency is being inflated by unsubstantiated claims about the impending demise of fiat money.