Former Wall Street trader and author of “The Black Swan” has been a vocal critic of leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) for several years and didn’t hesitate to take more shots last week.
What Happened: Author and former options trader Nassim Taleb said many people don’t understand how the economy works thanks to the current interest rate environment of the Federal Reserve.
“I think that we’ve had 15 years – 14 and a half years – of Disneyland that basically has destroyed the economic structure. Think about it – no interest rates. So anyone who’s say 40 years old has no experience in markets,” Taleb said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Taleb said people under 40, which includes Millenials and GenZ, don’t know “what the time value of money is.”
Taleb argues that lowering interest rates too much could have a lasting impact on people and the economy.
“Zero interest rate for a long period of time, you are hurting the economy, you are creating a bubble, creating tumors like Bitcoin.”
Taleb sees the price of Bitcoin continuing to fall, with an eventual loose target price of $0.
“Bitcoin is still used, it’s still at $20,000. It’s not at, you know, at $1,000 or zero.”
Related Link: How To Buy Bitcoin
Why It’s Important: Taleb is the author of “The Black Swan,” a book that is based on the concept of “black swan events,” which are unpredictable events with massive impact.
The author was previously a supporter of cryptocurrencies, even urging people to use them to get around financial systems. Taleb had a change of heart and later did a reverse on his take and argued that cryptocurrencies could be worthless.
Taleb also complained about the customer support of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:COIN) and closed his account.
In 2021, Taleb called Bitcoin a “failure” and also went on to say the leading cryptocurrency “has characteristics of an open Ponzi.” Taleb argued that Bitcoin had no characteristics to make it a hedge against inflation, and instead was a “failed currency” and a Ponzi scheme.
For hedges against inflation, Taleb instead recommended buying land instead of Bitcoin.
BTC Price Action: Bitcoin trades at $19,743 at the time of writing. The leading cryptocurrency is down 8.4% in the last week and down over 58% year-to-date in 2022.
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