Opponents: Ten of the World's Most Notorious Crypto Skeptics

Article reading time:
12 min.

Decentralization and anonymity of cryptocurrencies formany influential people is something negative. Crypto skeptics are convinced of the uselessness of bitcoin and any altcoins. Moreover, among the hundreds of stubborn crypto-haters, there are ten of the most odious ones.

Nuriel Roubini

New York University Professor NourielRoubini (Nouriel Roubini) is a prominent representative of those who do not like the crypto industry. He made a lot of bright and provocative statements about BTC and not only. One of his most famous sayings,
posted on Twitter five years ago:

“Cryptocurrency decentralization is a myth.This system is more centralized than the way North Korea is: miners are centralized, exchanges are centralized, developers are centralized dictators. Buterin is a dictator for life, and BTC has a worse Gini coefficient than North Korea.”

In 2023, Roubini again loudly expressed hisposition on cryptocurrencies. According to the scientist, the industry is criminal, and 99% of all projects are either “fraud schemes” or pyramid schemes. In addition, everyone involved in the creation of cryptocurrencies should be in jail, and investors should not invest in such assets.

In March 2023, Roubini came out in support of the position of the head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, that ether is a security.

Peter Schiff

Owner
managing company Euro Pacific ManagementPeter Schiff has repeatedly stated his dislike for the world's first cryptocurrency by capitalization. He compared bitcoin to a ship in distress, and in December 2022 he predicted a price of $5,000 (then everything was limited to $15,000) and even called a potential collapse to zero a reality. So far, however, all these attacks against BTC, for the most part, remain noise, and bitcoin on the afternoon of Monday, May 29, is worth about $26,700.

Commentators on social networks consider Schiff's positionbiased and hypocritical. Firstly, he himself said that in the past he had a bitcoin wallet, but access was lost because the businessman did not write down the seed phrase. Later, Schiff frankly regretted not buying BTC in 2011. And recently, the expert announced the creation of an NFT collection based on Bitcoin.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is one of the most famous investors in the world, the proud owner of the nickname "The Oracle of Omaha". He has always shown aversion to cryptocurrencies. Investor
compared them with the lottery and even
with gambling.

Buffett is a proponent of investing in realsector of the economy. At the annual meeting of his investment company Berkshire Hathaway in 2022, the investor said that he would not buy all the bitcoins for $25, because, having become the owner of all the BTC, he would not know where to put them, and no one would need bitcoins. At the same time, if he were offered to invest in 1% of all apartment buildings in the United States or in 1% of agricultural land, he would not hesitate to allocate $ 25 billion. The investor explains his position by the fact that you can live in houses, but grow on the land food. With bitcoins,
according to Warren Buffett, there is nothing to do.

In 2018, the investor allowed himself even stronger statements regarding the first cryptocurrency. For example,
called bitcoin "rat poison squared".

For all that, the “Oracle of Omaha” is not a crypto enthusiast, in early 2022 Berkshire Hathaway
invested about $1 billion in cryptocurrency-friendly Nubank.

Charles Munger

Charles Munger -Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American company Berkshire Hathaway. Back in 2018, he stated that bitcoin is, in a sense, “valueless artificial gold.” The manager told CNBC:

“The fact that computer science is smart does not mean that cryptocurrency should be used everywhere, and that respected people should convince others to speculate on it. Bitcoin reminds me
Oscar Wilde's definition of fox hunting: "Pursuing what cannot be eaten by those who cannot speak."

In 2022, an associate of Warren Buffett comparedbitcoin with "venereal disease". In his opinion, this is an asset invented “out of nothing”, which attracted a lot of money. Munger himself has never invested in digital currencies.

In 2023, a famous investor found forcryptocurrencies is another comparison. From his point of view, crypto assets have become gambling, in comparison with which the casino has an almost one hundred percent advantage. Charles Munger called for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the US and
praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for banning cryptocurrencies in China.

Bill Gates

Microsoft founder Bill Gates sees no point in crypto investments, as they, in his opinion, do not bring benefits. He
Nor are they enthusiastic about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as they are based on the “big fool” theory.

Gates in an interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in 2021
talked about the negative impact of bitcoin onclimate change. According to the businessman, “Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to man, and this is not a brilliant thing for the climate.”

It is worth noting that the negative towards cryptocurrencies from Bill Gates appeared only in recent years. Back in 2014, the creator of Windows was not so categorical. On Bloomberg he
said:

“Bitcoin is better than currency because you don’t have to be physically in one place, and of course, for large transactions, currency (fiat) can be quite inconvenient.”

Benjamin Mackenzie

Actor Benjamin McKenziewho is known for his roles in the TV series The Lonely Hearts and Gotham, became interested in cryptocurrency recently – in 2021. He took Gary Gensler's courses and came to the disappointing conclusion that "the crypto market is meant to be a scam." According to the actor, the rapid change in the prices of cryptocurrencies is speculative and does not have any practical application:

“Cryptocurrencies do not do what conventional currencies do. They are not a store of value, a unit of account, or a measure of exchange.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, MackenzieHe said that from his point of view, the cryptocurrency appeared because people needed it. However, its true meaning is completely different from the claimed one. The actor is sure that any digital currency is absolutely centralized. He compares the crypto markets to playing poker against the best (from his point of view) player Phil Helmuth (Phil Helmuth). In a good hand, as in cards, there is a chance to win, but in most cases you are doomed. Actor
believes that the activities of famous people who support the crypto industry are immoral.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren - SenatorDemocratic Party of the United States and an ardent cryptoskeptic. One of her attacks on the industry was comparing the crypto space to the 2008 bubble. In her opinion, history repeats itself, since then experts said that everything is fine, and now. However, both stories have a sad ending.

Each new industry collapse Warren usesfor new attacks on cryptocurrencies. In the summer of 2022, after the problems that happened with the companies Celsius, Voyager and others, the senator called for stricter control of the industry in order to protect crypto investors.

In March 2023, Warren called for the creation of a so-called "anti-crypto army". Otherwise, investors
will continue to lose their investments, which are carried out in the so-called "new wild west".

Warren not only verbally tries to limitactivities of the crypto industry. She is trying to push through her version of the law on money laundering. The current one, in her opinion, is not good enough. However, so far this initiative has not aroused enthusiasm among the public.

Jim Kramer

Jim Cramer - Program HostMadMoneyGram on CNBC. He constantly claims that he would sell all his bitcoins if he had them. Or about not investing in cryptocurrencies at all, even in a million years.

In 2021, Cramer himself claimed to have sold off some of his bitcoins to pay off a mortgage. Moreover,
recognized:

“Now I have a house, stocks and barrels because I bought this currency.”

This "cryptosceptic" in the summer of 2022 himselfadmitted that he had ether in his hands. This allows the TV presenter to make money, which according to Kramer is impossible on investments in NFTs. He also bought them for ethers. And then
said: “I had to buy NFTs on Ethereum, I studied them: collectible tokens have several qualities that I like.”

Jamie Dimon

JP Morgan CEO JamieDimon (Jamie Dimon) believes that bitcoin is a "hype scam". At the same time, with regard to blockchain technology, it is set up in a completely different way, since it is just a convenient solution for transferring information.

Dimon does not deny the possibility of Bitcoin rising to huge values ​​​​before it collapses:

“I am not telling you to short…. Bitcoin could go to $100,000 before it goes down – but this is not advice on what to do.”

In general, the CEO of JP Morgan is quite consistent. In 2021, in an interview with Bloomberg, the banker
stated:

“I personally think that bitcoin does not have anycost. But I don't care. For me there is no difference. Our clients are adults. They don't agree. This is what markets do. If they want to buy or sell bitcoin, it's hard not to give them access. But we can give them a legitimate, cleanest possible solution."

Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio - founder of the investmentBridgewater Associates. Businessman prefers gold over cryptocurrency. True, he has a certain amount of bitcoins. Dalio believes that BTC is “just a younger alternative to gold.” Wherein,
According to the businessman, bitcoin does not have any intrinsic value, it has only imputed value, and this is precisely its advantage.

Back in 2021, Dalio admitted that he has not only BTC, but also Ethereum,
explaining it like this:

“I see how alternative money works inan environment where the value of cash has diminished. And it seems very impressive to me that in the last 10-11 years this program has been held and it has not been hacked. I'm a big fan of diversification."

Financier
believes that: “Digital currencies are like nothing else, they can rise or fall. But cryptocurrencies are definitely not a hedge against inflation or an efficient store of value.”

Conclusion: why cryptoskeptics are needed

In short, mostly crypto-skepticsadhere to the same arguments: cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value, since they do not represent anything and are essentially lotteries, speculation, and so on. At the same time, everyone who criticizes is often involved in the crypto industry in one form or another. Some, like Ray Dalio or Peter Schiff, invest in cryptocurrencies. Others, like Warren Buffett, do business with companies that deal with BTC.

This material and the information in it does not constitute individual or other investment advice. The opinion of the editors may not coincide with the opinions of the author, analytical portals and experts.