Published: Jan 22, 2018 9:37 a.m. ET Nassim Nicholas Taleb says bitcoin is the first organic currency That’s Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s perspective on bitcoin and the digital-currency fervor that is taking hold across the world. The professor of risk engineering at New York University and acclaimed author of popular business book ‘Black Swan’ described bitcoin
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as the first “organic currency,” in a blog post on Medium.
The former trader and statistician offers what amounts to the fullest-throated endorsement of the concept behind cryptocurrencies, though he acknowledges that the digital asset, underpinned by the technology platform blockchain, has its shortcomings as a payment tool. Critics of bitcoin, notably J.P.
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CEO Jamie Dimon, say the virtual asset is a speculative bubble on par with the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania that saw the value of tulip bulbs exceed that of houses and other property.
Read: Here’s why a burst bitcoin bubble probably wouldn’t derail global markets Also read: Why bitcoin is now the biggest bubble in history, in one chart Taleb says bitcoin has advantages over assets like gold futures
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because it doesn’t require a specific custodian or intermediary. It isn’t the first time the professor has sounded off about bitcoin and its ilk.
Last year, he cautioned that betting on a fall in bitcoin’s value using futures trading on the Cboe Glolam Markets
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and those on the CME Group
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may be difficult and dangerous. Mark DeCambre is MarketWatch’s markets editor. Read more from marketwatch.com…
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