US Economists Call 99 Percent Crypto Is Scam, Nouriel Roubini: Most Young Children Become Victims

US economist Nouriel Roudini calls crypto a scam. (Photo; Doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA Economist from the United States, Nouriel Roubini recently stated that most cryptocurrencies are scams, aka fraud. Roubini made this statement at the World Economic Forum at the Davos.

Furthermore, Roubini warned people to stay away from cryptocurrencies. According to him, 99 percent of cryptocurrencies scams are used for criminal activities, Ponzi schemes, and others. Roubini believes crypto will go bankrupt.

"FTX, SBF are not exceptions; they are rules. Nearly 99% of crypto is fraud, criminal activity, bubbles, Ponzi schemes. It will go bankrupt," said US Economist Nouriel Roubini.

Previously, Roubini often criticized cryptocurrencies. Several years ago, he criticized the value of Bitcoin by stating that BTC was not worthy of being included in the investment portfolio because it had no intrinsic value, was too volatile, and was often influenced by market manipulation.

Taking advantage of the recent fluctuation of FTX, Roubini took the opportunity to re-state his negative views on the cryptocurrency sector. To Yahoo Finance, Roubini outlined the millions of people trapped to buy Bitcoin at high prices. He explained that those trapped were young people, people with low income, and minorities.

"Most of them experienced a FOMO in 2021 when the price skyrocketed to 20, 30, 50, 69 [it's thousands of dollars], and 99 percent of them bought well above the current market value. So they lost their clothes," said Roubini.

Continuing, he said, "it's just Bitcoin," and that altcoins fared far worse during the bear cycle, with some losing "95 percent" of its value. Furthermore, from "20,000 ICOs," "officially, 80 percent were scams, and another 17 percent had reached zero, and the people behind it had to be jailed.

Launching CryptoSlate, when he was urged about blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) values compared to cryptocurrencies, Roubini said he remained skeptical because this was an exaggerated technology that could not fulfill his promise of non-trust without centralized and accredited input.

Furthermore, Roubini gave an example regarding the use of Ledger to verify organic tomatoes. Roubini said that this process still requires people to verify agriculture using organic cultivation methods and further verification that products in stores are the same as those verified on agriculture.

"After you test it and make sure that the tomatoes are organic, you can put it in a centralized database that is just as good and cheaper than DLT. So, the idea that DLT can create trust is impossible because, in reality, you always need a credible institution that validates transactions," said Roubini.