‘Bitcoin is Failure,’ ‘Black Swan’ Author Taleb Stated 3 Years Ago

Scholar and risk management expert and author of bestselling books, including “Black Swan” and “Antifragile,” Nassim Nicholas Taleb suddenly backed away from his pro-Bitcoin position exactly three years ago to become a rigid BTC critic.

It happened a few months before Bitcoin hit its first all-time high in 2021 - $63,000.

Taleb's arguments against Bitcoin

In his tweet published on Feb. 12, 2021, Taleb stated that he had begun getting rid of his Bitcoin holdings. Explaining why he began to do that, the scholar wrote that “a currency is never supposed to be more volatile than what you buy and sell with it.”

Taleb also pointed out that “you can’t price goods in BTC,” therefore, Bitcoin turned out to be a “failure” in that respect.

Another thing that the renowned “Black Swan” author began criticizing Bitcoin for was its lack of transparency and its ability to be used for tax evasion and money laundering; Taleb mentioned these criteria as the main factors upon which the appeal of a cryptocurrency depends. He said that “BTC is more tractable than cash.” Even gold can be made intractable: “You can anonymize a gold coin by remelting it. You can rework a spoon,” but not Bitcoin.

Besides, Taleb pointed out that Bitcoin volatility does not decline over time or even if the price begins to increase.

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"Bitcoin failed as hedge against banks"

When asked whether Bitcoin has succeeded as “an asset and a hedge against central bank irresponsibility,” Taleb responded that BTC had failed here as well.

In early 2023, the U.S. was struck with a banking crisis as Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank crashed; almost all of them were bailed out by the U.S. government.

During these events, the global flagship cryptocurrency surged from $23,000 to over $30,000.

Besides, Taleb never commented on the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to many market experts, including angel investor Anthony Pompliano, “Wall Street loves Bitcoin” now.

This began when the aforementioned ETFs got approved a month ago. Two of them have seen $3 billion worth of inflows during the first month of trading among the 5,500 ETFs launched in the past 30 years, according to Pompliano.