Once a Bitcoin enthusiast, “Black Swan” author Nassim Nicholas Taleb has become a critic, calling it a “gimmick” and “Ponzi” now.

In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Taleb said the trillion-dollar cryptocurrency is also too volatile to be an effective hedge against inflation.

“Basically, there’s no connection between inflation and bitcoin. None. I mean, you can have hyperinflation and bitcoin going to zero. There’s no link between them.”

“It’s a beautifully set up cryptographic system. It’s well made, but there’s absolutely no reason it should be linked to anything economic.”

To fight this inflation, investors would be far off purchasing property than buying bitcoin. Even olives would be better, he said, “You’ll have olive oil. If the price collapses, you’ll have something.”

In counter-argument, Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard, said,

“Olive oil isn't just glorified lubricant, it's also a shitty monetary asset, contrary to what bitter nocoiners inflamed from the lack of proper Mediterranean meat nutrition may claim.”

“Not only is olive oil a terrible money, it is also very difficult to verify, unlike bitcoin. It doesn't have full nodes, and even sophisticated scientific testing isn't enough to determine if it's been mixed with rapeseed & canola industrial waste.”

To Taleb, bitcoin has characteristics of a Ponzi scheme that’s right out in the open.

His initial support to the cryptocurrency, apparently, Taleb was “fooled by it” because he thought it could develop into a currency.

“Something that moves 5% a day, 20% in a month — up or down — cannot be a currency. It’s something else,” said Taleb. But as legendary value investor Bill Miller said, “volatility is the price you pay for performance.”

Currently trading just under $50k, down from last week ATH of $65k, BTC price is still up over 1,215% from March low.

“I bought into it … not willing to have capital appreciation, so much as wanting to have an alternative to the fiat currency issued by central banks: A currency without a government.”

“I realized it was not a currency without a government. It was just pure speculation. It’s just like a game … I mean, you can create another game and call it a currency.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb “Black Swan” Author

Given that Bitcoin is the best performing asset of 2021 and was also of the last decade, in spite of the fact that Tesla and other companies accept it as a form of payment, it makes complete sense people are more interested in it as a store of value than spending it on a daily basis.

In the light of growing demand and designed supply cap, the price target for Bitcoin is anywhere between $100k to $1 million in the future.

But for Taleb, that doesn’t matter, as “bitcoin could go to $1 million,” and it wouldn’t change his argument.

“These gimmicks, you have bitcoin today. You may have another one tomorrow. They come and go, and there’s no systematic link between them and the claims they make.”

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