Nouriel Roubini, otherwise known as Dr. Doom for his pessimistic attitude towards bitcoin and crypto, is a professor of economics at the New York University Stern School of Business. At press time, Roubini is fighting with cryptocurrency exchange Bit MEX, which is registered in Seychelles, and says that it, along with several other exchanges, are registered in “systematic illegality.”
Roubini Takes on Crypto Yet Again
Crypto prices are generally volatile. In fact, just two days ago, bitcoin fell below $10,000 and hit the $9,600 mark following a series of negative tweets from President Donald Trump and an ongoing Senate hearing in which former PayPal head and current Libra developer David Marcus was questioned by members of Congress regarding the cryptocurrency’s goals and properties.
Simon Peters, an analyst at crypto exchange e-Toro, commented on the sudden drops in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies’ prices, stating:
Crypt bears are poised to pounce after several high-profile U.S. government officials took aim at bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra this week. The bitcoin pullback, which started over the weekend, is in full force now. Selling pressure has intensified, with prices having now broken below the psychological $10,000 mark. Other cryptos are also falling fast, succumbing to regulatory uncertainty.
At press time, however, bitcoin is back up to just over $10,350, though this is still less than where it stood 24 hours ago ($10,600).
Roubini has always been of the mind that because they are volatile, cryptocurrencies are scams that are likely to bring about the death of America’s financial system. Earlier this month, Roubini engaged in a war of words with Bit MEX founder Arthur Hayes and even referred to bitcoin as both “a cesspool” and “overhyped.”
However, his criticism for Bit MEX was directed at the idea that it was somehow responsible for laundering terrorist funds that came from regions like Russia and Islamic states. In a blog post, he wrote:
Bit MEX insiders revealed to me that this exchange is used daily for money laundering on a massive scale by terrorists and other criminals from Russia, Iran and elsewhere. The exchange does nothing to stop this, as it profits from these transactions… Some of the biggest crypto players may be openly involved in systematic illegality. Bit MEX [is] an unregulated trillion-dollar exchange of crypto derivatives that is domiciled in the Seychelles but active globally… It involves peddling to ‘degenerate gamblers’ (meaning clueless retail investors), crypto derivatives with 100-to-one leverage.
Hey, We’re Not So Bad!
Hayes later came to the defense of Bit MEX, exclaiming:
Bit MEX provides safe, fast, professional and liquid ways for those who see the potential of crypto and to trade and hedge cryptocurrency risk. We continue to monitor all legal and regulatory developments around the world and will comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
