A Psychic Visit with Nouriel Roubini: The Mother and Father of All Crypto Skeptics

In the process, Roubini has arguably become the embodiment of an incumbent intellectual class that sees cryptocurrency as responsible for not just a massive price bubble but a flurry of frauds and scams that have bilked consumers out of billions with the promise that their token of choice could eradicate everything from poverty to disease.

"The mother and father of all bubbles gone bust?" That's still how Roubini describes what others have called the next internet, and if there's any hope he'll soften his stance when the cameras aren't rolling, Roubini quickly snuffs it out.

Still, if there's a moral to our sprawling conversations, it's this: while innovators in the crypto community are quick to demand that others see their vision, Roubini is living proof they aren't always so empathetic as to extend this courtesy to others.

If Roubini is to blame for his gleeful hyperbole, admittedly casual grasp of technology and a command of English that betrays his long journey to the U.S., then crypto enthusiasts are guilty of not making an effort to read past his soundbites and understand his arguments.

Denial-of-service attacks, death threats, spam emails - if Roubini sees the worst in cryptocurrencies, he's seen also the worst in their supporters.

In short, Roubini believes crypto isn't working because it isn't delivering results, that crypto entrepreneurs demonstrate a poor grasp of economics and that they underestimate the impact of other technologies.

It's a question that has been asked about Roubini before, most notably in his New York Times profile entitled simply "Dr. Doom." "When the economist Anirvan Banerji delivered his response to Roubini's talk, he noted that Roubini's predictions did not make use of mathematical models and dismissed his hunches as those of a career naysayer," an excerpt reads.

Alone, the blurry lines between Roubini the researcher and Roubini the soothsayer might not be much for conversation - he at one point even makes a joke about economists and weathermen - but they're more problematic when he applies the same logic to his opinions on technology.

On some subjects, Roubini even ends up sounding like cryptocurrency supporters, using similar language and assurances to back his statements.

Whereas cryptocurrency supporters see the financial crisis as an issue that can be eradicated by clever code and by removing power from incumbent players, Roubini views central banks and incumbents as necessary inventions that have benefited market stability.