Crypto Critic Nouriel Roubini: Blockchain is 'No Better Than an Excel Spreadsheet'

Nouriel Roubini, a notorious cryptocurrency critic, has stated that blockchain is "No better than an Excel spreadsheet" during a panel hosted by crypto exchange LaToken on Jan 25.

Roubini is also known for having predicted the 2008 financial crisis, earning him the moniker of Dr. Doom.

Speaking during a panel at the Blockchain Economic Forum in Davos, Roubini defined blockchain as "The most overhyped technology ever," while noting that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the mother of all bubbles.

He also pointed out during the talk that blockchain and crypto have nothing to do with fintech and private distributed ledger technology.

He also pointed out that, just like DLT, central bank digital currencies don't have anything to do with blockchain and crypto either.

Roubini sees CBDCs mostly as a way to extend access to the central bank register to every individual, instead of granting access to banks only.

Roubini expressed his idea that CBDCs will dominate cryptocurrencies and change banking in radical ways.

While he foresees that fintech will change finance and that cash will disappear, he is of the opinion that blockchain and crypto won't play a role in this change.

Talking about privacy, Nouriel pointed out that no government or regulator will permit the use of anonymity-centric cryptocurrencies such as Monero.

Roubini's negative stance on cryptocurrency is not a new opinion for him: in an interview with Cointelegraph in October last year, he declared that, according to him, 99 percent of cryptocurrencies are worth zero.