In a recent tweet, Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman chastised institutions for jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.
People want to cash in on the new catchphrase by flacking “blockchain something.” “What’s next? Blockchain vitamin supplements?” joked one Twitter user. Other users mentioned “AI” and “cloud,” among other prominent buzzwords.
In 2017, during the height of the cryptocurrency mania, blockchain was the hottest new thing. Long Island Iced Tea Corp, a tea firm, famously changed its name to “Long Blockchain,” causing its stock to jump by more than 200 percent. Three people were charged with insider trading in 2021 after buying the company’s stock before the branding.
Krugman has long been a sceptic of Bitcoin, writing an op-ed in the New York Times in 2011 titled “Golden Cyberfetters” in which he ridiculed the world’s first cryptocurrency.
Last year, Paul Krugman called cryptocurrency “a long-running Ponzi scheme.” He noted “uncomfortable comparisons” between cryptocurrency and the subprime mortgage crisis in January. The eminent American economist did not go unnoticed by the latest cryptocurrency market correction, which was precipitated by the demise of Terra.
In a New York Times op-ed published earlier this week, Krugman claimed that the most recent bitcoin crisis is different, stating that cryptocurrency is essentially a gigantic bubble fueled by fear of missing out.
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