Nobel Prize-winning economist gives damning warning on Bitcoin: ‘It is a cult that can survive indefinitely’

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who has been a strong critic of cryptocurrencies in the past, said in a series of tweets on Wednesday that he has given up on predicting the demise of Bitcoin, calling it a “cult that can survive indefinitely.” The economist, who is also a columnist at the New York Times, has criticised the use of Bitcoin several times in the past, even calling it “evil” in the past. In his recent tweets he said while Bitcoin has been around since 2009, “nobody seems to have found any good legal use for it”, but accepted that the cryptocurrency has a cult-like following that may keep it afloat. “It’s not a convenient medium of exchange; it’s not a stable store of value; it’s definitely not a unit of account,” Krugman said of Bitcoin. In a 2018 column entitled “Transaction Costs and Tethers: Why I’m a Crypto Skeptic”, he says compared to fiat currency, crypto tokens cost more to transact in and have no value “backstop”, or reinforcement, like traditional government-backed currencies.