Project Syndicate: The Blockchain Lie

The bubble has burst for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and economist Nouriel Roubini argues that such techno-currencies and the related blockchain distributed ledger software are over-hyped and not useful. He insists that investors find more security holding real money widely recognized by governments. “In practice, blockchain is nothing more than a glorified spreadsheet,” Roubini writes for Project Syndicate. “But it has also become the byword for a libertarian ideology that treats all governments, central banks, traditional financial institutions, and real-world currencies as evil concentrations of power that must be destroyed. Blockchain fundamentalists’ ideal world is one in which all economic activity and human interactions are subject to anarchist or libertarian decentralization.” Rather than promote democracy and decentralization, he says, the blockchain technologies encourage greed. Roubini points out that more than two-thirds of all crypto-mining activity are based in Russia, Georgia and China. Hacking is a threat. Most banks, governments and corporations prefer private ledgers that protect intellectual property – and Roubini concludes that can be accomplished with a protected Excel spreadsheet or database. – YaleGlobal