The American economist credited with predicting the 2008 financial crash has called bitcoin “the mother of all bubbles” and “much worse” than tulip mania. He told Bloomberg TV on 2 February: “It’s on the way down to zero. The fundamental value of bitcoin is zero.”

He said the other 1,300-plus cryptocurrencies were “even worse” and slammed the underlying blockchain technology. He added that blockchain has been around for 10 years and its only application is bitcoin or cryptocurrencies and they “are a scam”.

Roubini tweeted this week: “Cryptocrazies are also criminal Cyber-Terrorists.” He also claimed that his consulting firm, Roubini Global Economics, was targeted in a 2015 denial-of-service attack because he criticised bitcoin.
Jamie Dimon

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon said in mid-September that Bitcoin was a fraud that would ultimately blow up. He said the digital currency was only fit for use by drug dealers, murderers and people living in places such as North Korea.

The boss of America’s biggest bank said he would fire “in a second” anyone at the investment bank found to be trading in bitcoin. He later softened his stance, and revealed on 9 January that his daughter had bought two bitcoins.
Robert Shiller

The Nobel prizewinning economist predicted on 26 January that bitcoin would not be a “permanent feature” of the financial world. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Shiller hailed bitcoin as a “really clever idea”.