Bitcoin is ‘winning;’ currency without government is ‘great,’ says Nassim Taleb 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the bestsellers "The Black Swan” and “Fooled By Randomness,” is optimistic about cryptocurrencies.

“You cannot ignore the cryptocurrencies, particularly the bitcoin story and blockchain,” Taleb said at Times Networks’ India Economic Conclave on Tuesday. The Lebanese-American author believes that people of some countries, such as Lebanon, have “lost faith” in governments and banking systems.

“I am realizing Lebanon is in a situation where there is an implied currency control but the government cannot control bitcoin which is a good thing because people have no trust and the ability of the central bank which really causes the ponzi style collapse and the bitcoin does not have that,” said Taleb.

Bitcoin is “winning,” according to the 59-year-old author, and currency without government is “great.” Taleb further said that he has an institute, which now accepts payments in bitcoin.

“I am very glad that we have cryptocurrencies...Of course, you are going to have frauds and ponzi schemes and all that with bitcoin and cryptos but when you see governments like in Lebanon, doing the ponzis you tell yourself what is better,” he said. 

This is not the first time the author has had a positive stance on cryptocurrencies. In response to a news story about capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks, he recently tweeted: “The most potent case for cryptocurrencies: banks are never there when you need them. And they are trying to bully the public so they avoid accountability and profit disbursements. Bankers are legal crooks.”