U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini was seemingly one of the few observers who 10 years ago saw the financial crisis coming. Now he is turning his guns on the crypto hype.

Virtual currencies are the «the mother of all scams and (now burst) bubbles», Nouriel Roubini this week told the American senate. The description «shitcoins» for all cryptocurrencies – except bitcoin – is a «massive insult to manure», the guru said.

The economics professor’s testimony ran to some 37 pages, and barely had a good word to say for bitcoin and co., as news agency «Bloomberg» reported.

Slammed Blockchain

Roubini doesn’t fancy the blockchain technology much either: it is nothing more than a glorified database, according to the economist. The hearings also heard the views of crypto lobbyist Peter Van Valkenburgh.

He, as was to be expected, contradicted Roubini and maintained the crypto technology will become just as important for freedom of expression, global competition and innovation as the Internet.