Share this article
'Dr. Doom' Roubini Joins Wall Street Chorus Calling Bitcoin a Bubble
Economist Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, predicts that bitcoin "will find its end" when more countries crack down on it.
By Wolfie Zhao
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:08 a.m. Published Nov 8, 2017, 8:33 p.m.
Another influential financial commentator is disparaging cryptocurrencies amid a run-up in prices.
In an interview with Business Insider Poland, Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, expressed bearish views on bitcoin and its brethren, calling the ongoing price gains "a gigantic speculative bubble."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Roubini, who earned the nickname Dr. Doom for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, said that while blockchain technology is promising, bitcoin lacks "serious" payment and capital storage methods and that there is no fundamental reason for current price levels. Rather, bitcoin "feeds on itself," he said.
His comments followed similar remarks in recent months by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who called bitcoin a fraud, and Warren Buffet, the billionaire investor, who said bitcoin is experiencing "a real bubble."
"What’s more – it is also used by criminals, for their shady business. I think that more and more countries will start to make cryptocurrency exchanges illegal like China did. New regulations will be adopted. So, this will find its end," Roubini added.
Roubini's comments come as bitcoin's price has been setting new records, surging as high as $7,879.06 today on the news that the Segwit2X hard fork had been called off.
Yet Roubini is not new to bashing the world's first cryptocurrency. In 2014, he called bitcoin a Ponzi scheme and criticized its volatility and the infamous collapse of the Mt.Gox bitcoin exchange.
Roubini image from CoinDesk archives.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
XRP Sentiment Hits Extreme Fear as TD Sequential Flashes Early Reversal Signal
Social sentiment for XRP has collapsed to extreme fear levels, historically preceding short-term rebounds.
What to know:
- XRP faces structural weakness with a -7.4% weekly performance, despite strong institutional demand via U.S. spot XRP ETFs.
- Social sentiment for XRP has collapsed to extreme fear levels, historically preceding short-term rebounds.
- XRP's price action shows a descending channel, with a critical pivot at $2.030 to avoid deeper declines.
Top Stories
