Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Paul Krugman Bashes Trump For Supporting “Economically Useless” Bitcoin

Long-time cryptocurrency critic and Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman has blasted the Republican party’s support for cryptocurrencies, calling Bitcoin (BTC) “economically useless” and a tool for money laundering.

Paul Krugman Still Doesn’t Like Bitcoin

Prominent economist Paul Krugman is still no Bitcoin fan.

Krugman wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Times on Monday that Donald Trump’s Vice president pick, pro-crypto Ohio senator J.D. Vance, is an avatar of “paranoid” Silicon Valley “tech bros,” with whom he shares a common fondness for digital currencies.

Trump’s running mate, Vance, seems to be somewhat of a crypto bull. He holds a small chunk of his $5 million fortune in Bitcoin, valued between $100,000 and $250,000. In 2023, Vance wrote a bill to protect banks from ongoing regulatory pressure to cut ties with crypto platforms.

“The truth is that Bitcoin, which was introduced 15 years ago, an eon in tech time, remains economically useless,” the famed economist said. “A couple of exceptions to its uselessness are money laundering and extortion.”

Former president Trump’s crypto stance has notably evolved from hater to advocate this year ahead of the November elections. Trump has spoken previously about wanting Bitcoin to be made in America, and while speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, he announced a plan to hoard a BTC strategic reserve if he retakes the White House.

Krugman described Trump’s Bitcoin stockpile plan as “a government bailout for a scandal-ridden, value- and environment-destroying industry.”

He also ridiculed the Republicans’ vow to “end Democrats’ unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown”. “I’m sure only a tiny handful of voters have the slightest idea what any of that is about,” the die-hard crypto skeptic posited.

Krugman is a longtime crypto naysayer, with his criticism of Bitcoin dating back to 2013 when he penned a piece for The New York Times entitled “Bitcoin Is Evil.” According to the MIT economist, Bitcoin has no legitimate uses or intrinsic value.

There’s just one problem: Krugman also predicted in 1998 that the Internet would be no more important than fax machines. He was wrong about the Internet then, and he’s now wrong about Bitcoin.