Nassim Taleb Criticizes Bitcoin as Ineffective Market Crash Hedge

The recent market downturn has highlighted the inadequacy of the leading cryptocurrency as a hedge against systemic collapse, according to author and scholar Nassim Taleb in an interview with CNBC.

“Bitcoin has once again proven that it does not protect against the melting of your assets,” noted the author of “The Black Swan.”

On August 5, digital gold fell to $49,000 amid a stock market crash. That day, the S&P 500 index plummeted over 5%, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped approximately 12%. However, Bitcoin’s 18% decline was even more pronounced.

Taleb argues that the leading cryptocurrency has underperformed other financial instruments because it is a “speculative asset that behaves like expensive Manhattan real estate” and primarily exists to “track the stock market.”

In terms of preserving value, the author praised gold as an excellent medium:

“If you bury a gold chain in the ground for 10,000 years, it will still be gold.”

Previously, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon suggested that Bitcoin could become a “store of value.”

Earlier, after the correction, Ethereum team lead Péter Szilágyi expressed his disappointment with the crypto industry, comparing it to a casino.