Steven Hanke, a renowned economics professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, is extremely negative about bitcoin (BTC) via Twitter: “Bitcoin is not a currency, it is a highly speculative asset with a fundamental value of zero.”
Bitcoin is not a currency. It’s just a highly speculative asset with a fundamental value of zero. pic.twitter.com/leA4Fe9Ixz
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) March 26, 2023
Economist wants nothing to do with bitcoin
Negative comments about bitcoin (BTC) or crypto in general are anything but rare. But from the mouth of an economics professor they come across slightly differently. However, Hanke’s comment was not substantiated. So the question is whether Hanke actually understands crypto and bitcoin.
Countless Twitter users were quick to put Hanke in his place on behalf of the bitcoin community. “How someone can be an economics professor and not understand the basics of bitcoin is absurd,” someone responded.
Hanke’s negative Tweet comes at a striking time. Bitcoin has shown in recent weeks that it is not so much a speculative one risk on asset to be more, but rather an inflation hedge like gold. In recent weeks, banks have been in a dire situation and this banking crisis has so far resulted in a sharp rise in the bitcoin price.
In another tweet Hanke praised the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its strict crackdown on the crypto sector. The tweet explicitly refers to the action the SEC is taking against the crypto exchange Coinbase.
SEC warns Coinbase
The SEC recently alerted Coinbase and appears to be preparing a lawsuit. What exactly the indictment entails is not entirely clear, according to Coinbase. It appears to be related to the illegal offering of unregistered securities, the SEC said.
According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the SEC’s action against his exchange is remarkable. Two years ago, Coinbase was extensively researched in preparation for the exchange’s IPO. Everything was fine then, but now the SEC seems to be coming back.
This is the umpteenth attack the SEC opens on the crypto sector this year. It was Kraken, Binance and Tron’s turn earlier.