Learn · History
Fraud, tulips, rat poison, Beanie Babies and “another $17,000 to go down.” Who said it, exactly what they said, and what bitcoin cost that day compared with today.
Fun, but fair. These are smart, successful people, and some of their worries were real: 2017's ICO boom was full of scams, exchanges have collapsed, and bitcoin's price can fall hard. We quote each person word for word from the original or a reputable free report, note where they later changed their view, and show the price on that day next to today's. A higher price doesn't make every criticism wrong, and nothing here is financial advice.
Videos are external, not made by us. Clicking play loads youtube-nocookie.com; see our privacy promise.
“Bitcoin is evil”
“it remains completely unclear why BitCoin should be a stable store of value.”
Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, then a New York Times columnist · · His New York Times blog, in a post titled “Bitcoin Is Evil”
Krugman argued that money must be both a medium of exchange and a stable store of value, and that bitcoin's fans kept answering the first question when he asked the second.
“Under $10”
“I predict that Bitcoin will trade for under $10 a share by the first half of 2014”
Mark T. Williams, Finance professor, as Business Insider billed him · · A guest post on Business Insider
Williams expected competitors, new regulations and restrictions to push the price down. Bitcoin's lowest daily close in the first half of 2014 was about $367 (Apr 10, 2014, Coin Metrics), nowhere near $10.
Beanie Babies
“[Bitcoin] is digital fool's gold — today's bitcoin could be tomorrow's Beanie Babies”
Peter Schiff, Stockbroker, gold advocate and radio host · · A bitcoin-vs-gold debate on CNBC's Fast Money
Schiff's core argument then and now: gold had a long history of intrinsic value before it was money, and bitcoin, in his view, does not.
Sources: CNBC, “Bitcoin bug calls out Peter Schiff's gold infatuation” (Feb 27, 2017) · CNBC Fast Money video, “Today's Bitcoin could be ‘tomorrow's Beanie Babies’: Schiff” (Feb 27, 2017)
Tulip mania
“It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed.”
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase · · A banking conference organized by Barclays
Dimon also called bitcoin “a fraud” and said he would fire any JPMorgan trader caught trading it, because “It's against our rules and they are stupid.”
What happened next
A partial change of heart, at least for the bank. In January 2018 he told Fox Business he regretted calling bitcoin a fraud. He was still calling it a “hyped-up fraud” on CNBC in January 2023. Then, at JPMorgan's May 19, 2025 investor day, he said the bank would let clients buy bitcoin: “I don't think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. I defend your right to buy Bitcoin. Go at it.” He also said he personally is “not a fan.”
Sources: Fox Business on YouTube, “Regret making bitcoin ‘fraud’ comment: Jamie Dimon” (Jan 9, 2018) · CNBC Television on YouTube, “JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon: Bitcoin is a ‘hyped-up fraud’” (Jan 19, 2023) · JPMorganChase, 2025 Investor Day transcript, Closing Remarks and Q&A (May 19, 2025), PDF · CNBC, “JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says the bank will let clients buy bitcoin” (May 19, 2025)
Recorded a month later, at the Institute of International Finance on Oct 13, 2017.
Fox Business ·
“Index of money laundering”
“Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world.”
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager · · An Institute of International Finance meeting
The Hill reported his next lines as: “It's an index of money laundering. That's all it is.”
What happened next
One of the biggest reversals on this list. In July 2023, weeks after BlackRock filed for a spot bitcoin ETF, Fink told Fox Business that “Bitcoin is an international asset” and that crypto is “digitizing gold in many ways.” BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) launched in January 2024, and in July 2024 he told CNBC he believes bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrument.
Sources: Fortune, “Larry Fink says ‘crypto is digitizing gold’…” (Jul 5, 2023) · CoinDesk, “BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Says Bitcoin Could ‘Revolutionize Finance’” (Jul 5, 2023) · iShares, iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) fund page: fund inception Jan 5, 2024 · CNBC Television on YouTube, “BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: I believe bitcoin is a legit financial instrument” (Jul 15, 2024)
Sources: CNBC, “BlackRock CEO Larry Fink calls bitcoin an ‘index of money laundering’” (Oct 13, 2017) · The Hill, “BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering” (Oct 13, 2017)
Rat poison squared
“probably rat poison squared”
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway · · Remarks to CNBC's Becky Quick at Berkshire's annual meeting
At the same meeting, his partner Charlie Munger said trading in cryptocurrencies is “just dementia.” Two days later Buffett told CNBC that bitcoin is a nonproductive asset that creates nothing.
Sources: CNBC, “Warren Buffett says bitcoin is ‘probably rat poison squared’” (May 5, 2018) · CNBC, “Bitcoin backs away from $10,000 after Buffett, Gates criticism” (May 7, 2018)
Fox Business ·
“I would short it”
“I agree I would short it if there was an easy way to do it.”
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder · · CNBC's Squawk Box, alongside Buffett and Munger
Gates called bitcoin “kind of a pure ‘greater fool theory’ type of investment” and said someone once gave him bitcoin for his birthday, which he sold a few years later.
Source: CNBC, “Bill Gates: I would short bitcoin if I could” (May 7, 2018)
Buffett, Munger and Gates together on CNBC; Gates's “short it” remark is in this clip.
300 years backwards
“cryptocurrency enthusiasts are effectively celebrating the use of cutting-edge technology to set the monetary system back 300 years.”
Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, then a New York Times columnist · · His New York Times column “Transaction Costs and Tethers: Why I'm a Crypto Skeptic”
His point: the history of money is a march toward cheaper, invisible payments, and mining costs bring friction back. The column is paywalled, so we quote it from a free report; he made the same argument on video that September.
Sources: CCN via Yahoo Finance, “Bitcoin is Erasing 300 Years of Monetary Evolution: Nobel Economist Paul Krugman” (Jul 31, 2018), quoting his NYT column “Transaction Costs and Tethers: Why I'm a Crypto Skeptic” · a16z, “A Skeptic's View of Crypto (2 of 3)” (Nov 2, 2018), Krugman's talk at a September 2018 debate in Mexico City
Mother of all scams
“crypto is the mother or father of all scams and bubbles, a bubble that has finally gone bust this year.”
Nouriel Roubini, NYU economist known for warning about the 2008 crisis · · Testimony to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee
In the same testimony he called blockchain “the most over-hyped technology ever.” Much of his criticism targeted 2017's ICO tokens; Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh testified alongside him with the opposing case.
Sources: U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing, “Exploring the Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Ecosystem” (Oct 11, 2018), official transcript (govinfo.gov) · Nouriel Roubini, written testimony to the Senate Banking Committee (Oct 11, 2018), PDF · CoinDesk, “Crypto Defender Spars With Famed Critic During US Senate Hearing” (Oct 11, 2018)
Bananas
“I'd rather have bananas, I can eat bananas. Crypto not so much.”
Mark Cuban, Investor and Dallas Mavericks owner at the time · · A WIRED “Tech Support” Q&A video
He compared bitcoin to baseball cards and gold, saying it is “only worth what somebody will pay for it.”
What happened next
Cuban told The Block soon after: “I probably shouldn't have said bananas, since they go bad,” adding that the segment “was supposed to be a humorous piece.”
Source: The Block, “Mark Cuban bullish on blockchain, but would take bananas over bitcoin” (2019)
Source: WIRED, “Mark Cuban Answers Mogul Questions From Twitter” (Sep 27, 2019), transcript
“Another $17,000 to go down”
“What's Bitcoin at, $16,000? It has another $17,000 to go down.”
Peter Zeihan, Geopolitical strategist and author · · The Joe Rogan Experience, episode #1921
In other words, a price below zero. 99Bitcoins logged his reasoning as: bitcoin “will probably go negative because if we're moving into a world with carbon taxes you have to take into account the energy to produce it in the first place.” CryptoSlate notes he spent less than two minutes of the episode on bitcoin.
Sources: CryptoSlate, “Bitcoiners are seething at Peter Zeihan's interview on Joe Rogan podcast” (Jan 10, 2023) · Cointelegraph, “Bitcoin community not happy with Peter Zeihan's criticisms on Joe Rogan podcast” (Jan 10, 2023) · Spotify, The Joe Rogan Experience “#1921 - Peter Zeihan” (released Jan 7, 2023) · 99Bitcoins, Bitcoin Obituaries entry “Bitcoin Will Go Negative” (Jan 7, 2023)
PowerfulJRE ·
The official full episode, uploaded to YouTube in 2024 (it first aired on Spotify on Jan 7, 2023). The bitcoin remarks are a brief segment; we could not confirm the exact timestamp.
“No significant legal use cases”
“At this point, 17 years after crypto arrived on the scene, there are still no — I repeat, no — significant legal use cases.”
Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, now writing on Substack · · His Substack post “Crypto Is Still for Criming”
He pointed to El Salvador's bitcoin push as a failed attempt to make it everyday money, and argued crypto's main uses are illicit.
Source: Paul Krugman, “Crypto Is Still for Criming,” Substack (May 9, 2025)
Bloomberg Podcasts ·
The headline is Bloomberg's.
“Have fun going broke”
“Gold is eating Bitcoin's lunch. Bitcoin is now down 32% priced in gold since its August high. This Bitcoin bear market will be brutal. HODLers, sell your fool's gold now and buy the real thing, or have fun going broke.”
Peter Schiff, Stockbroker, gold advocate and radio host · · A post on X
A play on the bitcoiner taunt “have fun staying poor” (see the meme museum). Fair is fair: bitcoin's price is lower today than on the day he posted this one. Schiff's company SchiffGold sells precious metals, and he links to it in similar posts, like one from November 2025.
Sources: Peter Schiff on X (Oct 16, 2025): “Gold is eating Bitcoin's lunch…” · Peter Schiff on X (Nov 12, 2025): “We make it easy to convert your fool's gold into the real thing” (links to SchiffGold)
Beyond these headline names, 99Bitcoins' Bitcoin Obituaries tracker counted bitcoin declared dead 477 times when we checked it on Oct 17, 2026. Its most recent obituary is from April 2024. See every one charted against the price →
Real-world resource: 99Bitcoins Bitcoin Obituaries (third-party site; it carries ads and exchange and casino promotions we don't endorse).
Prices: daily close in USD from the Coin Metrics Community API (terms). “Now” is the latest close, Oct 17, 2026. A higher price today doesn't prove a critic wrong about everything, and it is not a forecast.
Quotes, sources and videos checked Oct 17, 2026. Spot a mistake? We fix errors promptly. · Videos · Learn