Renowned writer and risk management expert Nassim Taleb used the title of his recent book to describe the CEO of Coinbase and other insiders who sold COIN right after the IPO.
Nassim Taleb, well known as the author of ‘Black Swan’, ‘Antifragile’, ‘Skin in the Game’ and other non-fiction books on managing risk and uncertainty, spoke to Twitter to reconfirm its anti-crypto stance and also to criticize those it believes to be charlatans in the crypto space.
In addition to crypto and blockchain, he also criticized start-ups with a “neuro” prefix, calling them fraudsters.
“Great haven for charlatans”
Taleb posted a tweet, saying that “‘Neuro’ something” has always been a “great haven for charlatans.”
However, the cartoon on the blackboard in the photo clearly reads “Bloke chain. Hedge” and shows a man in a suit hysterical because of laughter next door.
Taleb is a former bitcoin advocate who turned around on this topic a few years ago, and since then has been critical of BTC and all cryptocurrencies in general, calling bitcoin a “tumor” in particular and a other similar names, constantly displaying his skepticism towards crypto.
As reported by U.Today, about a month ago Taleb appeared on a Bloomberg podcast with Joe Weisenthal and criticized Bitcoin as a “very fragile commodity”.
He believes that the flagship cryptocurrency is actually controlled by a small number of people, and it is just a book entry that needs to be constantly maintained.
“Neuro” something has always been a great refuge for quacks. pic.twitter.com/rEcTP89DAG
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) May 4, 2023
Slamming Brian Armstrong and other COIN sellers
In another recent tweet, the researcher commented on analyst Ed Elson’s tweet dated May 2, in which the former shared a list of people who sold COIN stocks right after the major crypto exchange’s IPO. US-based Coinbase in April 2021.
This list of people who sold their COIN a month after the IPO includes several Coinbase executives and CEO Brian Armstrong. He, in particular, earned $291.8 million on this sale and comes second after Fred Wilson, an American venture capitalist and first investor in Coinbase. He made $1 billion by selling his COIN shares. They got rich from it, Taleb pointed out.
Taleb called it “the reverse ‘Skin in the Game'”, contrary to the title of his book. He said Coinbase was “selling a story” to investors and then “transferring the downside to suckers.”
Reverse #SkinintheGame. You get rich selling a story and transfer the inconveniences to the suckers.
Many techs were upset by criticism of insiders cashing in on the “debut,” with a legal trick that allowed them to sell immediately, unlike standard IPOs. pic.twitter.com/rVwS1GfYYs
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) May 4, 2023