U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini in Cernobbio, Italy, Sept. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Aresu)
Renowned New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who warned in 2006 that the U.S. housing bust would cause a financial crisis, is calling out what he says are crypto scammers. Nicknamed “Dr. Doom,” Roubini declared that cryptocurrency exchange Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao could be a bigger scammer than Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt FTX.
Roubini, a professor of Economics and CEO of global macroeconomic consultancy firm Roubini Macro Associates, launched an unyielding attack on Zhao, head of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Speaking on Nov. 16 at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) event in Abu Dhabi, part of the Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Roubini said on he “can’t believe” that Binance is allowed to operate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and called CZ a “walking time bomb” who “should be kicked out of this country and not allowed to operate,” Investing.com reported. Abu Dhabi Finance Week took place Nov. 14-18.
He urged Emiratis to expel CZ before the crypto entrepreneur proved a liability, Fortune reported.
“He’s banned in the U.K., he’s under investigation by the U.S. justice department for money laundering, $8 billion from Iran, and he’s here on this stage and has residence in this country,” Roubini said.
Roubini also declared that CZ is “going to get worse than Samuel Bankman-Fried,” the CEO of the embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX. And Roubini accused CZ on Twitter of having “no more credibility than SBF!”
Zhao and Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, were keynote speakers at the same event and were on stage just minutes before Roubini spoke.
Immediately after the session, Roubini tweeted a thread about the crypto market, saying that crypto is 7 C’s: “1. Concealed, 2. Corrupt, 3. Crooks, 4. Criminals, 5. Con men, 6. Carnival barkers, 7. @cz_binance.”
He also tweeted, “Me calling for @cz_binance to be kicked out of the UAE while I was live on stage today at the ADGM Crypto day. That shady character was speaking right before me together with Lunatic @novogratz, both of them vomiting their crappy bullshit about collapsing shitcoins. Rats & Roaches.”
“So is @binance Pump & Dump Central & @cz_binance its Ringmaster? For 5 years they have allowed every sleazy activity to occur on their shady platform including massive money laundering ($8bn from Iran), pump & dump schemes & much else. & their shitcoin BNB is as vaporware as FTT,” Roubini added in another tweet.
U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini speaks during a meeting on the world economy Sept. 7, 2012. Experts and leaders gathered in Italy to discuss the global financial crisis. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Aresu)
