Bitcoin brouhaha

‘Doom’ day for crypto

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — To Nouriel Roubini, it’s a “craptocurrency” party.

The famously bearish NYU economist — who earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” for predicting the financial crisis — blasted bitcoin fanatics as “suckers” and said repeatedly that its underlying technology was “bulls--t.”

Bitcoin radicals say the cryptocurrency’s “blockchain,” or decentralized ledger for recording transactions, could eventually replace centralized banking systems worldwide.

But at a Wednesday panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference here, Roubini called the blockchain a “glorified Excel spreadsheet,” noting that cryptocurrency holders still go through centralized exchanges to clear their transactions.

“There is no decentralization, it’s just bulls--t,” Roubini said, using the potty-mouthed epithet no less than four times as he bad-mouthed bitcoin.

“This was a bubble. … The ones who arrived late to the party are the suckers,” Roubini said, referring to investors who bought bitcoin last year when it traded at $20,000. Its value now hovers around $9,000.

Roubini traded barbs with Alex Mashinsky, chief executive of crypto-lending space Celsius Network and Bill Barhydt, chief executive of cryptocurrency app Abra.

“Why don’t you buy one coin and then tell us how it works?” Mashinsky fired back after Roubini said he hasn’t done so. It’s “like a horse salesman saying we don’t need combustion engines,” Barhydt said.

The crypto-craze — coupled with the flood of bad actors angling to score easy profits — has captured the attention of regulators who are grappling with how to treat the space.

“Crypto is not a synonym for immune from the rule of law,” Brent McIntosh, general counsel of the Treasury Department, told The Post in an interview following the panel. “We don’t want it to be a safe haven for bad things. We don’t think that mom and pop who invest in it should be ripped off.”

But McIntosh stopped short of saying what regulation would look like.

“I’ve long since stopped trying to predict what happens on The Hill,” he said.

Bearish economist Nouriel Roubini (inset), aka “Dr. Doom,” thinks the pitch for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is “bulls--t.”