Joseph Stiglitz, a renowned American economist and Nobel laureate, recalled his negative attitude to cryptocurrency in the video for CNBC , published this Monday.

“I believe that we should shut down the cryptocurrencies,” he said and cited several arguments as a justification for his point of view.

According to Stiglitz, cryptocurrencies cannot serve the purpose of creating an efficient global economy due to low transparency. He also noted that cryptocurrencies are often used in illegal financial activities, such as money laundering, since they allow them to be derived “from transparent platforms to shadow ones”.

Stiglitz believes that “no one has a need to switch to cryptocurrencies,” since they do not have the characteristics of good currencies, which, in particular, the US dollar has.

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Rejection of cryptocurrency, however, according to Stiglitz, does not imply the rejection of electronic payment mechanisms that can make the financial system more transparent. Real-time payment data will make the economy more regulated and manageable, he added.

In 2017, Stiglitz has already made similar statements. Then he urged to ban Bitcoin, since the cryptocurrency does not perform any socially useful functions, but carries significant risks for investors because of its volatility.

Do you agree with him?

Featured image credit CNBC