Economist’s Bitcoin Blunder! 🤣

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It appears the esteemed Professor Kenneth Rogoff, a chap from Harvard no less, has been caught in a bit of a pickle. Seems he once ventured a prediction about Bitcoin – and, shall we say, missed the mark rather spectacularly. He posited, with all the authority one might expect from a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (and author of the rather dramatically titled ‘Our Dollar, Your Problem’), that Bitcoin would be plummeting to a mere $100 before it even *thought* about reaching $100,000. One feels a slight twinge of sympathy, but only a slight one. 😉

“Almost a decade ago,” he chirped on X (formerly Twitter, for those of us still clutching our pearls), “I was the Harvard economist that said Bitcoin was more likely to be worth $100 than 100K. What did I miss?” One suspects a fair amount, old boy, a fair amount! This all stems from a spot on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” way back in 2018, a veritable age in the whirlwind world of crypto.

In those distant days of 2018, Professor Rogoff confidently declared that a spot of government regulation would send Bitcoin tumbling. However, things, as they are wont to do, took a rather different turn. The universe, it seems, had other plans. It’s broken $100,000 and, even more alarming for the Professor, surged over 80% to a new all-time high. 😱


“I was far too optimistic about the US coming to its senses about sensible cryptocurrency regulation,” he conceded, suggesting his opinion hasn’t exactly undergone a radical transformation. One might say he’s sticking to his guns, even if those guns are pointing in a rather… inaccurate direction.

Bitcoin competes with fiat currency

“Second,” he continued, in a flurry of X-posts, “I did not appreciate how Bitcoin would compete with fiat currencies to serve as the transactions medium of choice in the twenty-trillion dollar global underground economy.” Good heavens! The very thought! Apparently, it’s become, rather inconveniently for the Professor’s theories, an inflation hedge in countries where governments have been… well, let’s just say fiscally adventurous.

Illicit activity, they say, accounts for around $50 billion, which sounds frightfully large, but is, in the grand scheme of things, a mere drop in the ocean compared to the cash-based shenanigans going on worldwide.

“Third, I did not anticipate a situation where regulators, and especially the regulator in chief, would be able to brazenly hold hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in cryptocurrencies seemingly without consequence given the blatant conflict of interest.”

Crypto X decides to take it as a win anyway

Matt Hougan of Bitwise, a rather astute fellow, responded by pointing out that the Professor “Failed to imagine that a decentralized project, which drew power from people and not centralized institutions, could succeed at scale.” Quite.

David Lawant from FalconX went even further, declaring himself “very thankful” to Rogoff, because his book ‘The Curse of Cash’ was “so terrible” that it “one of the things that pushed me to BTC.” Ouch! A fate worse than a bad review, I should think.

Matthew Sigel of VanEck helpfully compiled a list of Bitcoin’s staunchest critics, ranking Professor Rogoff at a rather unflattering ninth place. He’d, apparently, “written Bitcoin’s obituary too early from within his own echo chamber.” And added for good measure, “Maybe you missed it because you live in an echo chamber, same as when you lock replies”. 😤

“Fundamentals matter: fiat debasement, demographic wealth shifts, and global demand for a neutral reserve asset.”

Now, here’s the truly delicious part. The Harvard Management Company, custodians of the university’s rather substantial $53 billion endowment, recently reported a $116 million investment in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF. The irony, as they say, is thicker than plum pudding.

⚡ FLASHBACK: In 2018, a Harvard economist said $BTC is more likely to hit $100 than $100K.

Now they invested $116M.

– CryptoMoon (@CryptoMoon) August 10, 2025

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2025-08-20 08:18