Facebook’s ‘Globalcoin’ Has Nothing to Do With Blockchain, Says Nouriel Roubini

Updated on Jan 22, 2020 at 9:01 pm UTC by · 2 mins read

Nouriel Roubini aka “Dr. Doom” has spoken again, and this time around not on the prediction of the financial crash like in 2007 and 2008, but rather to attacks Facebook`s “GlobalCoin.”

Nouriel Roubini, a cryptocurrency skeptic, and a famous economist have said Facebook`s soon to be unveiled next week and launch next year GlobalCoin, is not actual Crypto.

These were his exact statement:

It has nothing to do with Blockchain. Fully private, controlled, centralized, verified, and authorized by a small number of permissioned nodes. So what is Crypto or Blockchain about it? None.”

Permissioned Nodes on Facebook`s “Globalcoin”

Talking of permissioned nodes, recent reports have hinted that Facebook is expecting to sign up as many as 100 companies to act as “nodes” in the network, which will restrict any single company`s dominant governance over the virtual coin (including themselves). Each of the wannabe backers, which include Paypal, Mastercard, Visa, and Uber, will invest roughly 10 million into a foundation that will govern the cryptocurrency.

While the economist admitted that details of the project are still unclear, but are expected to be disclosed in a white paper Tuesday. Furthermore, he went ahead to indicate that there are minimal chances that GlobalCoin would incorporate ordinary blockchain technologies like proof of stake or proof of work. “Why would they?” he questioned.

What Exactly is Facebook`s “GlobalCoin”?

And while a mixed reaction has emerged among crypto enthusiasts, with some criticizing those referring to Facebook` s coin a cryptocurrency, Nouriel Roubini contested that he shared any school of thought with the crypto enthusiast. Despite, the confusion he acknowledged that some crypto adopters might agree that “enterprise Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is a blockchain in name only.

The cryptocurrency skeptic finalized by indicating:

 “But in my opinion, public decentralized, trustless Blockchain is a pipe dream … so we disagree on 99% of [the] substance.”

Obviously, a cryptocurrency skeptic and Crypto enthusiast have 99% reasons to disagree. In fact, an executive director at the Open Privacy Research Society, Sarah Jamie Lewis recently tweeted:

With these kinds of conflicting opinions, it`s only time that will tell whether for the second time “Dr. Doom” will prophesize accurately the fall of cryptocurrency, or whether the tech giants will carry the day by revolutionizing the future of the crypto coin.

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