Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spear a scathing attack on the cryptocurrency industry, calling Bitcoin a “giant Ponzi scheme” in his latest Daily Mail column.
Johnson argues that digital assets lack intrinsic value and rely entirely on the “greater fool” theory, warning that ordinary people are increasingly falling victim to crypto-related fraud.
He went so far as to claim that a vintage Pokémon card is a safer long-term investment than the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Caesar, gold and Pikachu
Johnson compared the digital asset to traditional stores of value, fiat currency and even children’s trading cards. Fiat currencies depreciate due to government profligacy, but they are at least backed by the authority and military power of the state, a tradition dating back to the Roman denarius bearing the image of Caesar. Decentralization, the fundamental principle of cryptocurrency, is actually its greatest weakness, according to Johnson.
“If no one is in charge, then there is no one to complain to if the company loses value,” he stressed. “There is no central banker to fire, no government to dismiss.”
Johnson says he can understand the historical appeal of gold, and even the tangible appeal of a decades-old Pikachu card, but Bitcoin is just a “string of numbers” heavily reliant on a collective suspension of disbelief.
Pro-crypto policies
Notably, Johnson’s own administration has been instrumental in opening the UK’s doors to the very industry he says is lacking in bigger fools.
Under Johnson’s tenure, the UK government actually laid the groundwork for the adoption of the digital asset sector.
In April 2022, Rishi Sunak, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a major initiative to make the UK a “global hub for technology and investment in cryptoassets”.