NYU professor and noted anti-cryptocurrency economist Nouriel Roubini exploded online last night after a debate with Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, at the Asia Blockchain Summit in Taipei. The debate, called the “Tangle in Taipei,” was allegedly not streamed live at the behest of the organizers and and Roubini wasn’t having it.

Hayes, for his part, shot back at the economist, further enraging Roubini.

Bloomberg reported from the event, saying that Roubini argued that cryptocurrencies were bunk, “deriding its technology, security and lack of convenience.” Hayes agreed that there were some bad actors but that his goal was to allow users to speculate on financial products.

“People love to speculate,” he said. “We’re just trying to give them an opportunity to do it in a safe manner.”

Hayes posted this response to the call to “release the tapes” and Crypto-Twitter asked for a more serious response. None seems forthcoming.

That said, given that the average financial conference probably doesn’t have economists calling each other “Cosa Nostra Coward Mafia Thugs” at least we can at least argue that online crypto beefs are pretty lively. We’ve reached out to both parties for comment and will report more when and if the “tapes” surface.

Photo by Chris Sabor on Unsplash