Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman in a column for the New York Times: The crypto industry probably won't survive regulation

The renowned economist reflects on recent developments in the industry and believes that the collapse of FTX will lead to an imminent tightening of controls.

Krugman writes that since the Satoshi White Paper was published in 2008, cryptocurrencies have never fulfilled the traditional role of money. He adds that bitcoin was invented to circumvent traditional financial institutions.

But how is it now? Many investors use the Coinbase and FTX exchanges to store and buy cryptocurrencies. "These exchanges are - wait for it - financial institutions whose ability to attract investors depends on - wait for it again - the trust of those investors," Krugman writes.

He asks, "Why should an industry that, at best, simply reinvented traditional banking have any fundamental value?"

"Even if the value of bitcoin does not fall to zero (which could still happen), there is good reason to believe that the crypto industry, which only a few months ago was so big, is heading toward oblivion," the noted economist summed up.