tl;dr: It’s fine to be a hater. It’s not fine to be a hater that can never be wrong.

My daughter is reading a book called “The Hate U Give” which is about….

Well, I have no idea what it’s really about since I just saw the book jacket, but I was thinking about it the other day as it relates to the three of the most prominent Bitcoin haters out there.

Peter Schiff, Nouriel Roubini, and Steven Hanke.

Personally, I don’t care if these three hate Bitcoin forever. For all I know, they might be right.

But, what troubles me about them and about all naysayers is this:

Is there any point at which you know you are wrong?

In her book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts , Annie Duke explains that the way to shut up those who pronounce opinions is by asking them to put some “skin in the game.”

If they are so fundamentally sure that Bitcoin is worthless, why not make a bet about it?

As Taleb, another Bitcoin skeptic says (roughly), “don’t tell me what you think, show me your portfolio.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong about Bitcoin when it hits $0. Heck, at this point anything below $1000 is reason to admit I was wrong.

But is there ANY point at which Roubini, Hanke, or Schiff say, “yeah, you know I was wrong about it”?

When people are 100% sure about anything, ask them to put some money down.

Most of the time, it shuts them up.

Otherwise, it’s just blowhards bloviating….no matter what the credentials.