Prominent economist Paul Krugman, known for his criticism of cryptocurrency, recently reported being locked out of Venmo and claimed that the “software has taken control.” Despite being a longtime user of the popular online payment service, Krugman said that making transactions had suddenly become impossible. His tweet prompted reactions from several members of the Bitcoin and broader crypto community, including Neeraj K. Agrawal and Pierre Rochard, who pointed out the irony of Krugman struggling to make existing fiat-based financial services work for him given his financial privilege. Krugman was also reminded of his infamous prediction that the internet’s impact on the economy would be “no greater than the fax machine’s.”
