CNBC’s crazy money personality Jim Cramer has blasted XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin, calling them a “huge fraud” for failing to establish their worth beyond being speculative assets.
Cramer made the remarks on December 8, soon after CNBC interviewed television personality Kevin O’Leary about his suspected links to and promotion of the defunct crypto exchange FTX.
“XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin, I feel are all frauds,” Cramer remarked when Squawk Box’s Rebecca Quick asked about his overall opinion on cryptocurrencies. “Why don’t we simply put up a number of equities with similar valuations?” I’m sick of these frauds.”
Cramer, 67, stressed the need of distinguishing between cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, stating that he was a huge admirer of the latter.
“Remember, the con is not blockchain; blockchain is fantastic; yet, we keep comparing blockchain to the con, and I’m not sure how long that can go on,” he continued.
In response to the FTX catastrophe, the presenter said that “blockchain has nothing to do with what transpired,” adding that the whole situation looked bottomless and that he had no idea how to explain it.
Following Cramer’s condemnation of cryptocurrencies, there has been an outpouring of comments on Twitter from dissatisfied crypto fans.
Shortly after the interview, John Deaton, a pro-XRP lawyer and creator of Crypto-Law US, attacked the presenter, accusing him of confusing XRP with FTX’s illicit transactions. The lawyer went on to defend XRP by reminding Cramer that a number of US federal organizations, including FinCEN, the DOJ, and the CFTC, have classified XRP as a virtual currency—and not a scam. He also reminded the presenter of a recent session in which two CNBC quick money presenters highlighted XRP and demonstrated how to get it live on television.
“I represent several of your fans who bought XRP after seeing it on Brian Kelly and CNBC.” “He didn’t mention it was a scam, did he?” Deaton said.
Michi Lumin, a Dogecoin Core developer, also chimed in, attempting to address misunderstandings regarding dogecoin. According to the creator, there must be a mark and a beneficiary for anything to be a “scam” or a “con.” She went on to say that, unlike other cryptos, which had a ‘developer premine’ and a method for developers to have an excessive amount, Dogecoin never did since its programming constraints prohibited such operations.
“The creators own significantly less than you may imagine, far less than other cryptocurrency developers.” That’s because we all had to go through the same process you did. “There is no magic button and no unique allotment,” she stated, adding that dogecoin was not “managed” by a “business” or a “bodily.”
Meanwhile, Cramer, no stranger to controversy in crypto-land, has continued to draw criticism from crypto enthusiasts, with some sarcastically misinterpreting his statements as a positive signal.
