Roubini, Krugman, Yellen oppose crypto, not because they are old, but because they are Keynesians

Every time there is a discussion about Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, Janet Yellen, Elizabeth Warren and others, I see terrible ageist/generational arguments like "this old man can't understand new technology", "this old woman stuck in the past", "these boomers" etc.

These are not only counterproductive and naive arguments but also distracting from real reason why these people are so much against crypto. The real reason why all these people against crypto is not their age (or being part of previous generation). In short, these people are so against crypto because they are statists to the core.

For example, Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman and Janet Yellen are followers of New Keynesian economics. It's even in their bio in Wikipedia (check "School or tradition" section). The only way for them to accept crypto is to completely throw away their Keynesianism because it's inherently statist. That's not going to happen and it has nothing to do with their age or generation but with their desire for state controlled economy.

Furthermore, one of godfathers of crypto is actually Friedrich Hayek who wrote famous book called "The Denationalization of Money" in 1976:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denationalization_of_Money

Here is a short video with quotes from Hayek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uo-KfnkhI

By the time, he gave this interview (1984), he was 85 years old man and he was way ahead of his time!

Cryptocurrencies are just modern embodiment of almost century old debate - Keynes vs. Hayek.

Milton Friedman also predicted rise of cryptocurrencies (he called them - anonymous e-cash):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlwxdyLnMXM#t=14m40s

He gave this interview (1999) when he was 87 years old.

Timothy May wrote his famous essay called "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" in 1988. This essay had a big influence on Wei Dai:

http://www.weidai.com/bmoney.txt

By the way, this essay is the first link in original Bitcoin whitepaper. Timothy May would turn 70 this year. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2018.

Even long before, Hayek and Friedman, Carl Menger wrote free market theory of money called "On the Origins of Money" (1892).

In short, crypto can't be inherently generational thing because its philosophical/economical foundation created by 100+ year old men (if they were still alive today). The real reason why all these modern "economists" oppose crypto is because they are statist to the core and they will never accept the idea that something can exist outside of state control (especially money!).

So real debate isn't between generations but between different schools of thought and free market theory of money is very old idea which found itself in cyberspace.