crypto Critique From Former Regulator Faces Backlash as Misguided and Protectionist
LONDON - November 15, 2025 – Recent criticisms of cryptocurrency from former Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman Lord Adair Turner are drawing sharp rebuke from industry observers, who argue his skepticism is outdated and rooted in a defense of customary financial systems. Turner likened cryptocurrency investment to the 17th-century Dutch “tulip mania,” a claim published in City A.M. and widely circulated, sparking a debate over the merits and risks of decentralized finance.
Critics contend Turner’s dismissal of cryptocurrency as “socially useless” overlooks basic parallels between its core principles and innovative lending models he previously championed. They point to Oaknorth, a bank utilizing data-driven credit analysis, and cryptocurrency networks as both aiming to reduce information asymmetry and lower intermediation costs - albeit through different mechanisms. Oaknorth employs machine learning and on-site inspections, while Bitcoin utilizes obvious ledgers and programmatic collateral.
Moreover,analysts highlight the irony of Turner’s critique given his past focus on overleveraged banks with opaque risk exposure. Cryptocurrency networks, they argue, operate with transparent leverage ratios, on-chain collateralization, and open-source code.The collapse of centralized crypto entities like FTX in 2022, they note, stemmed from practices – fractional reserve banking and fiat-denominated borrowing – that Turner has historically opposed.Decentralized protocols, conversely, weathered the same period due to their auditable mechanics.
bepi pezzulli, a solicitor and member of Advance UK’s college, argues Turner misinterprets the underlying systems engineering of cryptocurrency, equating it to mere speculation.He draws a parallel to dismissing the early internet as simply “information arbitrage” due to its initial use by day traders.
“The tulip skeptic, it turns out, just doesn’t like flowers he can’t regulate,” Pezzulli concludes.
Turner previously suggested property and equities offer sufficient inflation protection, a claim challenged by observers who note property’s reliance on leverage and equities’ correlation with nominal GDP, citing Japan’s three-decade equity drawdown despite positive GDP growth as a cautionary tale. His assertion that equities will inevitably rise with GDP, unless a global catastrophe occurs, is viewed as a risky reliance on mean reversion, neglecting the value of insurance against tail risks.
