Did 'Black Swan' Author Just Compare Vitalik Buterin To A 'Funeral Home Director' Dressed In 'Pre-Owned Ill-Fitting' Pajamas?

"Black Swan" author Nassim Nicholas Taleb took what appeared to be a veiled dig at Ethereum ETH/USD co-creator Vitalik Buterin on Thursday.

What Happened: Referring to the "crypto crash" in a tweet thread, Taleb said that he was optimistic that the world "will not be run by cadaverous pencilneck cryptocrats out of a 1964  black & white Dracula movie."

He went on to say, "Combining computational skills w/the mental flexibility of NY Dept of Motor Vehicles agents & the common sense of a caffeinated parrot."

Extending his vicious dig, the Black Swan author said, "I forget the most eerie: these joyless cryptocrats often look like funeral home directors dressed in pre-owned ill-fitting pajamas."

2) I forget the most eerie: these joyless cryptocrats often look like funeral home directors dressed in pre-owned ill-fitting pajamas.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) November 17, 2022

When a Twitter user posted a picture of Buterin and said, "I have no idea who you could possibly be referring to," Nicholas Taleb replied, "I *officially* deny that I am rederring (sic) to a precise person…"

3) I *officially* deny that I am rederring to a precise person… https://t.co/VnTV2M4yDs

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) November 17, 2022

Buterin was featured in the picture wearing a bright orange pair of pajamas. 

See Also: Best Ways To Earn Free Cryptocurrency 

Why It Matters: Buterin is known for his eclectic sense of fashion. He once showed up to an Ethereum conference wearing Shiba Inu pajamas. 

The Ethereum co-creator has said in the past that he favors clothing items made by the Japanese fast-fashion retailer Uniqlo.

In light of the liquidity troubles faced by Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX and Alameda, which precipitated the latest cryptocurrency crash, Taleb said that there was no such thing as a liquidity crisis with cryptocurrencies as that was reserved for something that has hard intrinsic value.

The crisis has led to a 12.8% and 7.8% decline in Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum prices over the last 30 days respectively.

Read Next: ‘Black Swan’ Author Likens Bitcoin Backers To ‘Covidopaths’ And ‘Trumpobarbarians’

Photo by TechCrunch on Flickr