This conversation with Yanis Varoufakis was recorded in July 2023. However, it reads like it was made for today.
As inflation lingers, market volatility grows, and central banks face mounting pressure, Varoufakis’ warnings feel more urgent than ever. He argues the 2008 financial crisis never truly ended, only “morphed,” and that our current economic systems are still built on unstable ground.
In his usual direct style, Varoufakis calls crypto “macroeconomically insignificant” and instead points to central bank digital currencies as the real financial disruptor. He also introduces “cloud capital,” a term that now feels eerily familiar in an era shaped by data-driven influence and algorithmic control.
Far from a dated debate, this interview is a sharp lens on the systemic risks and technological shifts reshaping finance in 2025 and beyond.
In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis delivers a stark warning to investors: “Crypto is macroeconomically insignificant.“
Drawing on his experience negotiating with the IMF and EU during Greece’s sovereign debt crisis, Varoufakis critiques the lingering effects of 2008 and explains why central bank digital currencies—not crypto—will lead the next financial revolution.
He also introduces his concept of “cloud capital” as the new engine of global capitalism. For those navigating systemic risk and financial innovation, his insights cut through the noise with rare clarity.
Q: Global crises often expose fractures between nations. What institutional or economic changes are needed to help countries respond to future crises with greater unity?
Yanis Varoufakis: “Thank you. We have a central bank without the state to have its back, and we have 19, 20, 21 now states without the central bank, which is really of their own. In the case of the United States with China, what you find is that there is a structural macroeconomic imbalance which underpins that relationship.
“In other words, the United States has a chronic, systematic, designed trade deficit with China. It is essential for China to be having the net exports, which were necessary for China to grow. So, both the United States and China depend on a fallacy, on an error of design.
“And therefore, any negotiations between the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the Chinese authorities have to be found with this understanding—that there’s always going …