Microsoft founder Bill Gates is no longer a bitcoin bear. He has now taken a neutral stance on Bitcoin as an investment. As an innovation, however, he says that cryptocurrency is one that the world would be better off without because it allows certain criminal activities.
Bill Gates changes his mind about Bitcoin
Bill Gates spoke about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in two separate interviews on Thursday. One was at CNBC where he was asked what he thinks of Bitcoin, “in the context of climate change, how Bitcoin needs an enormous amount of energy to mine digitally”. Gates simply replied:
I do not own bitcoin. I am not a short bitcoin. So I took a neutral opinion.
“Bitcoin can only go up and down based on mania or views, and I can’t predict how that will play out,” Gates continued.
The Microsoft founder added, “I think getting money into a more digital form and reducing transaction costs is what the Gates Foundation is doing in developing countries. But there we do it so you can roll back the transactions so we can fully see who is doing what. It’s not about tax avoidance or illegal activity. “
Gates wasn’t a fan of Bitcoin. In a 2018 interview with CNBC, he, Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and Charlie Munger, vice chairman, talked about Bitcoin being worthless.
“As an asset class, you don’t produce anything, so you shouldn’t expect it to rise. It’s kind of like a “bigger fool theory” investment, “noted Gates. “I would short it out if there was an easy way to do it.” BTC was trading at around $ 9,300 that day. Since then, the price of the cryptocurrency has soared nearly 511% to $ 56,805 at the time of writing.
Bill Gates believes the world is better off without cryptocurrency innovation
Another interview posted on Thursday in which Gates talked about cryptocurrency was with the Wall Street Journal. Answer to the question: “What is the only technical innovation without which the world would be better off?” he said:
The way cryptocurrency works today enables certain criminal activities. It would be good to get rid of that.
However, Gates quickly added, “I probably should have said bioweapons. That’s a really bad thing. We shouldn’t have technology for that. “
According to Forbes’ real-time list of billionaires, Gates ranks fourth with a net worth of $ 124 billion. First on the list is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, with net worth of $ 189 billion, followed by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Spacex, with $ 182 billion, and Bernard Arnault with $ 159 billion.
In the meantime, Microsoft has been granted a patent for a “cryptocurrency system using physical activity data”. This crypto mining system utilizes human activities, including brain waves and body heat, in online tasks such as using search engines, chatbots, and reading ads.
What do you think of Bill Gates’ remarks on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments below.
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