Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and technology expert turned philanthropist, may not be a fan of bitcoin and digital assets.
Asked in an interview published Thursday with The Wall Street Journal, what technological advancements the world could be missing out on, Gates had this to say:
“The way cryptocurrency works today makes certain criminal activities possible. It would be good to get rid of that, “he added quickly,” I probably should have said biological weapons. That’s a really bad thing. “
Gates’ comments imply that the billionaire technologists are not bitcoin BTCUSD,
BTC.1,
enthusiastically, but his comments may simply suggest that he feels cryptocurrencies are prone to abuse by scammers and in money laundering – a common criticism of the decentralized digital asset created in 2009.
During a CNBC interview aired Thursday, Gates took a more moderate stance, describing his view of bitcoin as “neutral.”
“I don’t own bitcoin, I am not short bitcoin, so I have taken a neutral stance,” he said in the interview aired on CNBC’s “Sqawk Box” show.
“I think moving money to a more digital form and lowering transaction costs is something the Gates Foundation is doing in developing countries,” he added.
“Bitcoin can only go up and down based on the mania or whatever the beliefs are, and I have no way of predicting how that will turn out,” he said.
Bitcoin prices have seen parabolic movements of late, despite critics saying it is a technology trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, while using too much energy to create a single bitcoin.
This is certainly not the first time Gates has spoken about bitcoin and cryptos, but his beliefs have been shaken over time. In 2018, he said in a separate “Squawk Box” interview that he would bet against bitcoin if he could.
“As an investment category you don’t produce anything, so you can’t expect it to go up. It’s sort of a ‘greater folly theory’ type investment, ”Gates said on CNBC two years ago.
Cryptocurrency prices traded above $ 52,000 on Thursday and are up nearly 80% so far in 2021. In comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
rose 2.7%, the S&P 500 index SPX,
maintained a 4% gain year-to-date, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
is up nearly 8% so far this year. Gold GC00,
an asset that bitcoin often goes against has fallen 6.4% since early 2021.
Gates, who boasts a net worth of $ 123 billion, according to Forbes, making him the second richest man in the world behind Amazon.com’s AMZN Jeff Bezos, is getting more attention from his comments on the COVID-19 pandemic, which domestic economy and brought most of the world’s business and personal activities to a halt.