Bill Gates warns everyone who is not called Elon Musk about Bitcoin
No time right now?
In an interview with Bloomberg, Bill Gates also commented on Bitcoins on Tuesday. He made it clear that he is not a fan of cryptocurrencies.
In the “Bloomberg Technology” format, Bill Gates spoke with Emily Chang about disinformation in social media, bitcoins and the latest developments in the corona pandemic. Gates tried to remain friendly and obliging at all times. Sometimes that presented him with visible challenges.
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Gates: Bitcoin hype can have a negative impact on retail investors
The insofar hardest part of the interview dealt with Elon Musk, Tesla and Bitcoin (from minute 7:05). In doing so, he first made it clear that he recognized Tesla as a good company with good products. And he does not see Musk at risk from his Bitcoin investment:
“Elon has a lot of money and he’s very smart. I’m not worried that his bitcoins will go up or down somehow randomly. But I’m afraid that people who don’t have that much money will also be infected by this hype. [ … ] In general, I would think that if you have less money than Elon, you should be more careful. “
Gates: Digital currencies shouldn’t be anonymous
Then he made it unmistakably clear that he was not an advocate of anonymous cryptocurrencies. Many small investors might not be able to cope with the coming price cuts. But they are to be expected because the Bitcoin on the one hand requires too much energy and on the other hand enables irreversible anonymous transactions that could be used to finance illegal activities or simply to evade taxes.
In his opinion, digital money is an absolutely desirable thing, if only to bring money to the poorest countries on earth. However, the transactions must always be transparent. His foundation is committed to digital currencies that guarantee this. A few days ago Gates had already expressed this view at CNBC:
“I don’t own #Bitcoin. I’m not short Bitcoin, “says @BillGates. “I do think moving money into a more digital form and getting transaction costs down, that’s something the Gates Foundation does in developing countries.” pic.twitter.com/DDe5X196ax
– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 18, 2021
Nevertheless, Gates does not want to be classified as a Bitcoin opponent. Although he once belonged to the opponents, his opinion on the crypto currency is now rather neutral.
