Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Many people and celebrities have invested in Bitcoin, but not Bill Gates. In fact, the Microsoft founder also gave a warning about this most popular cryptocurrency.
In an interview with Bloomberg Technology in late 2021, he admitted to being wary of the Bitcoin frenzy, especially since the value of the cryptocurrency could be influenced by a simple Twitter tweet like Tesla CEO Elon Musk did.
“Elon has a lot of money, and he’s very sophisticated, so I’m not worried his Bitcoin will go up or down randomly,” said Bill Gates as quoted by CNBC International, Thursday (10/3/2022).
“But I don’t think other people who buy Bitcoin have a lot of money, so I’m not optimistic about Bitcoin.” Bill Gates added “If you have less money than Elon Musk, you should probably be careful.”
In particular, Bill Gates highlighted the lack of regulation around cryptocurrencies (crypto money). He highlighted the two main risks Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies pose to users: cryptocurrency is decentralized and prices can be highly volatile.
“[Bitcoin] happens to be promoting anonymous transactions,” Bill Gates said. “It’s not a reversible transaction.”
Gates said that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation actually “does a lot when it comes to digital currencies,” but only when “you can see who’s doing the transactions.”
He said “digital money is a good thing,” especially in terms of funding poor countries and transferring funds to their citizens very, very efficiently.”
(roy/miq)
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