At a climate conference on Tuesday, billionaire Bill Gates blasted cryptocurrency schemes like nonfungible tokens as shams “built on the greater-fool idea,” echoing previous attacks on digital assets.
“Pricey digital photos of monkeys are going twill world greatly,” Gates cynically quipped at a TechCrunch event in Berkeley, California. He stated that he had no long or short positions in the asset class.
Bitcoin is Too Unsafe
Gates has previously attacked cryptocurrency, fighting with Elon Musk last year about whether Bitcoin is too risky for regular investors and whether mining coins is harmful to the environment.
Gates mentioned the problem of getting Silicon Valley engineers to work in businesses like chemicals and steel production that need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a speech Tuesday as the creator of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the climate-focused fund he founded in 2015.
According to Business Standard, Bitcoin fell more than 15% on Monday and 5.4 percent on Tuesday, part of a broader crypto sell-off fuelled by higher-than-expected US inflation and the suspension of withdrawals by loan site Celsius. Popular NFT collections are also being hit hard, like the celebrity-favored Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
Bill also defended digital banking initiatives he’s backed through his philanthropic foundations, calling them “hundreds of times more efficient” than cryptocurrencies.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures is backed by Michael Bloomberg, the founder and controlling owner of Bloomberg LP.
