Bill Gates Says He’s ‘Neutral’ on Bitcoin

Bill Gates has said he has a “neutral view” on bitcoin, but does recognize the importance of bringing down the costs of moving money.

• In an interview with CNBC Thursday, Gates said, “I don’t own bitcoin. I’m not short bitcoin.”
• The Microsoft co-founder said that digitizing money and bringing down transaction costs is “something the Gates Foundation does in developing countries.”
• The Foundation takes a focus on reversing charges and adding greater transparency, rather than protecting anonymity, he added.

• Gates further pointed to the volatility of bitcoin driven by “mania” and the difficulty of predicting how prices will progress.
• He previously said in May 2018 that he would short bitcoin “if there was an easy way to do it” and that he had been given a bitcoin as a birthday present but sold it shortly after.
• Crypto enthusiasts were less than happy during a 2018 Reddit AMA when Gates claimed the anonymity of cryptocurrency had “caused deaths in a fairly direct way”.

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