You can hardly go anywhere without hearing about cryptocurrencies these days. Many people know of it, but probably don’t understand much about blockchain, the technology that powers cryptocurrencies.
When Bill Gates hosted his sixth Reddit AMA this week, unsurprisingly the topic of cryptocurrencies came up and the Microsoft founder didn’t hold back. He worries that people’s main interest in cryptocurrencies—outside the “get rich quick crowd”—is anonymity, which proposes a whole suite of problems in Gates’ mind.
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The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing. The Government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. Right now crypto currencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs and crypto currencies is super risky for those who go long.
So yeah Gates isn’t a fan! One Reddit user challenged Gates’ claim saying, “The US dollar is also used to buy fentanyl and god knows what else.”
“Yes – anonymous cash is used for these kinds of things but you have to be physically present to transfer it which makes things like kidnapping payments more difficult,” Gates replied.
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Also, since we’re just letting Gates spill all the tea here, let’s also hear his opinion on beer. Does he have favorite, one Reddit user asked.
“I am not a big beer drinker,” he wrote. “When I end up at something like a baseball game I drink light beer to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers. Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers.”
