• Cryptocurrencies and NFTs, as per Bill Gates, are based on the 'greater-fool' idea

    Business
    Cryptocurrencies and NFTs, as per Bill Gates, are based on the 'greater-fool' idea

    Bill Gates also defended digital banking initiatives backed by his philanthropic institutions, calling them "hundreds of times more efficient" than cryptocurrencies.

    Digital Desk: 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
    of digital assets.



    "Obviously, pricey digital photos
    of monkeys are going to help the world enormously," Gates cynically
    quipped at a TechCrunch event in Berkeley, California. He stated that he had no
    long or short positions in the asset class.



    Gates has previously criticised
    cryptocurrency, arguing with Elon Musk last year about whether Bitcoin is too
    risky for regular investors and the environmental impact of cryptocurrency
    mining. 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.



    Bitcoin fell more than 15% on Monday
    and 5.4 percent on Tuesday, part of a larger crypto selloff 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 Gates also defended digital
    banking initiatives backed by his philanthropic institutions, 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.