TL;DR Breakdown

• Bill Gates neutral on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
• Gates declares he has no crypto holdings currently.

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has maintained a neutral stance regarding cryptocurrencies and digital assets. He, however, predicts that the future of payment for Microsoft lies with digital currencies.

The tech mogul also said that the digital form of money, which he says is Microsoft’s future, has to enable transaction reversal and total visibility.

Bill Gates has no crypto-investment

Bill Gates revealed he has no crypto investment saying he got 1 Bitcoin as a birthday gift last year, which he quickly disposed of. However, the 65-year old remains neutral despite this and more optimistic about crypto, unlike in 2018 when he said he would be short on BTC if there was an easy way to do it.

“I don’t own Bitcoin. I’d not short Bitcoin; I’ve taken a neutral view,” he said.

He also says he believes at a point digital currencies would be the main form of payment method. He said the Gates Foundation was also actively exploring such payment options, which decreases transactions’ costs. Bill Gates stated that regardless, there were several differences between Bitcoin and the digital payment form he was talking about.

He also said he could not predict any Bitcoin price stating that it could go up or down depending on the current mania, and can not say if it would continue surging.

Gates believes Bitcoin does more harm than good

The philanthropist, although, not outrightly asserting that BTC was used only for illicit activities, had said previously that crypto harms people’s lives in a “fairly direct way” as they enable bad actors to transact anonymously on the black market.

Gates agrees that crypto blockchain fits into what Gates foundation’s digital currency aims for, total visibility; however, it does not allow reversal due to the unique way the BTC network works.