New York (CNN Business) Don’t count Bill Gates as one of the people who are a fan of cryptocurrency and NFTs.
The digital asset trends mentioned are “100 100 per cent based on the greater fools’ theories,” the Microsoft co-founder stated Tuesday at an event called TechCrunch event, referring to the idea that investors could profit from useless or overvalued assets so long as they are willing to pay more for them.
Gates said that he’s “not short or long” crypto. He also ridiculed the Bored Apes NFTs by joking about the idea that “expensive Digital images of monkeys” could “improve the world dramatically.”
In contrast, Gates said he prefers traditional investment.
“I’m familiar with assets, such as farms that produce output, or even an organization that produces items,” he said.
His remarks come when bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are in the process of crashing. Bitcoin has reached a record of $69,000 in November 2021. Since then, the world’s most valued cryptocurrency has lost nearly two-thirds of its value. Its value fell just below $23,000 by Tuesday. It has lost around 25 per cent of its value since Friday.
The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it is laying out 18% of its workers in the face of a market for digital currencies that continues to decline.
Gates has been previously sceptical of the validity of crypto. In an interview in 2021 with Bloomberg, Gates said that it was the right thing for Elon Musk and Tesla to invest in bitcoin, but it doesn’t mean that everyone else should follow in their footsteps.
“I believe that some people are taken in by these crazes and may not have enough money,” Gates said. “So I’m not too optimistic about bitcoin.”
