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Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-digital-benjamins dept.

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from Entrepreneur.com: After long remaining mostly mum on Bitcoin, Microsoft's legendary co-founder Bill Gates has spoken. At the Sibos 2014 financial-services industry conference in Boston, America's richest man just threw his weight behind the controversial cryptocash. Well, at least as a low-cost payments solution. ... "Bitcoin is exciting because it shows how cheap it can be," he told Erik Schatzker during a Bloomberg TV's Smart Street show interview yesterday (video). "Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don't have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient." ... While he seems relatively bullish on how inexpensive transacting in Bitcoin can be, Gates isn't singing the praises of its anonymity. The billionaire alluded in an oblique, somewhat rambling fashion to some of the more nefarious anonymous uses associated with Bitcoin.

3 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Since no one reads the friggn article by SpankiMonki · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's what Gates actually said:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyAufA2lWn0

    I read his comment as: "the [pseudo] anonymity of virtual currency technology is what's holding it back". And since there's little context provided in the FA or the vid, I'm going to go ahead and assume Gates' comments referred to virtual currencies in general - not just bitcoin.

  2. Celebrities and IQ ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... are not always a positive correlation.

    Screw Bill.

    What does DiCaprio think?

    No, wait ...

    Paris Hilton.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  3. Re: If Bill Gates likes it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    No, he does not have to know or understand anything of anything. He got rich accidentally by IBM's mistake and after that there were others telling HIM how to play. For intance copying Apple's GUI. Read the history.