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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.

11 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. If Bill Gates likes it by jd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then clearly there are problems.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:If Bill Gates likes it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, I can see a huge rush of cognitive dissonance as the bitcoin crowd tries to get their collective heads around the idea of agreeing with Bill Gates

    2. Re:If Bill Gates likes it by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Funny

      This might explain the recent crash in value.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    3. Re:If Bill Gates likes it by Teresita · · Score: 3, Funny

      "640 thousand bitcoins oughta be enough for everybody!"

    4. Re:If Bill Gates likes it by itzly · · Score: 4, Funny

      He only bought 640k, claiming that this is enough.

  2. Currency or cash ? by alexhs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don't have to be physically in the same place

    Apparently Bill Gates can't distinguish currency from cash...

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
  3. Re:this is a prelude to all people being microchip by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't want to be Microchip'ped, I want to be Atmel'ed!

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  4. 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.

  5. If he put his money where his mouth is... by gwolf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then nobody would be able to listen to him anymore.

  6. Re:Electroic transactions by codebonobo · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you understand bitcoin how to secure your private keys you will realize that it is much more secure than cash. If my cell phone was stolen I would still have my bitcoins and it would be practically impossible for thieves to use them unlike your wallet filled with cash. I have almost no risk of hackers or thieves stealing my offline multisig wallet either.

    Bitcoin's problem right now is mainly the steep learning curve but more hardware wallets are beginning to roll out so users can be more secure without being a security expert.

    These have already hit the market:

    http://www.bitcointrezor.com/ http://www.hardbit.cn/ http://btchip.com/

    This is being released this month-

    https://mycelium.com/entropy

    And this will shortly follow along with other products- https://mycelium.com/bitcoinca...

  7. Re:Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency by codebonobo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most anarchists and libertarians understood bitcoin is p2p and both warned and laughed at those who stored their bitcoins in Mt-Gox. Mt-Gox was mainly used by either the less technical savvy, or daytrade investor types who kept their money in an exchange because they wanted to profit from volatility. Many of us still use exchanges but immediately withdraw the coins upon purchase and store them in mult-sig cold storage.