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Bill Gates: Cryptocurrency Is 'Rare Technology That Has Caused Deaths In a Fairly Direct Way' (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: During a recent "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit, the Microsoft co-founder said that the main feature of cryptocurrencies is the anonymity they provide to buyers, and Gates thinks that can actually be harmful. "The government's ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing," he wrote. "Right now, cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs, so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way." When a Reddit user pointed out that plain cash can also be used for illicit activities, Gates said that crypto stands out because it can be easier to use. "Yes -- anonymous cash is used for these kinds of things, but you have to be physically present to transfer it, which makes things like kidnapping payments more difficult," he wrote. Gates also warned that the wave of speculation surrounding cryptocurrencies is "super risky for those who go long."
The currency of cyber crime is an excellent investment.
I would argue that the security of the Windows operating system has actually directly led to more death than any cryptocurrency Bill Gates mentions. I can cite military Navy vessels being sank due to improperly applied Windows 2000 patches. NSA spying of Windows computers has also lead to more death.
He has caused more death than the thing he complains about.
The most deadly currency I can think of is Oil.
Windows 10 is pretty convincing proof that anonymity is frowned upon.
So tax evasion is ok as long as he's the one doing it.
Is Bill smoking crack? You certainly do not have to be physically present to transfer cash, and it can be laundered through many accounts to hide the source. And the source can just be a mule who doesn't know who is behind the scheme just that they got paid to transfer some cash.
Bitcoin is bad, it's a pyramid scheme, now it out and out kills people! Hurry ban it, and guns, and pencils, and water because those things hurt people!
President Orange Julius once remarked that Bill Gates should help find a way to 'shut off the internet' to stop bad guys. If he's saying something about cryptocurrencies, our dumbass in chief will think it's gospel.
Just because Bill Gates repeats what's been said for years, it's more relevant?
Trying to finger crypto-currency as "more evil than cash" because it's "easier to use" seems to be cherry-picking scenarios.
How many times is cash used for illicit transactions because it's so straightforward? You can't do a thing with a crypto-currency unless you're tech savvy enough to set up some kind of wallet to receive the funds, and then you have to deal with a buyer who is equally savvy to pay you with them. And right now, you have long waits for most transactions to complete if you're using a well established e-currency like bitcoin. So that's another obstacle in some situations.
I mean, technically, he's not wrong. I'm sure people have died because of drugs that were bought and sold using cryptocoins. I just don't think the tech itself is ever anything but neutral. Again, the problem lies in the motivations of the sellers and buyers - not the payment method.
and maker of software that loses clubs matches before they start playing, and so much more digital goodness.
Why isn't he claiming cold hard cash is causing deaths, and let's get rid of it? Or that pesky DHMO chemical?
How can you be so rich yet so arrogantly stupid? Really one reason: By having an agenda.
Cash can be laundered through many paradises. Did he ever heard of Panama ? Malta ? Delaware ? (Non exhaustive list) ...) everything done for him.
Many recent documentaries showed how money can be transferred through these countries and their rotten lawers companies without living town. I guess that for people like him, it's easy to forget because he gates (ooops, sorry for this one
Totof
NO. It is financial greed and criminal energy that caused deaths!
Which is caused by people having no conscience or foresight and just wanting to leech off ALL the wealth without giving anything in return.
Something that was a huge part of your entire professional life, dear Billy!
Now I don't know yet, where such people come from,
but I suspect they have a natural advantage in societies so far above Dunbar's number, due to being able to hide their assholery in the inherent anonymization. Which also allows good people to turn to psychopaths because it is impossible to empathize with the faceless masses.
I'm curious about the theories of the more reasonable people here on /.
Russian interference.
it's that it's harder to trace. In theory if you can keep your name from being associated with your wallet it's impossible to trace. But it doesn't need to be impossible. A locked car is harder to steal, not impossible to steal. Similarly you just need to make it hard enough to trace money laundering that the relevant authorities time/money runs out.
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Lest anyone forgets $1B went missing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Oh and you wanna talk about baby killers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
How about that opoid crisis? 20 million painkillers to a town of 3,000. ALL CASH. https://www.npr.org/sections/t...
Also...the anonymity isn't crypto's main feature. Just look at the most recent $10 Billion lawsuit. It turns out all those rich list addresses were owned by exchanges and things like that. Cash is far more anonymous than crypto. Why else would drug dealers have bedrooms full of billions of cash: https://www.veteranstoday.com/...
So please tell me how Crypto is killing fucking babies again. I dare you.
Just add {In Space!} to anything.
It's not just bitcoin, it's everything. One cannot commit a kidnapping without a car, for example. Who is against cars? I am sure many old people in the 1900's were against cars - they'd prefer faster horses, they said. These days, many crimes are planned on internet - text messages, chat conversations, voice calls... Who is against internet? My old boss in the 1990's was against internet. He'd prefer an pen and a paper, and a calculator. Everything is dangerous. Even pretzels can be dangerous. George Bush almost choked to death on one.
Is this some new definition for "direct"?
Downvote my question, I maintain that it's a valid one. We all have to face our eventual demise. What will his tombstone say?
Money and every single other form of wealth have produced massive deaths slavery and innocent's deaths, Bitcoin is that exposes wealth and money as the fraud it is, anyone can make it's own currency based in anything and with enough commercial connections can make it usable, we can see currency do not have to be backed by real resources and even debt can be traded as a regular commodity.
Wow, the deaths were caused by the money. That means it's actually safe to OD on opioids, since Bill blames the death on something else (the money).
One alternative (and some would say: conventional) way of looking at the situation, is that ODing on opioids caused deaths in a fairly direct way. i.e. it's actually the drugs that are dangerous, regardless of however you bought them, what brand car you drove to meet the dealer, the color of the shirt you were wearing when you took the drugs, etc.
Proof that no mater how smart and rich you are when it comes to ignorance you are what you say. Unless you are bigly powerful and the jury is still out on that.
"so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way."
not so rare. tazer guns, automobiles, etc.... technology directly kills people all the time. this is just another prong of the multi-pronged approach to destabilize crypto currencies. the 1% fear it
"more evil than cash"
1. that's a pretty high bar... cf Timothy 6:10. Actually, how does one manage to be more evil than the root of all evil?
2. oh that's bloody great, now the Church of Satan has to come out with yet another crypto-coin. Thanks.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
All Wars Are Bankers' Wars https://youtu.be/5hfEBupAeo4
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
So *Lord* Bill Gates (a globalist neo-feudalist) is against anything that's rooted in libertarian-ism and self-determination. I'm shocked I tell you, SHOCKED!!
Life is not for the lazy.
Someone used Windows with Microsoft Windows with Microsoft Outlook to send a message to a killer with promise of money and a target. Someone has had installed Windows on Submarine equipped with god knows what. Now suddenly Messiah is concerned with crypto currency.
"Right now, cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs, so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way."
Right now, the illegal status of a rather harmless plant (cannabis) has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.
Cigarettes has caused more deaths than both World Wars. It is the most deadly product on the planet, and yet it is legal. Alcohol isn't much better.
Big Pharma brought the opium den into the United States and turned it into a multi-billion dollar legal industry by putting it in a prescription bottle, fueling a growing health crisis.
Greed and Corruption causes death. One of the richest men in the universe should fucking know that.
PS - Didn't the Microsoft store accept Bitcoin for a while? I wonder how many drug kingpins run their business off Microsoft OS and Office products. I hear MS Excel is pretty handy when you need to convert ounces, kilos, and pounds...
Here is the guy raping your privacy, destroying the morals of your society, telling you that nobodies in the corner are the bigger threat. We are in the midst of an evolutionary speciation event. Those with courage, intelligence, and wisdom splitting from those selected for blind, all-consuming greed (plutocrats) and their cowing, mindless, rootless slaves.
I am seriously frustrated that some non-informative blabber from grandpa Gates is published on Slashdot, while even exciting new IT research results like the one linked here do not qualify for publication.
Does Bill sponsor Slashdot for citing him so often?
billg is right about this, but most of the harm is only to Americans and Canadians who have shortened their lifespans due to said pharmaceuticals, and to a lesser extent those who died as the result of oil and coal exploration, extraction, processing, and shipping to provide the electricity to generate them.
On a global scale, these "epidemics" are mostly reduced.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
When you buy a gun and kill someone, no one says "OH MY GOD, US DOLLARS KILLED HIM."
That is not "Direct" harm. That is not even secondary harm. That is very, very, very indirect harm. Tertiary at best.
The shooter and the gun 'directly' caused the harm. The secondary cause might be the drug sales or whatever made you mad enough to kill him.
The stuff you used to buy the weapon? That's at best tertiary. Not a direct cause.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Microsoft creates a cryptocurrency called BillBucks. This new cryptocurrency will solve all the outstanding problems and introduce a new feature: the blue creen of debt.
... is a much more common tech that has killed VAST amounts of people.
He was obviously a "good" businessman (as in made a lot of money and dealt with a lot of competitors) and he had some technical chops early on, but what makes Gates an expert on much *now*?
I'm not even sure he has more than just a slightly better-informed opinion on many things anymore.
it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.
Bill, this is gunpowder. Gunpowder, Bill.
Every end has half a stick.
1980's rich person from a wealthy family has issues with new money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
And how many deaths has Windows called?
How many BSODs causing ACTUAL DEATHS?!?
Downvote my question, I maintain that it's a valid one. We all have to face our eventual demise. What will his tombstone say?
"Resistance is futile"
"xx years ought to be enough for anybody"
"TTL expired"
"I'm being exploited by worms"
Or, he's just bashing a currency medium that the elite are having difficulty wrapping their tentacles around.
The US dollar does the same, but even worse. Let's ban it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhenli_Ye_Gon
I think BG has become senile in his old age. He should know better than this.
The stupid are unlikely to get directly involved in BTC, it's just too complicated. Easier to buy Oxy off the local contact.
I didn't expect anything else: the guy who most benefits from the current finantial system bashing a trending, actually revolutionary. It is quite shameful to see him resort to such a low blow. It's like saying: "hey, 20 people died making this humongous undersea tunnel", without acknowledging the bridge prevents 200 deaths a year out of whatever the fuck they did to cross the straight before.
Seriously, this guy has been the top richest dude, in the world, for 18 out of the last 23 years. He has - wait scratch that -
him and his next 10 generations have absolutely no say in the matter of "what is fairer than what we have now?". Fairness is seriously not something at play here.
I assume he and everybody else know Microsoft has surely caused deaths in a fairly direct way as much as any cryptocurrency, and just like crypto, none of them were part of the plan. Obviously not as direct as, say Smith and Wesson, Heckler and Koch, Lockheed Martin or any so-called "defense"-related company, but even those have their own sorry excuses for liability.
But screw "fairly" - you know what causes human death in a very fucking objectively direct way? Other humans. And maybe old age and disease and natural disaster. Now go get an actually decent argument to bash crypto, you know, like common people have to do when they want to make a point instead of using that odd "I am so popular I can say anything" falacy.
as a criminal your goal is to do crime big enough to live well but small enough that the authorities moves onto easier targets.
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"Bitcoin is easy!"
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really good innovation, why they attract so many criminals/criminal activity?
Could it really be because, all cryptocurrencies themselves are scams, and that is why they attract all kinds of criminals/criminal activity?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really currency, why no company/store can use Bitcoin as currency anymore?
Because the price of Bitcoin proved to be extremely unstable to use as a currency?
Would the result be different, if Bitcoin replaced by any other "cryptocurrency"?
Aren't all work the same way?
Or, they are not actually virtual currency but virtual investment?
But, if they are actually investment, why we need/want them?
What would happen to world economy, if people invested in virtual investments, instead of real investments?
Or, all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually just a modified (made decentralized and paying variable interest) Ponzi Schemes?
(Price of cryptocurrencies would keep increasing in the long term (by their design), so it is equivalent of paying variable interest to all long term investors.)
As more and more people invest in cryptocurrencies, it will become harder and harder to ban their trading everywhere!
All cryptocurrencies need to be banned globally before it is too late!
STFU you dottering old fool. Nothing you say now is important.
'Rare Technology That Has Caused Deaths In a Fairly Direct Way'
There is this tech known as fire that this mythological actor Prometheus supposedly gave humanity. Does Gate know the studies that have been done that shows wood smoke killing, even in modern times, tens of thousands of people through downstream cancer effects? Or the 2nd or 3rd noted cause on death certificates from basic smoke inhalation? Or the number of deaths from combustion? Or simply burning, as in acts of war, whether propelling a bullet, throwing oil on people and lighting it, or flamethrowers?
And isn't this the guy whose foundation sponsors bunker or coal energy plants that, in effect, does this exact thing to nearby communities?
We can play this game too. Windows costs more than open source software. Microsoft has lobbied for the maintenance of the Windows OS environment in government. This is inefficient and wasteful use of taxpayer dollars. Money that could be spent on fundamental research, such as medical research including infectious disease and cancer treatments. Therefore, Window purchases impinges on medical advances which impacts lives. Given death rates of say 20 per 10k for cancer, and Window market penetration in most Western coutnries and India, that's roughly 2 billion, so Gates is on the hook for 4 million deaths. Therefore, as the one person who promoted and profited from this OS and its successors, MR. Gates is a mass murderer.
Pretty much every technology killed some people in some way. Electricity caused many deaths, and the wheel, and fire. Even medicine kills on a regular basis.
A company making helicopters even use this argument in their communication. They proudly say that helicopters saved more lives than they took. They don't deny that helicopters kill, they just say that they make up for it by saving others during search-and-rescue missions.
The argument works in reverse. One could argue that the atomic bomb saved lives by ending war early. In the case of bitcoin and drugs, drugs found on the deep web are supposedly of better quality than these found on the street, and then preventing deaths from bad products. I don't know if it is true but it shows that the exact same argument can be used both ways.
Ya.. I'm old.
Yes. Every currency has blood on it. How many have been murdered for the cash in their wallets? Time to ban money entirely.
I want to point out that bitcoin is easily traceable. Once the transaction is converted to cash, you can find out the entire chain. It isn't designed to be anonymous, and it's not.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Does anybody else want to see him in a bondage porn get spanked?
but will buy online. A drug dealer could be a cop, or a junkie looking for someone to mug. An anonymous online transaction is safe, and if you're reasonable well to do in a blue state (or very well to do in a red one) it's essentially legal. You won't even got a slap on the wrist.
There are _lots_ of folks looking for pain meds because our healthcare system is so fucked up. Some of them need the meds to manage cronic pain, some of them need them because they have treatable conditions they can't afford to treat. A lot of them are (to be frank) middle class whites unlikely to be punished for having a gram of heroine. Why risk the poor neighborhood if you don't have to?
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to buy a gun illegally, and as a result of that people who normally couldn't get guns (like criminals, violent spouses and the severely mentally ill) do, then yeah, you probably do have a case to make against them.
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The Drug War is one of the most evil government programs in history. It has driven up drug prices and sustained the black markets and cartels with their lucrative profits which are made possible precisely because of prohibition. Nobody loves prohibition more than the cartels. Instead of running his mouth on this, if Gates really wanted to help he'd pour some of his billions into an effort to end the drug war.
I rode my motorcycle to lunch today. Now *there* is a technology that has caused a lot of deaths in a fairly direct way.
Ban motorcycles now!!!1!!!!!1!!3!!! Who will think of the childrens?!?!?!555!!??!
As if M$ hasn't caused deaths. Almost anything causes deaths. Death by sheer desperation is one of the cruelest ways to go.
Oh non existing deity! Why do we still have to reboot Windows 10 almost daily to have patches installed? Why so many meaningless updates on Skype since M$ took over? And always when I actually want to use the bloody thing!
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
doesnt it bother anyone that tons of energy get wasted to calculate this crap ?
Bill has financial interest in emerging economies/3rd world countries, cryptocurrencies is cheap enough to offer banking for the unbanked. Probably just threatened.
They're not inherently anonymous, but they can be anonymous if you can keep your wallet and all transactions made separated from anything that personally identifies you. Easier said than done, naturally, but those using them for nefarious purposes are motivated to do so and seem to have reasonable success.
Yes, you could be anonymous if the only single usage you do of crypto currency would be shifting numerical values around between crypto-wallet.
Then yes, you could be even exchanging BTCs with known terrorists, child porno graphers, etc. and never be found out by the government.
But usually, the point of making transactions with other parties is that you want not only value shifting wallets, but also obtain something for it :
You'd like to buy arms from an illegal arm dealer, you'd like to receive drugs, etc.
At that point there's a transaction happening on some block chain, that will be couple to some real-world event (some illegal packets getting shipped to your drop-off address).
At that point, a sufficiently motivated entity with enough ressources (basically, government-level entity) can manage to eventually track down the chain of event and de-anonymize you.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Diamonds can be useful too
...and the industry has evntually found a way to produce what it needs artificially at a much lower price than the crazy market.
it's just that most of their value (or perceived value, at least) is in their being a status symbol.
...and for some weird reasons, most of the people have been conditionned to see the status symbol only if that peculiar piece of diamond happens to have been dug out of the ground, despite having all the same atoms in the same position as what the industry grows in labs.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
it's that it's harder to trace. In theory if you can keep your name from being associated with your wallet it's impossible to trace. But it doesn't need to be impossible. A locked car is harder to steal, not impossible to steal.
A car with doors welded shut would be close to impossible to steal.
But eventually, for a car to be more useful than a giant paper weight, you need to be able to enter it and drive it.
so instead you settle for merely locking door, which makes stealing the car deginitely possible.
Using crypto-wallet exclusively for shifting numbers between them would be pretty much impossible to trace.
But eventually, for crypto-currencies to be more useful that a cryptographer play toay, you need to be able to order good delivered.
So instead you settle for merely pseudonymity, knowing that a big player (government-level) will eventuall manage to make a link between your transaction in the blockchain and the drop-off points you ordered delivery too, getting step by step closer to de-anonymise you.
The main advantage of crypto currency protocol is no anonymity (they are merely pseudonymous).
The main advantage is (theoretical) absence of central authority.
Just like you can hand out cash in person to anyone,
crypto currencies enable you to send cryptocoin to anyone online without there being some "Bitcoin Inc" that can unilaterally decide to block your transaction or freeze your account (unlike credit cards).
everyone can see it on the block chain (That the whole idea behind distributed trust), but there's no single entity that can prevent you.
(Well, in Theory. In practice, some large mining pools are dangerously close to becoming some kind of central authority).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
he is an old man, and is loosing touch with reality
it's a bit like the top brass politicians, military or business men (good example being hollywood) where guys who were good at their job, haven't realised that they have become dinosaurs while the world has moved on
they all need to go the way of the dinosaur and we need to stop listening to and publishing them
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Cash is as anonymous as any cryptocurrency, just use a 3rd party escrow and you have the same type of transactions ... except cash can't be traced back through every transaction that it has been involved with over decades, like BC can.
Money laundering, tax evasion and illegal drugs have one thing in common: Government. Laundering comes in several flavors, from failed services to the govt, fake expenses, etc. Tax evasion comes with complicity of bankers and accountants to suck $ from hard workers individuals and transfer it to wealthy corporations, which need to find loopholes to get the latest boat/plane or house in Switzerland. Illegal drugs have that status otherwise all the players in the enforcement roles would not be needed, and, because most of that budget is being laundered anyway, nobody will cut it's own piece of a cake. Cryptocurrencies basically kicks the middle man in transactions, banks. Like Amazon with bookstores. Like streaming with Blockbuster. but banks are not happy and will fight back under any label.
Windows is also one of those 'Rare Technology That Has Caused Deaths In a Fairly Direct Way'. Especially at NHS where WannaCry destroyed machines and made the doctors lost their prescriptions and medical records for their patients.
Says the dude whom has quite a nice portfolio of Ebola (and variants) patents. :)