February 19, 2021 | AtoZ Markets – In a recent interview with CNBC's Squawk Box, Gates said that he had not invested in Bitcoin (BTC) nor did he want to make a prediction on price movements.
"I do not own Bitcoin, nor am I bearish on Bitcoin, so I have taken a neutral view," Gates said. "Bitcoin can go up and down just based on the craze or whatever the opinions are. I have no way of predicting how it will progress."
"I don't own #Bitcoin. I'm not short Bitcoin," says @BillGates. "I do think moving money into a more digital form and getting transaction costs down, that's something the Gates Foundation does in developing countries." pic.twitter.com/DDe5X196ax
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 18, 2021
Reasons for Bill Gate Stance on Bitcoin
The Microsoft co-founder still believes that many people use digital currencies for tax evasion and illegal activities. Gates said his charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also works with "digital forms" of money, but that all transactions are completely transparent.
In 2018, he criticized the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions and stated that digital assets are associated with scammers, drug dealers and terrorists. At the time, the Microsoft co-founder called digital currencies a "death-causing" technology. Now Gates has changed his attitude towards bitcoin, albeit without becoming a supporter of cryptocurrencies. Microsoft President Brad Smith recently announced that the corporation will not consider Bitcoin as an investment vehicle anytime soon.
Although he was no longer on Microsoft's board in March of last year , Gates's position on cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin is similar to that of the technology company. Yesterday, Microsoft president Brad Smith hinted that the company had no immediate plans to invest in Bitcoin.
However, bitcoin is gaining increasing trust among institutional investors. Investment company BlackRock also began to view bitcoin from a different angle. Previously, the firm considered Bitcoin to be an unstable and under-tested asset. But BlackRock recently announced that it is exploring bitcoin as an alternative tool for preserving value.
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