Bill Gates, the second richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $90 Billion, said in an interview with CNBC that he would short bitcoin if he could because it is worthless.
“I would short it if there was an easy way to do it. As an asset class, you’re not producing anything, so you shouldn’t expect it to go up,” he said. “It’s kind of a pure ‘greater fool theory’ type of investment.”
This is not the first time Bill Gates criticised cryptocurrencies. In fact, in a previous interview, he had a very naive view that bitcoin is directly responsible for deaths because they are being used to buy drugs.
He said:
“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.”
Bill Gates has joined the other wealthy Wall Street moguls who continuously criticise Cryptocurrencies. Just last week, Warren Buffet called Bitcoin ‘rat-poison squared’ and his partner Charlie Munger said trading cryptocurrencies is like trading feces.
Bill Gates concluded that the underlying blockchain technology is very important, but cryptocurrencies themselves are worthless. “Bitcoin and ICOs, I believe completely that they’re some of the crazier, speculative things,” he said.
Though there are lots of bitcoin bears, few that have criticized the asset in public have demonstrated their confidence in their bearish outlook by opening up a short position in bitcoin.
Tyler Winklevoss, the founder of Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini tweeted out to Bill Gates pointing out that it is easy to short bitcoin and that he should put his money where his mouth is.
He tweeted:
“Dear @BillGates there is an easy way to short bitcoin. You can short #XBT, the @CBOE Bitcoin (USD) Futures contract, and put your money where your mouth is!”
This is not the first time he has dared someone to short bitcoin. Before Bill Gates, he dared Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase to short bitcoin when he said bitcoin was a fraud. Since then, Jamie Dimon has expressed regret for making the statement but has not softened toward cryptocurrencies.
The Winklevoss twins have been very critical of bitcoin bears. While speaking to CNBC at a summit, the twins said the negativity these Wall Street personalities show is a “failure of imagination” and that they are too old to understand. To them, the Bitcoin critics are a “privileged minority” who have easy access to money and bank accounts.
It is not clear if Bill Gates would short Bitcoin since he did not reply back Winklevoss’s offer on Twitter. Winklevoss, however, is likely not to be holding his breath.