Latest Bill Gates Reddit AMA shows he still does not understand cryptocurrencies

Bill Gates has done another AMA on Reddit to promote his philantropic work via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One of the questions was about cryptocurrencies, to which he answered:

Let’s break this apart, shall we?

The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing.

False. The main feature of cryptocurrencies is decentralization of financial control. It is all about giving the power over their own money back to individuals. It’s a return to the core values of capitalism, where people managed their own money and spent it in any way they wanted to. Cryptocurrencies do for money what laser printers and publishing programs did for book publishing at home. Cryptos do for people what Microsoft operating systems did for computers 40 years ago: they allow people to do stuff at home that was previously done centrally in large installations.

The Governments ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing.

All the money laundering in the world already happens through the current banking system. Terrorist funding is coming into Western nations via wire transfers and traditional banks.

Right now crypto currencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.

Mr. Gates we have terrible news about the US Dollar for you, Sir….

I think the speculative wave around ICOs and crypto currencies is super risky for those who go long.

It’s just like the speculative .com wave from 20 years ago. Super risky and Amazon.com still does not report profits – yet it’s worth 3X more than General Electric.

Bitcoin is a bubble, they said.