Mr. Gates, the world’s second wealthiest man, answered questions Feb. 27 during an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit. Mr. Gates has previously expressed excitement about the cost-effective nature of cryptocurrency interactions, but when questioned about them during his latest AMA session, he was not as optimistic.
“The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing,” Mr. Gates said, according to Fortune. “The government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. 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.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with cryptocurrency platform Ripple in October in an effort to create financial services infrastructures in developing countries.
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