Bitcoin Forum

“I don’t think this is a good thing. The Governments ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. Right now crypto currencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs,” he typed, “so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.”
Read more https://news.bitcoin.com/bill-gates-crypto-caused-deaths-fairly-direct-way/ (https://news.bitcoin.com/bill-gates-crypto-caused-deaths-fairly-direct-way/)
It's very sad that the man who is the alleged pioneer in IT technologies denies the value of something with the potential to positively change the world! Is it possible that he feels threatened?

You need to think your source link as it's not linking to anything, but if he's indeed come out with this statement then I would be surprised unless it's been taken out of context. Every currency in the world has caused deaths in a direct way why would Bitcoin a currency be any different? 

I think he can rich again with BTC but he refuse it

A simple needle and syringe can kill. Fill it with air and stab somebody with it. Death shall come. It is not cryptocurrency that is causing death. Since the buyer basically wanted to die. Besides there are old techniques to obtain fentanyl. Another fake news.

If it's true that Bill Gates actually said that and if it's really that what he meant, then there must be a certain reason for him to come up with a statement like that. Someone like Bill Gates knows best that because of fiat money far more people were killed, this killing for fiat exists since the beginning of mankind. Wars going on in the middle east are a result of people wanting to get more fiat, they sell weapons, they want to profit from the black gold etc. etc. The point is, you can't blame fiat money for this behaviour, as well as you can't blame crypto. You can only blame the greedy people who just want more and more. It's never enough.

I partly agree with what Bill Gates said, there is frequent news about phising using bitcoin, even FUD about north korea hacking cryptocurrency to fund their money for weapons and stuff.. But I believe this new concept will somehow overcome it's negatives and will be ultimetly used in all areas

Yes,BTC will die
I believe BillGate

Yeah, even smart people make stupid comments now and then. Possibly, like Jamie Dimon, he is scared of the disruptive nature of cryptocurrencies.

Dude,

Do you not know how to use the ****** search function? LOOK: BitcoinTalk.org Thread: BILL GATES SAYS CRYPTO-CURRENCIES CAUSE DEATHS DIRECTLY.  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3045307.0)HEllo?????

Cute Little Crypto was something TPTB used to laugh about.

Until Little Crypto got huge last year.

Crypto became a threat to the banks and the whole "Establishment".

They will destroy decentralized crypto. The FUD wave is just the beginning.

They have ignited wars over wars and didn't care about corpse-covered battlefields
when it was in their interest and you think they'll surrender to some nerds?  ;D

Party's over.

I would argue that USD cash has killed far more people in a very direct way, by enabling global drug cartels to launder money. It is very difficult to make the case that crypto is less traceable than dollar bills, I always find establishment comments like this hilarious

You should check out Dougs video regarding this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd6WWOnxyRw&t=1s

Nowadays anything can lead to your death, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, what you eat, even your cream or soap. so if cryptos join the ever increasing list . No surprises, I just wish he stated some examples or real life scenarios or gave some empirical data behind his statements

The context is okay - he said it as part of a Reddit AMA here (https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/80ow6w/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/dux49ll/).

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A couple of his assessments here are a bit off.  For one thing, his claim that "the main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity" seems a little off since that wasn't the stated goal in the whitepaper and isn't what most crypto users regard it to be.

I also don't agree with him that Bitcoin's use on darknet markets causes deaths in a "fairly direct way".  Using this logic, I think you could claim that any platform allowing darknet markets to operate is responsible for deaths in a "fairly direct way" - even Reddit themselves, where he is doing the AMA, due to their subreddit r/DarkNetMarkets (https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/).

No, cryptocurrencies enable one to keep his transaction private. And privacy is a basic human right. There's no reason we should abandon our rights just to make life easier for law enforcement agencies or other regulatory bodies. When it comes to basic human rights, there's nothing I detest more than pragmatic arguments and consequentialism . As Bruce Schneier put it in his famous essay that talked about mass surveillance, big data and privacy intrusions.

LOL. We have heard that kind of arguments before. I mean how about the old and traditional US dollar though? I speculate that's its been misused through out the history for buying illegal that you can think of. The problem with them is that they just look at the bad side of bitcoin or crypto. And if authorities are really interested to see and caught those people its gonna be easily because everything is written on blockchain. But please stop with this kind of argument because it is really flawed at the very beginning.

FIAT has killed millions, but Mr. Gates still likes it.  ::)

I do not believe completely with his statement, who knows he is actually learning bitcoin and will show up to public later that he is supporting bitcoin. As recent news for the entering of "giants" person in the world such as George Soros, Rockefeller, Warrent Buffet, etc...This is the sign that Bitcoin is really promising in businessman mindset..

For me there are 2 options
1 Either that is not Bill Gates Statement
Being a IT Giant doesn't he know bitcoin today its not actually fully anonymous?
Being a IT Giant doesn't he know according to various sources Bitcoin was never used in terrorist Funding because they also know it is traceable and Bitcoin is easy to trace than Fiat
2 If the statement was by him than
he is a Fucking Asshole who want to show that he was the only man to develop something new and don't want to accept Bitcoin and Block chain technology was one of the unique technology and development  for the entire world.

It always saddens me to see someone speak outside of their realm of knowledge in an authoritative manner. Bill Gate's estimation of crypto is no more meaningful than that of the guy at the grocery store, or the manager of a bank, or that of a dentist - its not to say that they can't have valid opinions about things - its just that being generally intelligent, or being successful in a single field (or even several fields), doesn't necessarily mean that one has any special credibility outside of their realm of expertise. What I'm trying to say is, I don't really care too much about Bill Gate's opinion on the military tactics, I don't care about his opinion on advancements in aviation, and I don't care about his opinion on crypto, not because I think he's dumb (he's obviously not), its just his success in Microsoft and personal computers doesn't automatically confer him valuable insights into other fields (or, we should say, more valuable of an opinion than any other person).

On the subject of whether or not crypto has led to the deaths of people - that same argument could be applied just as ignorantly as to cash, since, afterall, haven't drug cartels (which have committed horrible crimes) been using cash as a medium? Now the counter to this will be that a feature of crypto's nature is its anonymity, but again - a cash transaction is not immediately tracked nor reported to any authority. Consider this: whether I give a homeless man $10 or $5000, does anyone else know unless I tell them? Of course not. If anything, the fact that to transform crypto into any kind of fiat (which is what these parties need) often requires an exchange, in a certain sense, there may be more identifiers, since its rather hard to mask an exchange's deposit to a bank.

Until now I still do not believe that bitcoin will die !! because with the confidence that has been experienced so far by bitcoin, bitcoin can already show that he can stand and walk well until now.
even if the experts say that, the time is still not and will not happen. I believe bitcoin will actually strengthen in the middle of this year.

Yes, I think he might be feeling threatened but I don't know that reason behind his thinking and approach. Even I don't think it is right that the ability to find the money laundering, tax evasions and other terrorist activities are good and this needs to stop soon. Even this bitcoin transactions cannot be controlled by anyone whether the bitcoin transactions are done for the good cause or for the bad cause no one knows about it.

I beg you. and the government, and ordinary people buying drugs, evaded taxes and laundered money, and before the rise of cryptocurrencies. It is possible that it is more convenient for swindlers to trade through bitcoin, but after all, ordinary people win a lot. I think cryptocurrency is a super invention for people.

He is not feeling any threatened here, he just showed his view upon crypto currencies nothing else. These days Bill is more associated with health care and human life due to which his focus from technology seems to be distracted. In his early ages, he brought PC and windows and these things have also infected users in different ways. So, he should understand that technology can be used in both positive and negative way but depends upon users how they use it.

he does not like crypto, maybe he already feel comfortable with Google and with his great income, but this technology requires innovation, I think, one day google existence will not last long if he does not use crypto platform. while the world of crypto can give him a greater advantage.

maybe he needs a long time to aware of the great potential of the crypto world.

I don't think this will affect the market condition, because the misuse of technology happens not only in Bitcoin alone, many other digital payments experience fraud report but not be concerned. He said that because he has business related to the Bank, he and his group would be disturbed if a technology that is block-chain Bitcoin can be accepted by all elements.

It goes to show you that when people get old, most of them fail to keep up with new trends and even more they fail to understand the benefits of new technologies and innovations.

And if we go by this logic, then every currency in the world has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. Because these deadly drugs can be bought using any currency not only bitcoin or virtual currencies.
 
Virtual is thew real trend, that is what all of us here have to agree with. And there are still many people who are not ready to accept this fact. They do not understand its value. No doubt they have their own points of criticism and we are ever ready to counter their arguments with our points.

That is the exact phrase that is fitting here, i do not know whether he is aware of the working of bitcoin, if so he would not say that bitcoin transaction is anonymous and with the recent wake of the situation every exchanges comply with KYC and it is not possible to deal things anonymous if we are giving away our identity.

i mean, we can purchase drugs by cash, too. OR MOSTLY?

well to be honest i do not really care what he says. he is using it as well as far as i know. however rich nad powerful he may be he is just one man running limited finances. i dont think that at this point someone would sacrifice a significant amount of money just to mess with some crypto guys? he is either in on it or acting jelly, either way, onions will be onions and thats what it is

BILL GATES is such a great personality and if he is feeling threatning with the introduction of bitcoin into the nation them there must be something because the founder of microsoft who has bring such a great development is not feeling that bitcoin will bring development then he could be right and again the reason remains the same that why countries dont wan t to introduce cryptocurrency in their nation is because of decentralisation and due to this thing some social defaulters use bitcoin for their personal interest like selling drugs,illegal weapons, money laundering because there is no governing body over bitcoin who can keep eye on all these activities.

Well we can nevwr really blame people to say things against bitcoin. The fact that it is anonymous and untracable makes it appealing to criminals, really. Its a good way to silentluly move their money from their crimes and not get noticed.  Thats why most countries who see the good in bitcoin or blockchain technology as a whole, instead of banning it, move to regulate it.

maybe he could cause deaths

so many times have i seen pcs thrown out of tower blocks because windows has crashed or jammed up.......... I once saw a persons head get crushed and collapse like a rotten pumkin when a computer collided with his skull

you want to see suicidal despair - go watch youtube videos of people who have just used windows 8 for the first time after upgrading from 7......

one guy i heard twisted the cellophane wrapping of a windows 8 ultimate edition into a noose and took the easy way out

This is the problem for those noob that only seeks for merits,they will Post everything they think is meritable even if they're supporting links is nonsense..youre right on this mate because every currency in the world can be use to make illegal activities then why throwing it to crypto as if this the only illegal currency

Crypto is also a virus, and if the virus "can't print money," it is engraved on the head of the central bank governor. Of course, the safety performance of blockchain is worth using, but it must be used under control.

That's right, I think Bill Gates's view is right. Investors and other traders are keen to protect the government. There are many who use the crypto market to scam a lot of money. So this is considered a very potential but risky market.
But to eliminate the possibility of fraud and loss of property, you must learn from experienced people. That will help you avoid many of the disadvantages and your future will become brighter.

That’s exactly why we cannot start sellig our currencies now to prevent Soros and other people like him from accumulating too many bitcoins by himself.