Bitcoin Forum

2015 Gates Annual letter

"Mobile banking will help the poor transform their lives"

http://www.gatesnotes.com/2015-annual-letter?lang=en&page=3

I keep hearing this, but he never says Bitcoin, just "mobile banking". What a jackass, he should just deal with it and start adopting Bitcoin, we dont need shitcoins.

I also keep seeing this, and up to this day, I don't understand what "mobile banking" is he referring to, There are no clues as to what he means when he says "mobile banking."

Bitcoins? Probably not--at least for him.

At least they keep trying, eventually they will figure it out.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=916418.msg10066992#msg10066992

Mobile banking, means exactly that, mobile banking.

The next question is, what's the best suiting currency for a mobile banking system? Obviously it needs to be digital as a criteria.

Crypto's are the best solution currently available for mobile banking.

I think it's safe to surmise that 'mobile banking' in this case, is also referring to cryptocurrency

Because there are many ppl who don't know what is cryptocurrency yet. From their understanding, the mobile banking should refer to fiat. Although as a bicoin believer, crypto is better fit for the purpose.

Bill Gates is addicted to propriety solutions even when they make zero sense, and Bitcoin is not propriety. He also does not want to make this obvious. This recent interview with the Verge, where the interviewer challenges him on GMOs and locked down propriety software clarifies this very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RETFyDKcw0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RETFyDKcw0)

Edit: Take a very close look at the body language.

Good find. Gates starts talking about finances/banking and bitcoin around the 8:40 mark.

What Gates describes in his ideal form of money transactions is really the bitcoin network, he just doesn't know it yet. He goes back to the problem of volatility of bitcoin being bad for the poor without addressing that with mass adoption the volatility will decrease as supply/demand balance out.

Gates wants people to be able to move their money 'between banks" without any friction which will never happen in the for-profit proprietary world that we are in. Barriers to movement = retained customers.

I think in the next 3 years Gates will start arguing in the favor of bitcoin. Especially if we see price stability.

Watched the video, and all i heard was that he acknowledged how bitcoin is the cutting edge technology :]
"im not thinking that the poor should get out there on like the cutting edge " - when talking about unreversibility of payments..

cheers

I just cannot understand how mobile banking will transform 'lives' we have mobile banking in our first world country's as we speak, that has not and does not stop. Something like 1 in 7 face hunger in the united states and roughly 3.5 million sleep rough every single night. Around a 3rd of them are families with children, 20% are veterans above 20% are children under 18 :( These people experience homelessness and hunger and violence for on average 8 months. The middle class are being squeezed so this number will rise like it has done year after year and this is in the country of the American dream, they are not transforming the lives of their own who are having a rough time i hold little to no hope they will do anything in other country's unless it gives them a benefit.  Bitcoin will not be used if anything they will create their own currency of credits but it will have to be to benefit them.

He's talking about M Pesa

It can be an enabler.
You just have to read about mPesa in Kenya.

Read the letter, but he doesn't mean the mobile banking will transform poor's life, more likely means mobile banking will supply convenience to poor

This sounds really good for Bitcoin!

He means something like bitcoin but:

1) regulated
2) centralized
3) non anonymous

aka crap.

My take is this guy is investing hard in Ripple and about to pump it.

Bitcoin is not conducive to banking. If you bank with it, you're turning your coins over to someone else, which (I think) is the antithesis of Bitcoin. Yes, banking services could spring up around Bitcoin, but I'd have the feeling that it wouldn't go anywhere - people would deposit funds and then immediately request full withdrawals in order to "test" the banks solvency, making it impossible for the bank to carry on the rest of its ordinary banking activities ie, lending.

I also Woud question the notion that bitcoins are the superior currency for mobile banking; all currencies are just as easy to transfer digitally, but all the other currencies can exist in physical form as well, something that Bitcoin can't do.

So, no, I'd be hard pressed to see Gates' statement as being even an indirect endorsement of Bitcoin. But then, I don't think its the storage and transmittal of money that will lead to change in the third world, it'll be things like micro lending, allowing people to access credit in order to invest in their own businesses that have small capital requirements, giving them a chance to do something besides haverst cocoa, work in the oil industry, mine gold or gemstones.

Free VideoCalls would help that country's people?

You can make free video calls with Mozilla Firefox.

Back to banking, mobile banking can change your life if you were unbanked, but mobile banking will also bring credit. Good for the banks, not always good for the people. BTC is cleaner.

Are you talking about the Hello thing?
How safe is that? is it centralized somehow or pure p2p? i havent tested it yet. If it's pure p2p videocall it sounds great.

For a bitcoin noob, right now its a lot like when email was in it's infancy. You couldnt just make a sample@whatever.com email address. You had a string of numbers. As people developed the architecture, it got easier to use and spread like wild fire. The same will happen to bitcoin. The foundation will remain the same, but it will become more and more user friendly. Bill Gates is saying "the foundation is great, but right now it has a few hurdles to overcome before it's mainstream".

I'm talking videocalls in the wallet

Just sounds like a bunch of info that we already know.  Still though, good to see it's moving forward.

While everybody uses email these days, very few people use hotmail or early email service providers.
I hope Bitcoin doesn't meet the same fate.  :)