Bill Gates says crypto-currencies cause deaths

[cydrix]

Probably yes. There is a 100 in  million chance CRYPTO currencies causes death's to people! We just don't know it yet it might be inderect or direct cause but it is possible Crypto cause death considering the fact that it can be used for dealing drugs well not the items itself but the untraceable money of it. Crytpo's can be used illegally especially BITCOIN.

[bncbnc]

Probably yes. There is a 100 in  million chance CRYPTO currencies causes death's to people! We just don't know it yet it might be inderect or direct cause but it is possible Crypto cause death considering the fact that it can be used for dealing drugs well not the items itself but the untraceable money of it. Crytpo's can be used illegally especially BITCOIN.

I do not think that crpto can be blame for death of the people. Because cryptos are currencies just lite fiat which is only created to facilitate our life, if  person is using it for illegal activities which can cause his death but we cannot blame him for that. I think that crypto currency is the need of the day and it can only facilitate our life.

[BTC-BTC-BTC]

Everything can cause deaths if not use properly. This kind of argument must come up with gun and alcohol dedate every times. This time is from a billionaire and got so much attention.

[innocent93]

I think this is not a crypto problem then rather a personal choice. The fact that the evolution of some cryptocurrency gives some of us the opportunity to gain money it doesn't mean that you have to buy drugs with it, so the accusations of Bill Gates are unusual for him.

[Good tbc]

Crypto-currencies do not cause death, what causes death in the society are numerous and can not be attributed to Crypto currency alone. Bitcoin as a digital currency, can be earn by any investors after a long term investment, when earned by such individual, what he or she uses the money to do is not enforced by the Crypto currency, just as Bill Gate is not under any authority to direct or enforce him on what to use his money to buy or to invest in. Bitcoin have made many people wealthy and their life style have change for better, with no bad report of what Bill Gate is saying. Bill Gate might have been miss informed,  and looking at it critically, many Hard drugs dealers uses dollar and other similar Currencies , are we to conclude such Currencies causes death?

[qiwoman2]

This is so hypocritical. What about the huge corporations and Corrupt banks and governments that deal in fiat currencies daily, they don't create deaths daily? If someone is so stupid as to buy killer drugs with Bitcoin, then that's his/her really stupid choice lol but there are millions of farmers around the world committing suicide because of nasty corporations like Monsanto patenting seeds and making the lives of farmers unbearable to the point that they are forced and driven to end their lives as they end up in debt just to run their small farms. Oh and what about the drug lords that launder their FIAT all around the banking system and stay untouched and can't be moved? Those drug lords are responsible for thousands of young lives being lost to drugs.  So what Bill Gates says is here is utter BS, sorry for my language lol. If he wants to know Bitcoin has saved my whole family because now we both work from home and can pay our bills and get food, but before we lost our so-called day jobs.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Crypto-currencies are killing people in a "fairly direct way", Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said.
He was referring to the way digital currencies like Bitcoin are used to buy drugs like synthetic opioid fentanyl.
In an "ask me anything" session on news website Reddit, he said that the anonymity of digital currencies meant they were linked to terrorist funding and money laundering.
Some criticised him, saying he was ill-informed about the technology.

The news looks like ,bitcoin is the only way to purchase these drugs and fund terrorism ,it is just a plot to undermine the real use of technology,i am not sure Gates would make these claims as he was really positive with one of his earlier interviews a few years back,there might be people dealing illegal things with it but fiat money is used most of the time if you are going to blame a currency.

[Hell-raiser]

Asked by one user for his opinion on the technology, Mr Gates replied: "The main feature of crypto-currencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The government's 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 so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs [initial coin offerings] and crypto-currencies is super risky for those who go long."

heres the link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43239781

Bill Gates is a distinguished hypocrite, so what could we really expect of him? Microsoft itself accepts Bitcoin at their site, and he either doesn't know or money does not stink. And my take is it's the second. On the other hand, what else could he say? He is a public figure, more or less, so he should be particularly careful about what he says and still more so about what he doesn't say. Obviously, he wouldn't want to sound like he is antigovermental.

[Klausi]

Asked by one user for his opinion on the technology, Mr Gates replied: "The main feature of crypto-currencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The government's 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 so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs [initial coin offerings] and crypto-currencies is super risky for those who go long."

heres the link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43239781

Bill Gates is a distinguished hypocrite, so what could we really expect of him? Microsoft itself accepts Bitcoin at their site, and he either doesn't know or money does not stink. And my take is it's the second. On the other hand, what else could he say? He is a public figure, more or less, so he should be particularly careful about what he says and still more so about what he doesn't say. Obviously, he wouldn't want to sound like he is antigovermental.

I agree with you. I think Bill Gates is just giving his opinion about it, but for me its all up to the person if he will use crypto in a negative way or positive way. If their are people who uses crypto to buy drugs and any other stuffs that would create chaos, well its their choice. Even if without crypto bad persons will really find a way just to buy or do such thing that would harm other people. However, there are more people who uses crypto in a good way so it should'nt be stop, instead we should still continue supporting crypto.

[outsider99]

in my opinion, this is just some negative news from bitcoin, because this can also affect the stability of bitcoin prices. if that's true, it's just a handful of people who do it, and they already have bad intentions at the beginning, but they do it in bitcoin.

[criz2fer]

It's disappointing that one of the great pioneers and minds of our generation takes such a narrow minded approach. It seems as if he 'spoke' without really thinking about what he was saying. USD is equally as bad if not worse and many of these illegal transactions require PCs to transact. Let's not forget that bitcoin was developed in windows...

On the news he only gives only his opinion. Yes bitcoin is really unstoppable, but the government should moves.fast because Bill Gates only warns people the possibilities of using bitcoin illegally in every form of anonimous transactions..

[Reid]

Then why not just stop creating every currency in the world. Everything now can be used to buy anything specially money.

This is some old sh*t from this people. They ruin something when it goes at its peak. Well maybe, he is really ill-informed about bitcoin because it is showing now. How much USD did he get from just saying that?
America might be paying him now from the tax of the people. He might be a rich one but he doesnt know how to stop getting money from the people. 

[Tyrantt]

But 2 year ago also he said bitcoin is unstopable :/

and back in '83 he said that they'll never make a 32-bit operating system. Also,, just because someone said that something is unstoppable, that doesn't mean they're always speaking in positive light. Even some of the smartest people can say something dumb at that moment.

[Tictocgroup]

He has good FUD.

But then I guess Windows is directly killing children. Most pedos use Windows when they groom children.

I say we ban Windows. It's not even compatible with most crypto.

[CASTIEL05]

Anything that you used from illegal activities or things that might harmful to you is bad and may cause to your death. Everything that is too much is not good to our health. Yes, I believe that cryptocurrency can cause death specially, if the user did not know what is the essence of cryptocurrency in our life!

[pawel7777]

...
Bill Gates is a distinguished hypocrite, so what could we really expect of him? Microsoft itself accepts Bitcoin at their site, and he either doesn't know or money does not stink. And my take is it's the second. On the other hand, what else could he say? He is a public figure, more or less, so he should be particularly careful about what he says and still more so about what he doesn't say. Obviously, he wouldn't want to sound like he is antigovermental.

Well, not only MS accepts Bitcoin, but Gates himself made few rather positive comments about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the past. That's not necessarily a hypocrisy on his part though. It's not like you have to be 100% for or against something. He could just be noticing both good and bad aspects of cryptos.

But again, the "cryptos causing deaths in fairy direct way" comment was simply idiotic.

[ausbit]

I think this is not a crypto problem then rather a personal choice. The fact that the evolution of some cryptocurrency gives some of us the opportunity to gain money it doesn't mean that you have to buy drugs with it, so the accusations of Bill Gates are unusual for him.

As everything have pros and cons, I think this falls upon us. This is our character exposure that what we select for us when these two are in front of us. Many people blame bitcoins to be used entirely in dark web and all such human trafficking and much other crimes.

Yes this is right, but ultimately it is all about choice of selecting something. Bitcoins are not cause for death if someone takes poison from shop through bitcoins.

[TorbjornE]

Here's the legend: at a computer trade show in 1981, Bill Gates supposedly uttered this statement, in defense of the just-introduced IBM PC's 640KB usable RAM limit: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."

He himself does not confirm this phrase, but a great man can be mistaken.

I think the share of crypto currency when buying illegal things is small due to the lack of confidence in its anonymity, volatility and other.

In the United States, it's easiest to go to a doctor and buy a prescription, then go to the pharmacy legally to buy a drug.

[BarbusseH]

Bill Gates has worked hard for many years to become what he is. And when some people suddenly become billionaires in a few months doing nothing, this causes subconscious rejection and negative reaction.

[leviathon]

He most likely has a guilt or something that he wasn't able to get into Bitcoin early on when many people were recommending it to him and thus might be trying to create some FUD to collect some cheap coins for himself. But, Bitcoin is at a level now that even negative news from people like Bill Gates isn't going to hurt it any more.