Bill Gates: Cryptocurrencies Have “Caused Deaths in a Fairly Direct Way”

Megalith

Megalith

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The former CEO of Microsoft would have you know that he is no fan of cryptocurrencies. One reason is the anonymity that bitcoin and such provide: Gates argues that it hinders the capability of government to thwart crimes such as money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorist funding.

“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.” In contrast to cash, which is also untraceable, cryptocurrencies can be used remotely, which removes another avenue of control, he added.
 
here Bill, let me correct that for you.

“Right now CASH is used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a OLD technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.” In contrast to cryptocurrencies, which is also untraceable, Cash can be used remotely ALSO, which removes another avenue of control, he added.
 
I get his line of thinking, but it isn't like government is doing very well at stopping all of these things, cryptocurrency or no cryptocurrency. Heck, governments around the world are as guilty as many criminal organizations. What am I thinking? Governments around the world ARE criminal organizations. :p
 
Axehandler said:
here Bill, let me correct that for you.

“Right now CASH is used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a OLD technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.” In contrast to cryptocurrencies, which is also untraceable, Cash can be used remotely ALSO, which removes another avenue of control, he added.
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Cash is far more traceable than crypto. Paper money does have a serial number. While the numbers are not entirely unique they are unique enough.
 
This is coming from a man that has singlehandedly enabled the collection of more private user data than any other human on the planet through microsoft dos/windows. Why would he start preaching anonymity now?

I'm not sure how many billionaires you are friends with, but typically anytime their mouths are moving they are scheming and forwarding their agenda. Bill just doesn't like to see people get rich without putting in a ton of work and cyrpto has enabled an entire new generation of comparable wealth for many people that would otherwise not be in this situation. The fact that Microsoft doesn't really make any products which can make money off crypto currency like asics, gpus, or custom software, will rank it high on any Microsoft shareholders list of enemies.
 
oldmanbal said:
This is coming from a man that has singlehandedly enabled the collection of more private user data than any other human on the planet through microsoft dos/windows. Why would he start preaching anonymity now?

I'm not sure how many billionaires you are friends with, but typically anytime their mouths are moving they are scheming and forwarding their agenda. Bill just doesn't like to see people get rich without putting in a ton of work and cyrpto has enabled an entire new generation of comparable wealth for many people that would otherwise not be in this situation. The fact that Microsoft doesn't really make any products which can make money off crypto currency like asics, gpus, or custom software, will rank it high on any Microsoft shareholders list of enemies.
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You do realize he's not had anything to do with Microsoft in a very, very, very long time, yes? Like, way before Vista, even.
 
Vercinaigh said:
You do realize he's not had anything to do with Microsoft in a very, very, very long time, yes? Like, way before Vista, even.
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He owns a significant amount of Microsoft stock, if you think he has no ties to them you are gravely mistaken friend.
 
oldmanbal said:
This is coming from a man that has singlehandedly enabled the collection of more private user data than any other human on the planet through microsoft dos/windows. Why would he start preaching anonymity now?

I'm not sure how many billionaires you are friends with, but typically anytime their mouths are moving they are scheming and forwarding their agenda. Bill just doesn't like to see people get rich without putting in a ton of work and cyrpto has enabled an entire new generation of comparable wealth for many people that would otherwise not be in this situation. The fact that Microsoft doesn't really make any products which can make money off crypto currency like asics, gpus, or custom software, will rank it high on any Microsoft shareholders list of enemies.
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And lets just see how much of their hard earned fake money they will give to research, schooling & other charitable organizations.
 
oldmanbal said:
He owns a significant amount of Microsoft stock, if you think he has no ties to them you are gravely mistaken friend.
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Just because he owns stock doesn't mean shit. He doesn't even sit on the board of Microsoft so he has no say whatsoever in how Microsoft is run. Not since Ballmer took the reigns. He has a stake in their success, but not in how they're run.
 
oldmanbal said:
He owns a significant amount of Microsoft stock, if you think he has no ties to them you are gravely mistaken friend.
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Stock literally has nothing to do with anything, at all. I can own all the stock I want, doesn't mean I am calling any shots.
 
Top-24-who-cares-meme2.jpg
 
Okay so maybe my hospital needs to use bitcoins to pick up some fentanyl, which is in a chronic shortage status since PR got wiped by the hurricane.
 
here we go again billionaires giving advice again.

take it roll it up and shove it way up in your ass bill.
 
Nolan7689 said:
Cash is far more traceable than crypto. Paper money does have a serial number. While the numbers are not entirely unique they are unique enough.
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If you think that you don't understand the blockchain. Bitcoin is a cops best friend as ALL transactions are public, traceable and stored on the network permanently. With Cash, assuming you know the SN of a given bill, all you can do is find it again somewhere, while with the blockchain you can trace transactions, addresses, dates, amounts, even the fees for those transactions as well as listening for IP addresses as it is a P2P network after all.
 
Crypto also allows people to move large sums internationally, something a lot harder with cash.

It is a good send for a nation like North Korea.
 
JSumrall said:
I get his line of thinking, but it isn't like government is doing very well at stopping all of these things, cryptocurrency or no cryptocurrency. Heck, governments around the world are as guilty as many criminal organizations. What am I thinking? Governments around the world ARE criminal organizations. :p
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I wonder how would you like to live in a world without government.
 
BlueFireIce said:
If you think that you don't understand the blockchain. Bitcoin is a cops best friend as ALL transactions are public, traceable and stored on the network permanently. With Cash, assuming you know the SN of a given bill, all you can do is find it again somewhere, while with the blockchain you can trace transactions, addresses, dates, amounts, even the fees for those transactions as well as listening for IP addresses as it is a P2P network after all.
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no one uses bitcoin for spending money. its pretty much just traders and people holding it. MANY cryptos get alot closer to being much more autonomous then cash
 
This guy is so out of touch with anything resembling a Human.

Ok, So how many deaths has Windows caused, directly? I bet we would all the surprised at the answer!

But on a different level, how many people has your various business interests killed, Mr Gates? Many more than your tax dodge “charity” schemes have saved...
 
techie81 said:
I can only dream.
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No government doesn't just mean no taxes, but no public services either, you get that, right? No hospitals, no police force, no military, no fema, no universities, no education, no fire service, no ambulance, no public transport, no roads, no traffic control, no automatic access to utilities, no protection of private property, shall I go on?
 
M76 said:
No government doesn't just mean no taxes, but no public services either, you get that, right? No hospitals, no police force, no military, no fema, no universities, no education, no fire service, no ambulance, no public transport, no roads, no traffic control, no automatic access to utilities, no protection of private property, shall I go on?
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im not trying to argue one point or another but. there would 100% still be schools and university you would just see a gap between poverty and edication form larger. fire service, will still be there but is open to alot more manipulation we may go back to seeing the insurance companys owning them. ambulance would still easily exist in a private market. public transport can easily be replaced, hospitals will still exist. utilitys will still exist. the main things to hurt are military, police, and roads. the first two are kinda a necessity to prevent another goverment in. everything else could exist in a private market but some are more prone to corruption see Marcus Licinius Crassus
 
He is old and irrelevant. I'm surprised any one really listens to him Your time has passed Billy. :D
 
Axehandler said:
WOW.. now THAT is a stretch.. I wasn't aware that the Serial numbers on CASH actually tracked EVERY SINGLE PERSON it touched.. unlike Bitcoin.......
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once again bitcoin != the entirety of crypto. many cryptos are entirely untraceable. cash is slightly traceable.
 
Aireoth said:
Crypto also allows people to move large sums internationally, something a lot harder with cash.

It is a good send for a nation like North Korea.
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Any country with sanctions imposed against it just love having an untraceable source of cash. North Korea probably won't be as lucky as Iran and have a US military transport drop off pallets of cash, so this is their military transport of cash.
 
Aireoth said:
Crypto also allows people to move large sums internationally, something a lot harder with cash.

It is a good send for a nation like North Korea.
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not just internationally. moving any decent sum of usd is a PITA in comparison to crypto and crypto is almost always cheaper.
 
NeoNemesis said:
If you don't take advice from successful people, who exactly do you take advice from?
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Depends on the topic. In the case of Bill Gates I would take advice in how to manage wealth and fame, and I guess that by now he is fairly proficient at handling charity work.

On a recently developed and highly speculative topic like bitcoin, where everyone, including most experts are talking out of their behinds? Not so much.
 
cdabc123 said:
no one uses bitcoin for spending money. its pretty much just traders and people holding it. MANY cryptos get alot closer to being much more autonomous then cash
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Lots of people use bitcoin for spending money and is one of the most widely accepted. Some of the totally privacy focused cryptos might get closer to cash in anonymity, but none have beaten it, or even gotten close.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Lots of people use bitcoin for spending money and is one of the most widely accepted. Some of the totally privacy focused cryptos might get closer to cash in anonymity, but none have beaten it, or even gotten close.
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both ether and ripple have far more transactions per day. and what? plenty of cryptos have long surpassed cash in anonymity. cash isn't impossible to track some cryptos just about are
 
tax evasion = lol.
he can't even get the top 5 american tech companies to stop using tax haven schemes, and now he want to blame it all on crypto
 
cdabc123 said:
both ether and ripple have far more transactions per day. and what? plenty of cryptos have long surpassed cash in anonymity. cash isn't impossible to track some cryptos just about are
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"transactions" doesn't mean much in relation to buying goods, lots of cryptos are traded back and forth, or into BC or cashing out with BC. Cash can't be tracked unless you actually intercept the person and transaction in person, and if you find a SN from a bill you had logged before you have no idea on any transactions that happened between those two points or who had it, so the point still stands that crypto still has not beaten cash in this area, so to hate on crypto just because it has some anonymity is ridiculous.
 
BlueFireIce said:
"transactions" doesn't mean much in relation to buying goods, lots of cryptos are traded back and forth, or into BC or cashing out with BC. Cash can't be tracked unless you actually intercept the person and transaction in person, and if you find a SN from a bill you had logged before you have no idea on any transactions that happened between those two points or who had it, so the point still stands that crypto still has not beaten cash in this area, so to hate on crypto just because it has some anonymity is ridiculous.
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i have personally never had anyone try to buy somthing from me via bitcoin. i have had plenty in ethereum and ripple. I would assume more people cash out ether then bitcoin as every major exchange has it and its way more practical. btc is the one traded back and forth. and you cant track some cryptos unless you somehow manage to intercept a person when he is sending a transaction or maybe if he is loge into a wallet. other then that its not possible. you could aproch someone going to a transaction, one with crypto and one with cash and the only person getting in trouble is the person with cash. in fact its pretty much a crime just to carry a large amount of cash in the us.
 
cdabc123 said:
im not trying to argue one point or another but. there would 100% still be schools and university you would just see a gap between poverty and edication form larger. fire service, will still be there but is open to alot more manipulation we may go back to seeing the insurance companys owning them. ambulance would still easily exist in a private market. public transport can easily be replaced, hospitals will still exist. utilitys will still exist. the main things to hurt are military, police, and roads. the first two are kinda a necessity to prevent another goverment in. everything else could exist in a private market but some are more prone to corruption see Marcus Licinius Crassus
Click to expand...
I didn't say these things won't exist at all, they'd be replaced by private security, private fire service, etc. only accessible to those who can afford it. It certainly wouldn't be a healthy society. And the bigger the gap between the average and the elite, the worse it is for the elite as well. The more they have over the rest, the less secure they'll be. Just look at south America the largest market for armored vehicles and private security. As for utilities they'll also exist, but if the company decides it doesn't want to take electricity into an area there isn't a damn thing you could do about it. Government oversight ensures that basic utilities are available to everyone. In the UK they just deemed internet access a basic utility.
 
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