Bill Gates: Cryptocurrencies are killing people

The former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said cryptocurrencies technology "has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.". He seemed particularly concerned with whether the blockchain revolution is mostly revolutionizing financial crime, terrorism, and drug dealing, thus killing people “in a fairly direct way”

As noted by CNBC, during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session on Tuesday, Gates explained that he thinks cryptocurrency is really bad because it aids and abets people who want to keep their financial transactions hidden from the government:

The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. 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 so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs and crypto currencies is super risky for those who go long.

Bitcoin is too hot for criminals, and also in part because authorities are starting to get a lot better at tracking down and busting criminals who try to anonymize themselves with crypto. There’s the fact that some of the crimes to which Gates alluded, like drug dealing and terrorism, have an irreplaceable physical element. If you’re a drug dealer or a terrorist, at some point you’re going to have to lug actual drugs or guns or bombs around, and payment or funding is only one part of the equation as to how the police can track you down. 

"The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing," he said. "The Governments [sic] 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.

"I think the speculative wave around ICOs [initial coin offerings] and cryptocurrencies is super risky for those who go long," Gates added.