Bill Gates, the billionaire and Microsoft founder, denounced the harmful effects of the crypto currency Bitcoin in an interview.
Washington - Bitcoin price jumps from all-time high to all-time high.
In mid-March, the price of a full coin of the cryptocurrency almost cracked the $ 60,000 mark for the first time.
The trend continues to rise.
Financial experts expect Bitcoin to rise to $ 100,000.
Outlook with dollar signs flashing in the eyes of more and more investors.
Numerous people put their savings into the virtual currency unit.
Anyone who had invested 100 US dollars at the first exchange rate of just 7 cents per coin in 2009 and acquired 1,300 bitcoins would now, 12 years later, be sitting on a crypto treasure worth 78 million US dollars.
Peanuts for billionaire
Bill Gates
, whose fortune is estimated at approximately 124 billion US dollars.
Bill Gates: Microsoft founder warns of Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency is a power hog
In contrast to many of his fellow men, the Microsoft founder does not share the enthusiasm for Bitcoin.
Not even Elon Musk's billion dollar investment (Merkur.de * reported) in Bitcoins was able to encourage him to imitate the Tesla founder.
In a clubhouse interview with CNBC presenter Andrew Sorkin about Bitcoin, the 65-year-old even explicitly spoke out against the payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamato in 2007.
And this despite the fact that more and more well-known banks and companies are securing a piece of the crypto pie.
The reason for Gates' rejection of the digital coin is the pollution that is generated in its manufacture.
"Bitcoin generation uses more electricity than any other method," said Gates.
Bitcoins are produced, known as "mining", through the joint use of the computing power of a network.
The computing capacity made available by the miners is a real power hog.
Bill Gates advises against Bitcoin: does the cryptocurrency consume more electricity than all of Argentina?
As a result, cryptocurrencies have now become one of the main sources of energy consumption.
The BBC recently reported on a Cambridge study that was published earlier this year.
Researchers want to have found out that the global Bitcoin network currently uses more electricity per year than all of Argentina with its 45 million inhabitants.
Some bankers and economists are also convinced that Bitcoin is a real polluter *: "Since the fundamental value of Bitcoin is zero and would be negative if a decent carbon tax were applied to its massive, polluting and energy-consuming production, I say predict that the current bubble will eventually end in another bankruptcy, ”said NYU economist and professor Nouriel Roubini.
Speaking to Andrew Sorkin, Gates said he prefers to invest in companies that “make products”, citing malaria and measles vaccines as examples.
At the same time, he urged people not to succumb to the Bitcoin hype *: "If you have less money than Elon, you should probably be careful."
In order to meet the increasing demand for energy in the course of increasing digitalization, Bill Gates wants to supply the world with more electricity in the future.
These can be the currently fourth richest man in the world just own nuclear power plants develop because ". Only solar cells are not enough"
* Merkur.de is available from IPPEN.MEDIA
