At a climate conference on Tuesday, billionaire Bill Gates dismissed cryptocurrency projects like Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as shams “based on the greater fool theory,” reviving past criticisms of virtual assets.
“Obviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world greatly,” Gates sarcastically said at a TechCrunch event in Berkeley, California. However, he stated that he had no long or short positions in the asset class.
Gates has previously attacked cryptocurrency, fighting with Elon Musk last year about whether Bitcoin is too risky for regular investors and if mining currencies is harmful to the environment.
Higher-than-expected US inflation and the suspension of withdrawals by the lending platform Celsius fuelled a more significant crypto selloff this week. Popular NFT collections are also being hit hard, like the celebrity-favored Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
The entire cryptocurrency market peaked in November 2021 at $2.9 trillion, but it has struggled so far this year. It has lost $1 trillion in value in the previous two months alone as investors fled riskier assets in the face of rising inflation and worries that central bank interest rate hikes will stifle growth. As a result, the market capitalization of crypto has now slipped below $1 trillion.
What do other celebrities have to say about NFTs?
Joe Rogan, a prominent sports analyst, comedian, and podcast host, stated last year that he was not interested in digital memorabilia. He also referred to them as a cryptocurrency “hustle.”
Kanye West, a famous American rapper, recently ordered his followers to stop asking him to “perform NFTs.” He stated that he intends to create things for the “actual world” rather than the internet. After a few months, the musician reversed his mind and submitted trademark applications for NFT and Metaverse. Josh Gerben confirmed this news on Twitter.
