Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has maintained a grim view on cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin BTC/USD, and some of his remarks over the years have been unsparing, to say the least.
What happened: The former Microsoft boss delivered a scathing criticism of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, back in June 2022.
At a climate conference, Gates said that such digital asset trends are like shams based on the “greater fool theory”.
He added that he’s neither long nor short on digital assets, adding that he prefers investments that have valuable output.
When Gates made this remark on Jun. 14, 2022, one Bitcoin was priced at $22,206.79. So if you ignored his negativity and invested $1000, you’d have received 0.045 units of the digital asset.
Fast forward to Dec. 9, and one Bitcoin is worth $99,078.55. This means that your $1000 investment would have swelled to $4461.63 had you HODLed all along, marking a 346% return.
Interestingly, shares of Microsoft grew by only 65% in the aforementioned period.
Why It Matters: Gates, one of the richest people on the planet with a net worth of $108 billion, said previously that he owns no cryptocurrencies, arguing that they don’t add anything to society like other investments.
He even cautioned the general public to be wary of Bitcoin’s volatility and how it could affect the portfolios of those with modest wealth.
However, away from Gates’ position, Microsoft, the company he founded, was all set to vote for an assessment of investing in Bitcoin during the upcoming shareholders meeting on Tuesday.
Bettors on the cryptocurrency-based prediction platform Polymarket estimated an 89% chance of the shareholders rejecting the plan.
Price Action: As of this writing, Bitcoin was trading at $99,078.55, down 1.20% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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Image via European Commission/ Lukasz Kobus
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