Another public figure criticized digital currencies – this time web inventor Tim Berners-Lee shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency on the CNBC Beyond The Valley podcast.
Berners-Lee stressed that cryptocurrency is “speculative” and likened it to the dot-com bubble, an economic bubble of the late 1990s when companies tried to boost their stock and attract investment by adding .com to their names (many stocks rose in price before ., as the bubble burst in 2000).
“Obviously, it’s really dangerous. It is similar to the comfort of gambling. Investing in certain things, purely speculative, is not something I want to spend my time on,” Berners-Lee told CNBC.
However, the WWW founder’s comments about cryptocurrencies were not exclusively negative — Tim emphasized the benefits of digital currencies for remittances if they are converted to fiat currency immediately upon receipt.
‘Ignore this nonsense’: Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, criticized Web3
Other notable critics of cryptocurrency include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who said last year that digital currencies are 100% based on the “big fool theory.” The businessman warned that investors should be more aware of price volatility and should not invest based on, for example, Elon Musk’s tweets. In 2018, Gates claimed that cryptocurrency is used to buy drugs, making it a rare technology that directly leads to death.
Investor Warren Buffett, CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said that “Bitcoin is a rat in a square” and he would not pay even $25 for it.
Buffett’s long-time partner and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, called cryptocurrency “evil” because it, they say, undermines the integrity and stability of the US financial system. He also added that holding digital assets is “stupid” and suggested that their value would eventually fall to zero. If someone did not fully understand the attitude of the 99-year-old Munger to cryptocurrency, he additionally called it a “venereal disease.”
Last year’s crypto winter led to a truly nightmarish 2022 for investors and companies, but at the start of 2023, the flagship crypto-asset appears to have recovered. Bitcoin surged 50% to $25,000, its highest since August.
Crypto investors: Bitcoin will rise to $100,000 in 2-3 years, and in 2023 the industry will “carefully” recover from reputational losses
Source: Techspot
