Cryptocurrencies to empower the poor- Microsoft’s Bill Gates
|- Bill Gates believes that digitization of the economy allows participation and inclusion.
- Digital currencies will help the unbanked and the underbanked in the poor societies around the world.
The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates recently released a video where he said the digital assets are what the poor need to empower themselves around the world. Bill Gates has a great admiration for the virtual currencies and he does not shy away from expressing his opinions towards the 21st-century unicorn, the blockchain technology.
While the billionaire has criticized Bitcoin before due to some of its shortcomings as a currency, in the recent years he has been warming up to the digital assets. Bill Gates told Bloomberg in 2014 that:
“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”
In the recent past, Bill Gates has been very forthcoming with his advice regarding the extremities of the financial equation, his views on the larger financial systems as well as the sector of digital currencies. He is also very passionate when it comes to fighting poverty in the world and believes that virtual currencies have come to save the underbanked in our societies. In addition, he reckons that inefficiencies in the cash economy constantly increases the risk of making the poor even poorer.
“I see two priorities for the immediate future. First, we need to drive the policy changes to make sure the poor can get engaged at this level and second, we need a measurement system that tracks the progress towards drawing people in not just have accounts but to really benefit from financial activity” Gates explains.
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