The cryptocurrency bitcoin broke a new record last week and its value had crossed $50,000 after Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk had bought $1.5 billion worth of the crypto-currency.
Days after this announcement, Bill Gates, the world’s third-richest man after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos took a shot at Elon Musk after he announced taking a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin.
“Elon has tons of money and he’s very sophisticated, so I don’t worry that his Bitcoin will sort of randomly go up or down,” Bill Gates said.
“I do think people get bought into these manias who may not have as much money to spare, so I’m not bullish on Bitcoin. My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out,” he said.
The Microsoft’s founder, however, slammed Bitcoin as environmentally unfriendly, saying that cryptocurrency “happens to use a lot of energy” for the servers used to process transactions.
Earlier, Bitcoin’s price had soared to an all-time high, breaking above $43,000 apiece, after Tesla bought $1.5bn of the cryptocurrency.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency had started trading 15% higher at $44,141 after Tesla’s announcement.
“In January 2021, we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity,” reads the filing.
“Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy and may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term.”
It further added, “In addition to the bitcoin purchase, Tesla expects to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”
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